From sales and marketing to security and office management, smart business technologies help as many as 94% of organisations meet key objectives. However, failure to keep up with innovation can present its own issues, with 80% of teams feeling hindered by outdated tech.
For business owners and managers considering ways to optimise their operations, choosing the right types of technologies to invest in must be a top priority. With this in mind, below we discuss and provide examples of 5 office tech upgrades every business owner should make.
How to Identify Impactful Tech Improvements
Before committing to any significant upgrades, it’s important to evaluate the efficacy of your current systems. While updating all essential systems at once may sound nice, doing so will rarely be practical or cost-effective, so ranking upgrades by priority is a necessary first step.
Performing an annual assessment of your tech landscape will help you to identify areas of importance and plan a practical roadmap for future upgrades. To best-identify which specific tech updates your business will benefit most significantly from, consider the following factors.
- Efficiency: Work backwards from inefficiencies that regularly hurt productivity to find hardware and software technologies that your business should update as a priority.
- Maintenance: Review maintenance and repair logs to identify technologies that often break down or cause problems that lead to avoidable downtime and resource waste.
- Flexibility: Consider how well existing technologies help your teams meet changing demands and their abilities to support modern agile and flexible work environments.
5 Office Tech Upgrades All Business Owners Should Make
Well-planned and intelligently-implemented office tech upgrades can help your business to thrive in competitive markets and your teams to feel safe and supported at work. No matter the size or intent of your business, below are 5 office tech upgrades all leaders should make.
1. Invest in Smart Access Control Solutions
Providing staff and guests a secure and smooth way to access various resources is a major component of good office management. In an ideal environment, authorised persons should be able to enter your site unimpeded while unverifiable individuals are automatically denied.
Smart access control systems secure access to private spaces behind traceable credentials. In practice, staff and authorised guests are asked to present pre-approved passes or digital credentials to door-mounted readers which will only unlock the facility if the data is verifiable.
Modern systems offer wider safety and convenience benefits. For example, Avigilon access control systems allow users to control access with their phones, powering entirely touchless workflows where live credentials are reliably secured behind on-device biometric protections.
Upgrading to a smart system like this also helps to meet flexible work demands. Leaders can adjust permissions and unlock doors remotely from a straightforward cloud-based platform to help ensure your office remains secure and productive even when you’re not present on site.
2. Update Office Security Camera Systems
Security camera systems are another key piece of technology that can both help to improve office security and productivity. By providing business owners and security teams consistent visibility into daily activities, leaders can safeguard staff and ensure operations run smoothly.
An appropriate office CCTV installation will include multiple cameras positioned to cover the entire facility, all of which can be observed in unison both on and off site. If your system lacks coverage or cannot be reliably accessed at all times, it may be time to consider an upgrade.
Leading commercial security camera providers offer a wide range of devices built specifically for modern office environments, with high-quality cameras of various form factors that can all be connected to and viewed from a centralised cloud-based management portal.
These types of modern office security cameras also often come with advanced AI analytics tools designed to help operators combat potential threats automatically. AI tools can detect suspicious activities, trigger wider security systems and send live alerts to admins remotely.
3. Improve Agility with Cloud-Based Software
With many organisations continuing to explore remote, hybrid and flexible work models, the importance of agile and accessible cloud-based software is growing. To help empower your staff to perform optimally on and off site, it’s worth considering productivity software updates.
An effective and efficient modern office will utilise cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools to help boost productivity regardless of proximity. Comprehensive solutions like Asana, Trello and Monday are just some examples of systems that can help to streamline workflows.
For some organisations, more specific types of cloud-based software may enable teams to best-meet unique objectives. For example, platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot can offer significant benefits in terms of optimising marketing, sales and customer service operations.
To best-support the adoption of these tools and bridge the gap between in-office and remote work, it can also be wise to explore digitization hardware. Consider swapping equipment like document scanners for smart devices designed to convert files into shareable digital formats.
4. Leverage Accounting and Payroll Automation
Automation is one of the greatest driving forces behind modern business growth. According to recently-published reports, advancements in AI and machine learning have influenced almost 80% of modern organisations to explore some form of AI automation in recent times.
While there are compelling arguments for and against automation in some aspects of work, particularly those that require creative thinking, the responsible use of such technologies to streamline data-heavy tasks like accounting and payroll management can be fairly impactful.
By upgrading outdated physical or software-based accounting systems to modern solutions like Xero or QuickBooks, business leaders can leverage practical AI tools to help minimise administrative burdens and ensure timely payments to employees, vendors and contractors.
When considering office tech upgrades, investments into automation of this variety can help to free up resources elsewhere. For example, studies suggest employees who use AI tools can save as much as 2 hours per day, giving them more time to focus on value-driving tasks.
5. Enhance Existing Cybersecurity Protections
One final area of importance to consider when exploring office technology upgrades is the field of cybersecurity. As more businesses adopt digital tools, the threat of cyber-attacks grows, with malicious cyber activities targeting Australian businesses rising by 83% in 2025.
Alongside updates to wider business technologies, leaders must commit to the continuous evaluation and optimisation of cybersecurity protections. To ensure your business is reliably secured against novel threats, investments should include updates to both tech and training.
In terms of technology, comprehensive business cybersecurity solutions managed by trusted providers like Norton or Microsoft should be prioritised, with particular focus on features like real-time threat detection, malware protection and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).
In tandem with tech upgrades should come updated cybersecurity training. As you leverage new technologies, take the time to re-train your employees in cybersecurity best practices, covering key principles like password protection, phishing prevention and malware detection.
Final Thoughts
To stay competitive in modern business, leaders must be open to change. While regularly upgrading equipment might not always be time and cost-effective, knowing when to update certain key technologies can help businesses ensure operations run smoothly and securely.
By evaluating site-specific needs and prioritising the 5 office tech upgrades discussed in this post, businesses of all sizes can position themselves to thrive in fast-paced modern markets.
