TOP 10 TECH TIPS TO BOOST GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IN 2025
As we head into 2025, businesses are looking to grow and find smarter ways to work whilst keeping an eye on costs. This includes streamlining operations, boosting productivity, and staying competitive. Whether you’re planning to grow, improve efficiency, or simply keep up with the latest tech in your business, there are plenty of opportunities to make your systems work harder for you.
We’ve pulled together 10 essential tech tips to help you make the most of your tools and resources in the year ahead.
1. MAXIMISE MICROSOFT 365 – UNLOCK HIDDEN FEATURES FOR GROWTH
HOW CAN SMALL BUSINESSES GET MORE OUT OF MICROSOFT 365?
Most small businesses are already using Microsoft 365, but many aren’t using it to its full potential. Often, they stick to the main tools like Outlook, Teams, Excel, and Word. Those businesses using AI tools like Microsoft Copilot report a 30% increase in productivity! That’s a huge bonus for your team’s efficiency, giving them more time back to work on other things.
Microsoft 365 is packed with tools to simplify your day. For example, you can automate repetitive tasks with Power Automate or track projects with Planner. And with AI features like Copilot, you can brainstorm, summarise documents, and draft emails in record time—giving you more bandwidth to focus on growth activities.
Benefit to your business: Unlock hidden tools to save time, enhance productivity, and free up resources for innovation.
2. OPTIMISE EMAIL SIGNATURES FOR MARKETING AND CONSISTENCY
HOW CAN EMAIL SIGNATURES HELP SMALL BUSINESSES DRIVE GROWTH?
Your email signature isn’t just a sign-off and pretty way to say ‘Kind Regards’—it’s an underused marketing tool. On average, email signatures are seen by over 1,000 recipients per employee per month. That’s 1,000 opportunities to showcase your latest promotion, link to your website, highlight your LinkedIn page or promote on of your awards.
With tools like Exclaimer, you can create consistent, professional email signatures that reinforce your brand and make sure every email you send in your business is contributing to your marketing messages. In addition, having a centralised system makes it easy to keep signatures up to date across your team. No more copy and pasting signatures into Outlook!
And there’s more: these tools also enhance cybersecurity. By locking down signature templates, you prevent them from being copied or altered, significantly reducing the risk of CEO fraud or phishing attempts impersonating your team.
Benefit to your business: Turn everyday communications into low-cost marketing opportunities while maintaining a polished, professional image and protect against cyber threats.
3. REVIEW AND REPLACE OUTDATED TECH EQUIPMENT
WHY SHOULD SMALL BUSINESSES INVEST IN UPDATING THEIR TECH?
Outdated hardware isn’t just slow and annoying—it’s a security risk. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 30% of small UK businesses experience downtime due to ageing tech. That’s lost productivity, missed opportunities, and unnecessary frustration for your team.
Upgrading to modern devices doesn’t just improve speed and reliability; it also supports energy efficiency and ensures compatibility with the latest software. In other words, it’s a smart investment that keeps your business running smoothly.
But more than that, it shows your team you are investing in them, when staff feel supported with the right tools, they are more engaged and motivated to deliver their best for your company.
Benefit to your business: Boost team morale, reduce downtime, and future-proof your IT setup.
4. AUDIT SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTIONS – SAVE COSTS AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
ARE YOU WASTING MONEY ON UNUSED SOFTWARE?
Small businesses in the UK waste £1.7 billion annually on unused software subscriptions. How much money could you be wasting paying for something you don’t need or use? A quick audit of your Microsoft 365 licences and third-party software tools could uncover savings you didn’t even know were possible.
By reviewing your subscriptions, you can eliminate unnecessary costs and ensure your team is using the tools they need—maximising efficiency without breaking the budget.
Without a clear process for monitoring and deactivating unused accounts, businesses often pay for tools no one is using. This results in wasted money every month. (Nothing is more annoying than getting that email saying something you don’t use has auto-renewed!)
Benefit to your business: Save money, reduce waste, and get more value from your IT investments.
5. AUTOMATE ROUTINE TASKS WITH AI TOOLS
HOW CAN AI AND AUTOMATION IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES?
Repetitive tasks can drag your team down, but automation tools like Microsoft Power Automate and AI assistants like ChatGPT could handle them quickly and easily. Businesses using automation report a 40% reduction in time spent on routine tasks, freeing up resources for more strategic projects.
Many businesses are still nervous of using AI, but once you start using it for small tasks like drafting emails or creating Excel formulas, it’s hard to imagine going back. By adopting these tools it allows your team to focus on what really matters—growing your business.
