From websites to Zebra printers: business and the digital revolution

For most modern businesses, technology plays a key role in terms of helping to streamline operations and reduce needless costs and resources. Indeed, all a budding business needs to succeed in the 21st century digital world is a networked computer and just a touch of entrepreneurial savvy.

Subsequently, many entrepreneurs launch their first business from home, as the reduced overheads mean they can offer their services at significantly reduced prices compared to their competitors. This can be a very effective tactic in clinching those first few money-spinning deals that can produce the capital to grow and become a true force to be reckoned with.

Of course, the success of any modern business – large or small – is underpinned by a well-designed, user friendly and informative website. Pretty much anyone can pull together a basic website using web developing applications such as DreamWeaver, but the chances are a certain level of programming prowess will be needed, if you want anything more than a simple user interface. Furthermore, it’s impossible for any business owner to become an expert on EVERY aspect of running a business – learning your HTML from your PHP from your JavaScript, unfortunately, takes time. Which is, of course, where professional web designers come into play – it really is best not to cut corners when it comes to your website, it will be the only source of income for most small businesses so it needs to be right.

Moreover, it’s safe to say that the digital revolution is well underway and, indeed, many would argue that from a business perspective it really is all that matters. Online marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), e-newsletters…it certainly seems like digital is daddy in today’s business world. So does that mean the death of traditional marketing mediums? Well, for now it would seem that online and offline marketing can coexist peacefully, with the likes of in-house Zebra printers, replenished with high-quality paper and vinyl labels still proving popular with many organizations.

To print or not to print

Johannes Gutenberg may not be a name on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but in the 15th century he built what has often been called the most important invention in history…the printing press. It enabled books to be created in bulk and was perhaps the very beginning of what we now know as ‘mass media’.

However, the digital revolution has taken only a few decades to catch up with a medium that had a 500 year head-start, but for now it seems that there is a place for both digital print and conventional print in the modern day business world.