As an SME in South Africa Digitization Should Be Your Life Blood – Here’s Why
If you have a small to mid-sized enterprise (SME) then you need a cost-effective way of optimising your marketing and processes. The best way to reduce costs, standardize business processes and reduce the reliance on manpower is to digitize your business.
Digitizing your business has become crucial for SMEs now more than ever before especially since the world is experiencing a pandemic. Using digital software to run your business reduces the need for human contact during a pandemic while still allowing employees to communicate remotely through digital devices.
But are there more reasons why digitization is important especially for small to mid-sized businesses? That’s what we’ll be discussing in today’s article. Keep reading to find out how you can transform your SME so you can expand your business in the future with digitization.
Top 4 Reasons You Need to Digitize Your SME
We are currently moving into the fourth industrial revolution and we’ve been living in a digital age for many years now. Not using digital operations in your business can be detrimental to your SME’s growth. Partners and customers don’t want to work with corporations that can’t move with the times. Take a look at the following four reasons why you should digitize your SME.
1. Digitize So You Can Optimise Your Processes
If you’re a small to mid-sized business you may not have the space to store documents and manual labour for retrievals will cost you time and money. Many business owners prefer to digitalize their document storage to save on space and to speed up retrieving processes.
There are myriads of companies out there that offer cloud services so you can store your documents online. Clouds allow employees to easily access data using digital search methods which optimises workflow.
Cloud services were previously only accessible to large corporations that had the budget to purchase hardware and software. But now cloud computing is available to companies of all sizes.
The advantage of cloud computing is that you can access an account on one device. So SMEs don’t have to spend money on more devices until they can afford it.
2. Effective Customer Engagements
Approximately 4.66 billion (60%) consumers around the world use the internet and this number is growing. So naturally, businesses that have an online presence will be appealing to those who browse the internet for products and services daily.
However, digitization is more than simply creating a website or creating social media platforms for your SME. You’ll get the most out of your digital processes with the data your online presence collects. Essentially digitalisation will provide important insights to help SMEs understand their target audience and to monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
This is useful for SMEs that have a low marketing budget because online advertising is affordable and it’s well-targeted too compared to ads in magazines. With online platforms such as Facebook business owners can select the type of consumers they want to push adverts to based on the following:
- Age
- Location
- Goods and service preference
- Trends in online customer feedback
Here’s what collecting web data from your online presence can do for you:
- Provides data on the number of visitors you get on a website
- Gives information of how traffic to website changes after new advertising is launched
- Number of page views on your site
- Gauges popularity trends
- What customers like and dislike based on comments
3. Streamline Your Workload
For many years there have been companies that use digital programs to reduce workloads. If you’re an SME you may struggle to keep up with workloads so you must incorporate digital platforms into your processes to assist you.
You can use a digital platform to manage your supply chain by keeping track of all the components of your business. Shop owners have digital devices that give them information on how many units of a specific product have been sold and how many are left. This reduces the need for manual stock-taking.
With digital platforms, companies can keep track of projects and see which tasks are more important. For SMEs that are currently working remotely during the pandemic digital platforms such as Microsoft’s To-Do or Asana is an excellent way to manage tasks without having to send out emails or phone employees.
4. You Can Transform Manual Tasks into Digital Ones
Transforming manual tasks ties into streamlining your workload because digital platforms create a faster process. For example, upgrading your accounting software may provide invoicing templates that you don’t have to create from scratch. Simply fill in the details and send it to your customers.
What’s more, you can transform your physical shop into an online store which will help you keep track of stock and provide important information about the products you sell. You can link your online shop to other online profiles you may have to make your online presence more visible.
These are simply two examples that prove you can turn an array of manual tasks into automated digital ones to help you with workflow.
How Does Digitalization Help with Value/Revenue
An economic survey of Singapore’s first quarter in 2019 indicated that businesses that used digital tools increased their value by 25%. Digital transformation can boost profitability. When your profit increases you’ll have more resources available to create changes within your SME that can boost company efficiency and workflow.
With the correct digital tools, you can optimise your marketing campaigns which will significantly improve your revenue if used correctly. According to a book called Leading Digital using digital technology for marketing or processes can increase revenue by more than 10%.
How Does Digitizing Your SME Improve Employee Experience?
Employees that are currently working remotely must have a proper means of communicating with co-workers in real-time. With platforms such as Skype or Zoom employees can engage with co-workers during meetings and discuss important matters related to projects.
This increases a positive working experience for employees who work from home. Digital platforms can also reduce stress because employees can work fast and efficiently.
Using digital tools such as cloud computing allows employees to view and send documents remotely no matter where they are located which also helps to reduce stress on time-sensitive projects.
Final Thoughts
How are you digitizing your SME during this time? Are you implementing important digital tools to optimise your processes and if so which ones are you using? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
In the meantime, for you to be able to work with most digital tools you may need a fast and reliable connection service provider. You want a connection service that doesn’t have downtimes and that can speed up your tasks simply by providing you with a lightning-fast internet connection. Here at Huge Connect, we can do just that.
