Small and medium-sized businesses have a big role in the economy. The national economy will benefit from understanding how small and medium-sized businesses can use digital tactics to promote their growth. According to research, small and medium-sized businesses with a high level of digital interaction are more successful, endure longer, and expand. But according to a recent study, only 20% of small and medium-sized businesses have high levels of digital engagement, and the vast majority of these businesses are not properly utilizing digital methods. The digital economy presents opportunities that small enterprises run the danger of missing. In this article, we have narrowed down the top 5 factors limiting businesses from adopting digital solutions.
The speed at which technology is developing means that businesses need to be able to respond quickly, meaning they need to adapt and innovate. For example, if you were running a restaurant in the 90s, your website would probably have been a simple brochure that listed your menu and hours. Today, you might have an interactive website with booking slots and reviews. The same applies to businesses in other industries—finance, retail, etc.—and it’s important that they keep up with the times.
If a business isn’t adopting digital solutions because they feel like it’s too expensive or difficult to do so, then this could be an indicator that they’re not keeping up with their competitors.
This is often because they don’t see how it can help them achieve their current and future goals. The most common reason is that they don’t have a clear view of what they want to achieve or how digital solutions will help them get there. They need to see the impact that new technology will have on operational efficiency and customer experience before deciding whether it’s worth investing time and money into exploring opportunities for digital transformation.
The lack of skilled persons within businesses and the labour market is one of the biggest factors limiting businesses from adopting digital solutions.
It may be a new phenomenon, but digital technology is already changing how people do business. Digital solutions are not just limited to consumer-facing products and services; they are also revolutionizing business processes from back-end operations to marketing activities. However, despite the potential benefits of adopting digital solutions, many businesses have yet to fully embrace this trend due to several factors, including a lack of skilled manpower and a lack of capital resources needed to implement these solutions.
This issue is especially real for small businesses that may not have a dedicated HR department or someone responsible for training new employees. But even large companies like Google or Apple have struggled with this problem—they just don’t have enough people with tech skills!
So what can we do about it? Well, one option would be to provide alternatives that help companies find people who already have the necessary skills (and maybe even work remotely). For example, we’ve seen companies hire talent portals that are vetted and certified.
One of the biggest challenges businesses face in adopting digital solutions is uncertainty about the financial returns from investments in those solutions. When you’re looking at a new system and trying to figure out if it will pay for itself, many factors can make or break your decision.
For example, if your company has just gone through a merger or acquisition, you may need a new system and less time than usual to assess its potential ROI. Or maybe you’re in a low-margin industry and need to choose between several systems that provide some benefit but are too expensive in the total cost of ownership.
But often, even when companies have time to assess potential ROIs, they still struggle with making the right choice—which can be especially frustrating because digital technology offers many ways to reduce costs and increase revenues.
Investment in new technology can be costly for any business, and there is often no guarantee that the system will provide a positive return on investment. It is impossible to guarantee the ROI of a new system, but careful planning and analysis can help you estimate the value it will provide. The more detailed you are in your analysis, the better your chance of making an accurate prediction.
Think about it: if you’re the CEO of a business, and you’re weighing the pros and cons of a new system, there are two things you want to be sure of: first, that the system will work as advertised—and second, that it’s going to pay off for your company. If you’re unsure about either or both of these things, then maybe it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
The cost of implementing digital solutions can be high, and many companies are hesitant or unable to pay for it. While there are several ways to offset this cost, including grants and tax incentives, you can also do a few things yourself.
First, consider the types of solutions you’re looking to implement. For example, if you’re looking to implement a new piece of software that will make your company run more efficiently, consider using an open-source solution instead of one that requires licensing fees. Many open-source options are free—or at least much cheaper than their proprietary counterparts—and can provide all the functionality you need without breaking the bank.
Many companies lack the resources and expertise to make well-informed decisions about which digital solutions they should adopt and how best to implement them. The result? They often pay too much for poorly planned and executed projects that don’t deliver on their promises.
As an added challenge, many organizations also face legal and regulatory requirements that require them to prove that their systems are secure and meet certain standards before they can be put into use. This means that even if an organization has decided that it needs a particular solution or service, it may have to wait months or years before it can be implemented because of these requirements.
But the reality is that, with the development of cloud-based software and robust SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms, it’s easier than ever before to set up and maintain an enterprise-grade solution.
Digital products and services are a hot topic in business, but many companies are still not ready to dive into digital waters. They’re either unsure how to make the transition, or they haven’t even considered their digital strategy.
To move forward with your digital strategy, you need to understand the current state of your business and how you want it to grow in the future. This means taking stock of who you currently serve, what they want from their experience with your product or service, and what kind of customer experience they expect from your brand. You’ll also need to consider where your industry is going and technology’s role in that evolution.
Then you can start thinking about how technology can help make all those things happen—and which tools will work best for your business. If you’re still at square one with this process, plenty of resources are available online (including our blog!).
