Will your home business benefit from a computing degree?

Education for home business

Today’s guest post explores the benefits for home business of undertaking more education in IT:

Understanding the way the web works, both on a technical and commercial level, is fast becoming a necessity of home business. In a few short years, concepts like search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click and social media marketing have become a linchpin of many companies’ customer engagement strategies, and those who are unable to keep up risk missing out on huge opportunities.

With this in mind, can studying for a computing degree (or hiring somebody who has) have a positive effect on your home business? This depends on how deeply you want to involve yourself in your internet marketing strategy. Services like Google Adwords are easy enough for anybody to use, and you can learn basic SEO techniques just by reading a few online guides. But if you want to take control of your company’s web presence and truly understand the options it presents to you, formal programmes of study such as these could help.

Entire sub-industries have grown up around Google’s algorithms alone, and understanding the mechanics at play behind the scenes can be a powerful asset when applied to a company’s marketing strategy. Some computing courses also incorporate business-critical modules into the programme, such as database systems, project management, customer relationship management and new media – giving a thorough grounding in how computers can assist with all aspects of home business, from accountancy to marketing.

Learning more about technology will also help home business owners to stay current with some of the latest developments that are shaping how companies work together and store data – for instance, cloud computing. Correctly implemented, a cloud computing strategy can save even a small home business hundreds on software and storage, and conversely a badly-implemented cloud strategy will cause huge disruption and lost time.

Large companies can afford to hire specialists to cover these areas, but a firm of just a few people – or even a one-man operation – needs all the knowledge it can get when it comes to new technology. It’s important to bear in mind that investing in hardware and software is only useful if your home business has the knowledge and skills to use them to their fullest.