Scaling Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with Digital Transformation

Paying for an espresso via an app or purchasing through retail stores, is getting common with each passing day. This has enabled both local and global SMEs to move their business with pace completely on the web, having an industry edge over the competition.

Adoption of Digital Transformation

Numerous SMEs have started adopting digital transformation solutions, well aware of the underlying potential. This can be seen as activities such as building a website or an app, to advanced solutions like IoT, AR, VR, and more.

Almost 3/4th of the workforce globally belongs to small and medium enterprises, contributing half of the world’s GDP. Their contribution to the worldwide economy can’t be overlooked, and yet they have so much to explore in terms of digital solutions.

Digitization for SMEs

SMEs have gone through a degree of innovative development, streamlining their work process digitally. We additionally see such organizations, not yet exploiting the information available on the cloud with incremental benefits. 

Regardless of the size of an organization, its area, or its line of business, innovation is a partner of SMEs at all levels. Here are the digital transformation solutions ways permitting SMEs to have worldwide reach. 

• Documentation Manner

Document a business establishment digitally, via thorough documentation of business necessities. Demonstrating business needs in a documented manner allows focusing on concerns and things causing hindrance. 

• Information Gathering

Exploit all the information about a business in a data warehouse, to get a gist of how business activities and tasks are well planned out. Going one step further, macro information could be divided into micro tits and bits.

• Market Research

Perform market research through data mining of competitor data, using business intelligence. The historical data of business and competition analysis enables leveraging extensive knowledge about products or services.

• Social Media Sentiments
  

Social media sentiments and behavioral tracking, help in comprehending what customers are looking for and how businesses can help. Other online marketing methods like pay per click, video marketing, podcasting, etc. gives an additional boost to business awareness.

• Automation Marketing

Automation marketing and testing tools make it easier in promoting a business globally. However, ensure to start slow on a lower level and speed up as you move higher on scalability.

So, we just saw how SMEs can leverage digitization to their advantage. Let us look at the challenges and benefits offered by digital transformation solutions with scalability.

Digitization Challenges with Scalability for SMEs

1. Social acceptance in respect to changes

There is always a cultural and generational hindrance, concerning social acceptance towards digitization changes. Resistance towards change is typical, with successful communication being the path to overcoming this hurdle. Cultural development is a vigorous toll that can stop people, move towards a common vision. The two-way correspondence is a sure shot approach, for working out the obstacles.

People with varied perspectives are meant to bifurcate into two – one anti-social with changes while another accepting the social changes. SMEs are deliberately meant to present workers, with a reasonable correspondence mode leading to support for each other.

2. Time and Budget act as a hindrance

SMEs can experience a squeezing effect when planning to adopt digital transformation solutions. SMEs should move from the conventional ways of marketing innovation, to go a step ahead with contemporary digital offerings.

It is crucial to deal with a benefit-driven methodology that works to be beneficial within business methodologies and processes. Dependable teams should show substantial numbers to legitimize spending’s with business timetables. 

3. Lack of a digital roadmap

SMEs need to tackle change endeavors around key topics of client experience, supply chain management, expanding automation capacities, and technological framework capacities. To accomplish this lean business management model, present-day teams should well prepared towards a persistent collaborative approach. 

• Transforming Process

Doing everything in-house removes the concentration from surrounding business capacities. This is where change management helps in handling people while keeping them together, despite not having a digital roadmap in place. When a digital roadmap is not in place, chances are high that your enterprise has to spend more on resources or compromise on business goals.

Digital transformation is an ongoing, long-term process, and therefore, it is necessary to define a roadmap before initiating this process. The digital roadmap defines the actual list of objectives and requirements to achieve an ultimate business goal.

Also Read : How COVID-19 Has Accelerated Digital Transformation

Digitization Benefits with Scalability for SMEs

1. Top-notch Customer Involvement 

Data analysis aligned with business intelligence (BI) has laid the groundwork for SMEs, to settle on better choices to deliver to the clients. Utilizing client experiences to break down their needs, meeting their prerequisites, and delivering on time has been possible through digital transformation solutions.

The approach of cloud-based IT solutions and models, have to lead to useful virtual offerings using restricted resources. It has empowered the SMEs to foster domain abilities while improving the client experience. 

2. Optimum Customer Reach 

Having a disconnected presence restricts a business, with an extended market reach. Implementing innovation and having an online presence enables SMEs to develop, and upgrade their game in their respective business sector. 

Digital commitment lets SMEs investigate new business avenues, empowering them to contend alongside top players in the business. A business going alongside virtually and free of geographical limits can deliver an improved clientele encounter.

3. Operational Efficiency Enhances

A report by TechMahindra says automation leads to lessening of functional expenses by 20% to 30% on capital and expenses. Such changes permit SMEs to cut down by and large their functional and showcasing costs. 

It is time now to Scale Up!

SMEs have always shown a tremendous inclination towards digital transformation solutions for a while now. While there are both challenges and benefits associated with both, digital innovation is here to stay for a long time with the likes of new IT technologies.

Conventional methods to transform a business turn out to be a lot costlier and time-consuming at times, demanding a touch of digitization right through. Digital transformation should integrated into the roots to reap maximal rewards, making people comfortable to accept and learn the change with absolute ease.