Benefit to your business: Save time, reduce errors, and increase focus on high-value work.
6. IMPLEMENT MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (MFA)
WHAT’S THE EASIEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS’S CYBERSECURITY?
Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be complicated or scary. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one of the easiest ways to protect your business, blocking 99.9% of account compromise attacks. Yet only 35% of SMEs have fully implemented it, leaving them more exposed to threats.
MFA works by requiring two forms of identification. For example, this could be something you know (a password) and something you have (a code from an app like Microsoft Authenticator or a text message).
MFA is quick to set up, easy for your team to use, and provides an extra layer of protection—helping you safeguard sensitive data and build trust with clients. (More and more companies engaging a new supplier expect them to be able to demonstrate robust security protocols and cybersecurity processes as a condition of working together)
Benefit to your business: Protect your assets and reduce the risk of costly breaches.
7. SET UP DEVICE MANAGEMENT FOR REMOTE WORKERS
HOW CAN SMALL BUSINESSES MANAGE REMOTE WORK SECURELY?
With hybrid working here to stay, keeping devices secure is a top priority. Remote workers experience 20% more cyberattacks than office-based employees, highlighting the need for robust device management solutions.
An IT partner like Uptech can help you enforce security policies, track company devices, and remotely wipe data if needed—all while keeping your team productive and secure.
Plus, having a centralised support system allows IT support to troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly, no matter where your team is working.
Benefit to your business: Maintain security, ensure compliance, and support flexible working.
8. IMPROVE COLLABORATION WITH MICROSOFT TEAMS FEATURES
HOW CAN MICROSOFT TEAMS IMPROVE TEAMWORK?
Microsoft Teams isn’t just for meetings and group chats—it’s a hub for collaboration. With features like shared channels, integrated task tracking, and real-time document editing, hybrid teams using Teams report a 25% boost in productivity.
By integrating tools like Planner and To-Do, you can keep projects organised and deadlines visible, even across hybrid teams.
You can also invite external stakeholders to join specific Teams channels, enabling seamless and secure collaboration with clients or contractors without relying on endless email threads.
Benefit to your business: Enhance collaboration, streamline workflows, and keep everyone on the same page.
9. IMPLEMENT PASSWORD MANAGERS FOR STRONGER SECURITY
WHY SHOULD SMALL BUSINESSES USE A PASSWORD MANAGER?
Weak passwords are responsible for 81% of hacking-related breaches, making a password manager like Keeper essential. Keeper allows you to securely store and share credentials, manage permissions, and ensure your team uses strong, unique passwords. (Better than writing them on sticky notes!)
By reducing the risk of breaches, you not only protect your business and reputation, you also save your team the hassle of resetting forgotten passwords. (Especially useful when returning from holiday or following the Christmas break!)
For example, when a new employee starts, you can share instant access to the passwords they need without emailing sensitive details back and forth, reducing the amount of time spent on new starter inductions. It also ensures that when someone leaves, their access is immediately revoked.
Benefit to your business: Strengthen security, simplify password management, and protect sensitive data.
10. ENABLE CLOUD COLLABORATION TOOLS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING
HOW DO CLOUD TOOLS BENEFIT BUSINESSES WITH HYBRID TEAMS?
With the trend of more employees returning to offices alongside existing hybrid working models, cloud tools like OneDrive and SharePoint enable seamless collaboration from anywhere. These tools also let you securely share files with external agencies, improving productivity and reducing email clutter.
A huge benefit is version history and real-time co-authoring on Word docs and Excel spreadsheets. Multiple team members can work on the same document simultaneously, seeing each other’s changes in real-time but also keeps a detailed version history of files, so you can easily restore earlier versions or track changes made by your team.
Plus, with built-in backup and recovery, you can ensure your data is safe no matter what happens. (So if you accidentally a key part of a document, all is not lost, you can get it back!)
Benefit to your business: Support flexible working, improve external collaboration, and protect your data.
READY TO UNLOCK YOUR BUSINESS’S FULL POTENTIAL IN 2025?
From enhancing productivity with Microsoft 365 to securing your systems with tools like MFA and password managers, these tech tips are designed to help small businesses thrive in the year ahead. By adopting smarter ways of working, you can save time, reduce costs, and empower your team to focus on what really matters—growing your business.
If you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here to help. Whether you need support implementing any of these tips or simply want to explore how technology can work smarter for you, let’s talk.
Get in touch today and discover how we can help your business in 2025.
Rick Notley
Uptech – Shielding your IT.