Information Technology (IT) has been an integral part of our lives today. Seeing that, bigger enterprises have utilized this tool to reach to a larger audience segment as oppose to SMBs that still follow the archaic tools to function their businesses. In addition, SMBs are overloaded with various obligations-whether sales, marketing, customer service or something else. It could be difficult to keep up with the process personally, or even with a small team. Given the time crunch, therefore, it is vital that SMBs prioritize tasks that have massive impact - the digital space.
The question is, can SMBs utilize the Information Technology to their best advantage? The answer is yes, and here’s how.
More Businesses to Move Online
Digitally engaged SMBs are rising twice as compared with their counterparts offline. Online space has created incentives for small companies to access new markets. However, is a whopping 68 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses are still offline. In order to lift these companies, there are a lot of initiatives like digital payments to empower small businesses. More SMBs will leverage this to continue to grow faster.
Chatbots Will be Crucial
Adopting chatbots may seem like a daunting task for SMB owners but they've become a vital part of the workflow. With the limited resources, automation is the smart way to get tasks completed. Forty-three per cent of SMBs say enhancing customer service is their top sales growth strategy. Small business owners have also begun to use chatbots to answer customer queries
Businesses are Adjusting According to Millennials
The scale of the millennial market is rising and beginning to dominate. It is expected millennials will have the highest purchasing power of any generation in 2019. Since, they are active consumers of digital content, this is causing a shift in the tactics SMBs are adopting. The small and medium business owners are gradually moving towards social media, video content, influencer marketing, and mobile marketing to engage with the growing strata.
Social media remains the King of SMBs
96 per cent of SMBs use social media in their marketing strategy according to a recent marketing report. Especially Facebook is doing wonders in terms of Facebook Ads and reach for them.
To support small and medium-sized companies achieve a stronger global reach, last year Facebook launched features such as multi-country lookalike audiences, dynamic language optimization, multi-city targeting, and Facebook IQ cross-border insights finder.
This trend will continue to expand with SMEs continuing to focus on what works and discovering new areas as well. Live videos, web content for example.
Migration to Cloud
SMEs who embrace the cloud see clear advantages. The main reason for this is that cloud technology is advanced, affordable and simultaneously easy to use. SMBs face huge challenges in terms of password management, CRM, and mailing lists management. Small companies can boost their operations and profitability tremendously by switching to cloud. This would increase their productivity while putting them ahead of the competition.
According to latest study entitled "Socio-economic Impact of Cloud Adoption by SMBs," cutting investment costs on technology can boost SMEs accessing technology. The study showed that after they moved from low to medium cloud use, SMEs had a 1.5-fold multiplier effect in improving productivity metrics and higher profitability with 3X multiplier effect. That said, more and more SMBs are going into the cloud and in the coming future, the numbers will continue to rise.
IT Streamlines Communication
Effective communication is essential to success at the business. Recruiting, retaining, and optimizing workers in an increasingly connected and fragmented market environment involves continuous contact and collaboration. The main benefit of IT is the ability to streamline interactions both internally and externally.
Online meeting and video conferencing platforms such as Skype, Zoom and GoToMeeting, Teams, for example, provide businesses with the opportunity to collaborate virtually in real time, significantly reducing the costs associated with bringing customers on-site or communicating with remote staff. Furthermore, IT helps organizations to communicate with foreign suppliers and customers almost without effort.
IT Facilitates Strategic Thinking
IT's ability to improve the competitive advantage of a business in the marketplace by promoting strategic thinking and technology transfer is one of the fundamental advantages. For example, accessing and leveraging social networks and subscription services has allowed SMBs to collect, analyze and share information like never before. This has provided companies with unprecedented customer and market exposure, allowing organizations to offer innovative and improved goods.
IT Cuts Costs and Eliminates Waste
While IT can seem expensive when first introduced, it is extremely cost-effective in the long run, by streamlining the organizational and managerial processes of an organization. Implementing online training systems is a prime example of IT strengthening the internal processes of a company by cutting expenses and employee time spent outside the workplace. In effect, IT allows SMBs to do more with less, without sacrificing value or quality.
At Goavega, we understand your technological need for your business to meet today’s digital standards. We are here as a one stop shop for IT related services to not only help your business fill that technological gap but help you achieve your goals. Whether you’re a large, medium or a small business type, we offer you bespoke services to give you that edge. Contact us to know more about our services.