{"id":19883,"date":"2020-12-23T16:14:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T21:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/?page_id=19883"},"modified":"2020-12-26T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T22:24:51","slug":"getting-started-with-technologies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/small-business\/small-business-digital-literacy\/getting-started-with-technologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting started with technologies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Getting started with technologies and Digital Transformation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Technologies can help you become more efficient and free up some of your valuable time. They can also help you reach your customers more efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>We live in a digital world and the rules have changed.\u00a0 All organizations, including small businesses and non-profits, must integrate digital technologies to remain competitive.\u00a0 The purpose of this section is to help you get started (digital literacy section) as well as to learn how to adapt and improve your sustainable competitive advantage.\u00a0 The Covid pandemic has accelerated this. According to a study by the World Bank, \u201cmore than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/small-businesses-coronavirus-pandemic-1-in-3-cut-jobs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-component=\"externalLink\">25% of small businesses reported closing<\/a>\u00a0between the months of January and May\u201d and many now see the need for digital transformation. Furthermore, a study by Cisco reports,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the digital divide that was already present in the small business market, and it is forcing companies to accelerate their digitalization<\/li>\n<li>Small businesses are realizing that digitalization is no longer an option, but a matter of survival<\/li>\n<li>nearly three-quarters (70%) of respondent small businesses are accelerating digital transformation efforts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses with advanced digital maturity \u201ccan respond faster to changing market conditions and grow their revenue.\u201d https:\/\/www.techrepublic.com\/article\/small-business-study-details-necessity-and-challenges-of-digital-transformation\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are in the process of building an\u00a0online digital literacy program\u00a0to help small businesses understand the need for technologies and which ones could help them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/digitalequitycenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Digital Equity Center<\/a>: \u201cThe National Digital Equity Center provides communities at all levels the expertise to mobilize broadband technologies through digital inclusion, literacy efforts, education, resource planning, funding research, infrastructure leveraging and stakeholder engagement.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/msl\/digital\/learn.shtml#business\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maine State Library<\/a>: This website (about half-way down the page) provides some online resources on how to start a business, legal issues, health insurance, etc.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/smallbiztrends.com\/2018\/07\/small-business-technologies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This article<\/a>\u00a0discusses technologies that every small business should consider using.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/digitalliteracy\/legacycourse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft has a basic online digital literacy course<\/a>\u00a0to help you learn things like computer basics, the Internet, the Cloud, useful software tools and more.\n<ul>\n<li>Make your service more convenient for your customers \u2013 online booking systems and cyber meetings<\/li>\n<li>Doing business in the cloud \u2013 what are the benefits\/ challenges?<\/li>\n<li>Automate your bookkeeping using WAVE\/ SQUARE-UP<\/li>\n<li>Improve your marketing and promotion using online tools like CANVA, EVENTBRITE and MAILCHIMPA recent article from Business foundations said, \u201d<br \/>\n\u201cDigital literacy 101 \u2013 How to Create, Connect and Contribute online<br \/>\nEnsure your business can be found online in several simple steps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>An overview of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gsuite.google.com\/pricing.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">G-Suite \u2013 professional apps from Google<\/a>\u00a0to make running your business easier\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWeb Site Creation:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/undiscoveredmaine\/business\/resources\/technologies\/create-your-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here<\/a>\u00a0for information on how to build your own website.<\/li>\n<li>If you are a small business, be sure to register your business with the <strong>FREE<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Google Business<\/strong><\/a> platform. This will provide incredibly valuable exposure on Google!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/small-business\/resources\/small-business-digital-transformation\/\">Return to digital transformation page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting started with technologies and Digital Transformation Technologies can help you become more efficient and free up some of your valuable time. They can also help you reach your customers more efficiently. We live in a digital world and the rules have changed.\u00a0 All organizations, including small businesses and non-profits, must integrate digital technologies to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"parent":6839,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19883","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Getting started with technologies - Undiscovered Maine - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/undiscoveredmaine\/small-business\/small-business-digital-literacy\/getting-started-with-technologies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting started with technologies - Undiscovered Maine - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getting started with technologies and Digital Transformation Technologies can help you become more efficient and free up some of your valuable time. 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