A robust, well-thought-out digital strategy is crucial for any company that wants to succeed in today’s digital world. It keeps your business on track, helps you reach your goals, and keeps employees engaged and motivated.
Digital strategy is a fancy business way to say “plan.” Without it, you’re flying blind and hoping for the best. You need a plan to know where you are and where you want to be.
You might have heard of the SMART framework before—it’s pretty common in digital strategy circles. The letters are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Specific: If you don’t know what “digital transformation” means for your business, how can you even begin? You need to figure out exactly what it is and how it can help your company.
Measurable: How will you know if your digital strategy is working? You should be able to track all of the changes that happen due to it. That way, when someone asks how things are going with the new initiative, you can give them some hard data instead of just saying, “great!”
Achievable: Make the goal happen within the time frame specified by your business model (usually 3-5 years). It should also be something that fits into your budget.
SMEs should adopt digital business because it has a huge impact on the way they manage their customers. A digital business can help you create, manage, and automate customer relationships. This will allow you to provide better customer service and increase your profit margin.
Digital business is all about automation. To have a successful digital business, you need to automate your processes and ensure they work efficiently. This will help you save time and money while improving your customer experience.
The abandonment of existing systems is one factor that can influence the adoption of digital businesses in small and medium enterprises. When a company abandons an existing system, they need to find a new solution that can offer the same functionality. The process of abandoning existing systems starts with a change in technology, usually due to new technologies and innovations. The change may be related to hardware or software, which may be implemented as a new system or program. In addition to this, there are changes in management and organization, as well as in marketing and customer behaviour.
The new system must be easy to use and easy to implement for it to be successful.
Inefficiencies in organizational processes lead to the adoption of digital business by SMEs. For instance, traditional ways of managing processes have made it difficult to keep track of business activities and relevant data. This has resulted in a lack of efficiency in managing resources and an inability to make informed decisions based on actual data.
Using information technology, it is now possible to automate many business processes and make decisions based on real-time data.
Security concerns are the number one factor influencing the adoption of digital business in Small & medium enterprises. This is because the security of data, information, and assets is the top priority of any organization. These days, there are a lot of cyber threats that can cause major damage to your business. So, it is important to protect your business from these threats.
Small businesses have limited resources and cannot afford expensive cybersecurity solutions. They also don’t have enough time and manpower to implement complex cybersecurity solutions. So, they are more vulnerable to cyber attacks than large enterprises.
To encourage small businesses to adopt digital business practices, companies need to assure them about their data security measures. If there is any doubt about the safety of their data, then they will not adopt digital business practices easily.
Customer experience is a huge part of how customers interact with your business. It’s what they think of when they think of you, and it has a big impact on whether or not they want to continue doing business with you.
For small businesses, it can be difficult to improve customer experience because many of their customers are individuals. They don’t all have the same needs and expectations, so it can be hard for small businesses to offer a consistent experience. However, one way to improve your customer experience is by using digital tools like email automation and marketing automation software. These tools allow you to personalize your emails and messages based on each customer’s preferences and behaviours, which can help ensure that each customer gets what they need from your business (and nothing more).
The world is changing at an incredible pace. In this new digital world, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are forced to adapt or risk being left behind.
Innovative cities like London, Berlin, and New York have become hotspots for developing new technologies and business models. These cities are better for businesses than others, according to the data.
The proximity to these innovative hubs means that SMEs can benefit from the skillsets of other companies in the same industry, giving them access to knowledge about new technologies and business models before they even become available to more distant companies.
Digital transformation is already happening. So are you ready for it?
It’s no secret that digital transformation is upon us. It’s changing everything from how we shop to how we get around town and watch TV. But what impact does this have on small businesses?
When it comes to small businesses and SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises), digital transformation has been a double-edged sword. On the one hand, companies can use technology to create new products and services, reach customers across the globe, and make their lives easier. On the other hand, they’re at risk of being disrupted by larger companies who can do these things more efficiently than ever before—and who may not care about their needs or values as much as they do.
So what’s an SME owner to do? In short: embrace change! If you don’t adapt to your environment, someone else will; if you don’t make changes now, it’ll be too late when your competition catches up with you.
SMEs adopt digital business mainly to increase productivity and reduce costs.
For example, an SME can use an online ordering system to reduce the time taken to place orders and communicate with customers. Online ordering allows users to place an order from anywhere in the world at any time of day or night, which means that customers do not have to wait for their orders or make special appointments with the SME to place an order.
This helps increase productivity because it enables SMEs to handle more orders in a shorter period while reducing costs by reducing the amount of time spent on administrative work (such as placing orders).
The most important reason why SMEs adopt digital business is to gain a competitive advantage. The digital world is extremely dynamic and fast-paced, and SMEs that cannot keep up will quickly fall behind their competitors. They must adapt quickly to survive, which means they must adopt new technologies.
