Apple was a small business started in a garage by Steve Jobs in 1976. But for decades, it is the most valued company first to cross the one and two trillion dollars in market capitalization. So apart from showing the world how small businesses can become global, they also paved the way for digital transformation. Now it is transforming small businesses worldwide to become big corporate companies cutting across global barriers. It is the reason that Gartner reports that one of the top three priorities of enterprises is digital transformation, and IDC projects that its spending would cross 1.18 trillion by the end of 2019. And with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, there will also be a rapid resurgence of digital transformation across industries worldwide.
Hence, let us check how small businesses should approach digital transformation to become big companies fast and easily.
How do digital technologies impact businesses?
Before diving into how small businesses approach digital transformation, it is pertinent to know how digital technologies impact businesses. Today’s customers differ from the days of brick and mortar businesses. They are all well connected and informed, thanks to the digital transformation. With smartphones being used by over half the population, they have the technology with the internet at their fingertips. Hence, they expect higher and only businesses fulfilling them can sustain and succeed in this digital era. It is the reason that many studies confirm that over 75% SMBs or small and medium businesses confirm the impact of digital technology in their business. Hence, most 82% of them are engaging or planning for digital transformation now than ever before to outsmart their competitor and grow on a global scale.
The ways small businesses should approach digital transformation
Digital transformation changes the way companies operate and offer value to their customers. It is by integrating digital technology in all aspects of the business, focusing on customer satisfaction. The 2019 Watermark consulting report establishes that the companies focusing on customer experience have three times better performance than those without it. But unlike big companies and enterprises, small businesses need to overcome many challenges for successful digital transformation. They can have easy access to modern technology, cultural support, vendors, and others not easily available for small businesses. But with a clear plan, even small businesses can have digital transformation with the help of the right vendors and others. The following are the ways for small businesses should approach digital transformation for developing their business.
- First, small businesses should acknowledge and embrace the key digital trends to reap their benefits
- Identifying the key customer needs is essential to plan for the digital transformation to have the best customer experience
- It is vital to pursue a practical digital transformation approach within the budget constraints
- Take all stakeholders in the digital journey into confidence with effective collaboration to make it successful
- Sending emails in a blast is not effective as it is time for personalized emails for having an individualized contact strategy with all customers
- Focus on using data as key to digital transformation and collect and analyze them for providing the better customer experience
- Moving to the cloud for not only storing data safely at lower costs but also to leverage the elasticity, efficiency, scaling, and others of its providers to save money and effort
- Using artificial intelligence and other new technologies as early as possible will help improve customer experience and engagement for growing the business
Hence, small businesses need to choose the right vendors to make their digital transformation seamless, fast, and convenient. They have all the above expertise and more for making it an enjoyable experience apart from a highly rewarding one.