By Lizzie Weakley

Without a doubt, the busiest time of the year for many small businesses is the holidays. November and December can be absolutely hectic. They are made more complicated by the fact that your employees and perhaps your will be taking time off. A lot can go wrong. However, the possibility of making a huge amount of money is also there for the taking.

You need to be flexible, and you need all the help you can get during the holidays as a business. Planning ahead and using all the technological tools at your disposal, will help you find the best path through these chaotic months. Below are ways technology can give you the flexibility your business needs during the holidays.

Take advantage of data analytics

One thing that can help you prepare for the holidays is data analytics. If you have launched a big data strategy, the holidays are a time when you can leverage all that information into improving your efficiency and flexibility as a business. For one, you should examine data regarding the holiday seasons of past years to help determine how many of which products you should stock to maximize your profits. You should also plug in data regarding industry trends new for this year.

Consider cloud managed services

There’s no way around it; computers are complicated. If you have to use computer software to run your business and transact sales, there is a lot that can go wrong. Even worse, paying for that software and hardware to be maintained, updated and fixed can be extremely expensive. One choice that can simplify the entire process for you is outsourcing the management of your entire network to professionals via the cloud. Implementing Oracle managed services through a cloud host can do just that.

Use technology to hook in customers

During the holidays, a lot of money is spent on marketing. However, if you spend too much, that can certainly shrink your profit potential. Thankfully, you can choose technology to slash those holiday marketing costs. Advertising your Black Friday sales via social media and e-mail lists costs absolutely nothing and has a high potential of hooking in the consumers most likely to buy your products.

Invest in holiday relevant SEO

Ecommerce is a huge force to be reckoned with. Even if you don’t sell your products on the internet, most consumers will probably research your store, products and prices online before making a buying decision. This is where SEO comes into play. It allows the pages for your products to come up near the top for relevant searches made by consumers. In regards to the holidays, you need to make sure your Black Friday offers, Cyber Monday sales and other holiday promotions are SEO optimized to lure in consumers looking for a good deal.

Overall, the holidays can make or break a business. You need to do everything you can to adapt to challenges and maximize your profit potential. Implementing technology in the right way can give your business the flexibility it needs to make the holiday shopping season a huge success.

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Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and walks in the park with her husky, Snowball.