2022 technology trends in small business

If you run a small business, you likely notice the effects of tech on your operations. These developments open the door to new tools and opportunities to improve and support your business. 

Still, it’s crucial to be aware of trends to make the most of them. So, what’s new in 2022? Read on to find out.

This guide covers 2022 technology trends in small business, including:

• People-focused workplace values
• Growth in freelance hiring 
• Flexibility in client’s location
• Client-assistance technology 
• Artificial intelligence in small business
• Effects on supply chain strategy
• Data-backed sales tools 
• Voice search and SEO 
• Increasingly automated tools

See also: How do technology trends affect a startup business?

With the various technology trends in small business, you can increase your efficiency and productivity. Let’s go over the main ones. 

If you don’t have an office or have far-away clients, you’ll need to use technology to support communication and customer experience. Luckily, technology can improve client assistance and save time doing so. 

For example, you could increase face-to-face interaction by hopping on a video call with clients. Investing in tools like Zoom or Google Meet help you appear more personable to clients through quality conferencing.

You may also want to use a help desk (like Zendesk) to answer client questions efficiently. On top of this, chatbots (like this one) can offer automated client assistance when you’re unavailable. 

The growing field of artificial intelligence (AI) will also likely impact small businesses in 2022. 

For example, you might incorporate chatbots into your marketing. Chatbots with machine learning can promote and inform people about your products or services. Plus, the more users they interact with, the more they can help. 

In fact, AI can help with nearly all aspects of your business. Here are a few tools that might help:

• Grammarly use AI to improve your content and brand tone through writing and grammar tips.  
• Otter.ai lets you upload audio clips to create notes and transcripts quickly.
• Timely App allows you to organise and track your time. 
• Crowdstrike offers security solutions to protect your business assets and data.

Manually maintaining your supply chain is time-consuming and exposes you to human error. Luckily, technology can solve these problems.

Supply management technology can make your approach more agile. You can get your business products together effortlessly. Plus, you’ll know when and how much to order, which helps you meet needs and increase profits. 

Consider looking at tools like Netsuite or Routeique to streamline and strengthen your supply management. They help you keep everything in one place, make stronger decisions, and scale your operations. 

Technology has made it far easier to use data to analyse your sales and marketing efforts. 

With tools like Funnel, you can organise and track your marketing process and performance. You might also use Google Trends to monitor your traffic and conversion success on digital marketing efforts. 

On top of this, sales management tools like Pipedrive follow your sales pipeline and help you strengthen it. It’ll help you close deals more efficiently, increasing your revenue. 

Today, Google reports that 27% of the worldwide population uses voice search, and that percentage will increase in time. So, when you write website or digital marketing content, try to optimise it for voice search.   

If your website has high domain authority, or quality design and content, it’s more likely to perform better with voice search. 

To make your content more accessible, think about using SEO, including keywords, formatting, and internal links. Doing so can improve domain authority to increase traffic through voice search. 

Check your website’s domain authority here.

Automated tools are also key technology trends in small businesses. 

For example, the features of modern accounting software can improve your financial accuracy and help you make better decisions. 

Countingup is the business current account and accounting software in one app. It automates time-consuming financial management tasks for thousands of self-employed people across the UK. 

Countingup’s tools help you stay on top of your finances, including: 

• Automatic expense categorisation and receipt capture 
• Ongoing in-app cash flow insights 
• Year-round automatic tax estimates 
• Unlimited invoicing on the go
• Making Tax Digital compliance that lets you quickly share your financial data with your accountant

Save yourself hours of accounting admin and focus on growing your business. 

Start your three-month free trial today. 

The current technological shifts impact how people approach business, view their work lives, and interact with clients. We’ll cover the main things in focus this year. 

Since the pandemic, there’s been a shift towards people-first business values. People prioritise work-life balance and flexibility, which is a great thing to adapt to your small business and client interactions.

It’s important to focus on customer service and increase your flexibility through technology. If you show the humanity behind your brand, and prove that you care about clients, you could earn sales and improve loyalty. 

Today, people turn to freelancers more often because it’s a simple solution increasingly accessible online. As a result, there are plenty of opportunities for flexible self-employed work. 

With thriving freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer, you can thrive as a freelancer or easily hire one for your small business. It’s a win-win for productivity and profitability.

Another key technology trend in small business is decentralised operations, or locational flexibility. 

Wifi and online tools let you work remotely. Plus, you’re no longer limited to local work. You could find and work with clients worldwide. 

It’s easy to source work online, meet with clients via video, and share completed work digitally and securely. As a result, you’ll be able to take on a more diverse client base and increase your earning potential. 

Now that you know about the 2022 trends in technology, you can use these trends to improve your business. 

With increased flexibility, decentralisation, and accessibility to freelance, there’s plenty of opportunity for growth. Plus, technological advancements make it easier and quicker to run your business, saving you time and energy. 

If you’d like to learn more about technology business, consider checking out our article on new business technologies in the modern world.