If you are in the process of setting up a small business which you intend to run from your own home then you will no doubt have researched if not yet actually purchased all the essential kit that you will need to stay connected to the modern world. Desktop or laptop PC, smartphone, printer, wearables, microphones and cameras if applicable – it should all be sitting on your desk, set up and raring to go on the day you decide to launch your fledgling enterprise.

Once you have purchased all the hardware you need, the logical next step is to give some consideration to the software. The programs you will use with which to manage and build your business are just as important as the machinery through which they operate.

The Concept of Integrated Software

In order to work at your most efficient the ultimate goal must be to ensure that whatever software you decide to use should be synchronized in such a way that it can be used across all your devices. You really don’t want to get yourself into the kind of mess which results in you having to retype the same information into different applications on each separate device. The well-known PC Encyclopedia provides some valuable information about the broader concept.

Of course integrating systems is not solely about having the same basic programs across all your devices. Just as important is integrating the actual functions that you may wish to perform into one collaborative environment which provides the user with the best virtual expert imaginable, an effective digital one-stop shop in which any problems or issues can be interrogated, explored and resolved by the software itself across all platforms and all devices.

Potential Benefits for Small Businesses

The potential benefits of software of this kind are easy to see, and as with most other technological advances what is at first at the disposal only of the largest and most well-heeled operations will in very little time make itself available, through economies of scale, to the smallest enterprises and businesses as well as private users. The essential ingredient for bringing this about is scale; paring down the operation to a sufficiently unsophisticated level to enable it to enter mass production and become available to sole traders and partnerships as well as to large companies.

Augmented reality provides us with an experience of a real-world environment in which real-life objects are augmented across multiple senses by perceptual information generated by computer. The environment thereby created is immersive and can be shared between a number of users, be they business partners or service provider and customer. In the business world this enables the diagnosis and swift resolution of problems by virtual experts at any time and in spite of whatever environment the service provider happens to be in at a given time.

Technologies of this kind open entirely new doors for small business and have the potential to help level the playing field between themselves and larger concerns once they are fully on-stream and widely available.