Some main ways SMEs can gain a competitive advantage are by improving their marketing efforts and reducing costs. By investing in new technology and using it effectively, SMEs can improve their ability to advertise their products online or on social media platforms; this will result in more customers, eventually increasing sales figures.
SMEs should also consider adopting new technologies such as robotics or artificial intelligence (AI) because these can help make processes more efficient – meaning that companies will be able to reduce costs while also increasing productivity levels at work!
SMEs have many options to choose from when it comes to business growth. However, the most important thing is to choose the one that will help you achieve your goals and make your business profitable.
Digital business is one such option. In recent years, it has grown rapidly. Now, many businesses consider this a source of future growth. The digital business helps SMEs with many things, including:
Attracting new customers
Improving efficiency and productivity
Reducing costs
One of the most important factors influencing SMEs to adopt digital business is their interest in innovation.
The SME sector constantly looks for new ways to innovate and improve its businesses. They are always on the lookout for new technologies that can help them achieve higher levels of efficiency, greater profitability, and growth potential. This is why they are so keen to adopt digital business models.
The internet has brought about a new world of possibilities for businesses to grow and thrive. The ability to connect with customers across the globe has given businesses access to a huge pool of potential customers, which means they don’t have to limit themselves geographically anymore. It also means that they can offer products and services at lower prices than ever before because they don’t have to pay for the costs associated with transporting goods or people.
The internet allows businesses to reach their audience more efficiently than ever before, which can increase profits in many ways. For example, it allows them to save on marketing expenses by using online ads instead of traditional ones like print ads or billboards; it also makes it possible for them to sell directly from their website without going through third-party sellers like Amazon or eBay.
Slack beat off the competition in the global market after hiring the Canadian design firm MetaLab and receiving the assistance it required to turn the beta version into a well-liked product. Through online outsourcing of logo or website design, Slack was able to receive a $5 billion investment in 2017.
With limited initial capital, WhatsApp wanted to keep expenses down. As a result, it sought assistance from Eastern Europe to develop and market its product on a technical level. The company now employs Russian offshore software developers due to what it refers to as the nation’s sound engineers. While most internal staff concentrated on customer service and operations, the abroad personnel handled development.
After determining that product development was not the most important aspect of Skype’s success, the business found the required skills and experience at a competitive price. This action aided Skype in maintaining low prices and continued online program development. The business sought talent in Estonia and engaged numerous developers. These hired coders eventually succeeded, and the company accepted them as partners. Concerns about capacity, cost savings, and accessibility to limitless skills and talents were among Skype’s top justifications for outsourcing.
Google has transformed from a simple search engine into a huge technology firm as a result of outsourcing. For decades, the business has been one of the biggest outsourcers of administrative and IT work and other non-core duties. The company has outlined its main justifications for outsourcing since it acknowledges that despite its size, it cannot accomplish everything. They include addressing capacity issues, cutting costs, gaining access to a talent pool, and improving quality.
Alibaba is a well-known online retailer that, like Amazon and eBay, has mostly benefited from outsourcing. Alibaba’s presence in China, a country with cheaper costs, changed the paradigm for outsourcing, but this time it wasn’t for financial gains. Although the company could keep costs for resources and manufacturing in the region low, it was unfortunate that the scale of talent required for expansion was not available within the nation’s borders. As a result, the now-dominant online retailer contacted American partners and outsourcers. The website hired American web developers as an outsourcing move, which led to its success.
The first step toward Basecamp’s success was realizing that attempting to do each work alone was not a wise course of action. The project management platform became aware of how serious the internal workflow and customer support problems were. Basecamp outsourced a few crucial tasks to solve this issue, allowing its staff to concentrate on the company’s core competencies. Utilizing remote developers, the corporation continued to enhance the software. The company’s internal staff focused on internal structure and operations simultaneously, which is how Basecamp became well-known.
In 1992, Citigroup started contracting out its IT work, and as of today, it has numerous offshore operations in the Philippines, Poland, and India. And since the company reportedly laid off 11,000 staff at its headquarters in 2012, most of its IT functions are now handled by remote workers in other countries. Citigroup has ongoing contracts with TATA Consultancy Services, Wipro, and numerous other outsourcing businesses.
A team Soft Solutions is a digital agency that works with businesses to implement digital strategy and execution. We help our clients develop strong, sustainable digital strategies customized to their business needs, goals, and challenges.
When you partner with us, we’ll help you build out your team and plan for success. We’ll give you the tools and support you need to execute your digital strategy, so your organization can start making changes now and continue making them in the future.
We’re not here just to tell you how to do things—we want to work with you as an extension of your team. We want to be there to give feedback on what’s working and what isn’t and how we can help improve the experience for everyone involved.
Fortunately, companies have already tapped into digital solutions to remain competitive. Businesses have used digital solutions to reduce costs, increase revenue, and streamline processes. These solutions have been successful and continue to be adopted globally. As such, it is clear that digital solutions are a necessity in the global business world. Companies must move with the times by adopting digital solutions and integrating them into daily operations.
