Read the Leverage the Internet to Own Your Operations guide to learn more about its power to streamline your business and help you grow.

The Internet is no longer simply the virtual space that houses your website and social media pages. With the convergence of the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), it’s becoming the place where you run your business. So how can you put advances in each of these areas to use in order to harness the internet to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and optimize productivity?

• Utilize the cloud. Like the internet, the cloud has matured and gained potency as a business tool. You’re already aware of its utility in remote data storage, access, and sharing. But the cloud’s data collection capabilities now make it possible for you to access not only information you and your team have stored there, but knowledge pulled from your processes, production line, and products.

• Connect your business with the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT allows sensors and other devices to talk to each other in a connected way that they could never do before. Its main value, at least for the first stages, is going to be in operations. These developments are unfolding in tandem with the evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning. As machines gain capacity to receive instructions and make decisions based on those directions, they will become capable of improving operational efficiency.

• Flex your technological muscle. Once you understand the power you have, you’ll want to implement it. That means not just how you’re going to access and interact with all this business intelligence, but how that’s going to change the way you interact with customers, vendors, and employees. Can you increase productivity by allowing employees to telecommute part time? How do you convert new collaboration models into platforms for encouraging innovation and intrapreneurship—not just among employees, but with vendors and even customers? What structures can you create to identify and cultivate leadership talent, invite input and ideas from throughout the organization, and engage your entire team—anywhere they’re located—in uncovering and pursuing new opportunities for growth?

The internet is empowering owners of businesses of all sizes to gain a more granular understanding of what’s happening across the organization and use that knowledge to run a more intelligent, nimble, and competitive operation. With the right know-how and sufficient bandwidth, you’ll see the internet become an engine for your company’s performance, profitability, and long-term growth.