“We can’t keep up”: Digital transformation for small businesses
Do you know the difference between action and reaction? Action takes effort, but reaction ends up as exhausting. It’s the difference between surfing the wave and being engulfed by it. Market shifts, new technology, regulatory changes, what’s a small business to do? Or rather, what are 85% of small and medium-sized businesses to do, as that is the staggering percentage of SMBs that struggle with this problem. That’s the finding by consulting company McKinsey. We’re not going to argue. We’d rather find a way to fix it. Digital transformation for small businesses could hold the answer.
Customer experience going down the drain
First impressions are often what convince customers that they should do business with you. Your quick responses, your personalized service, and your attention to detail, not to mention your smart ideas for how they can get ahead thanks to your product or service. But if you can’t keep up with events afterwards, the honeymoon stops. Disappointment sets it, leading to customer churn and dents in your brand reputation. Churn is bad for everyone. Bad for customers because they must go through the whole process of finding and vetting another supplier. Bad for you because of all the extra effort it takes to replace a previous customer with a new one.
Systems and scalability in digital transformation for small businesses
Lives and work are governed by systems and it’s mostly beneficial. If you find you can’t keep up, it may be because you don’t have a system in place. More precisely, a scalable system. More and more, systems are digital, because software is increasingly smart. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a prime example. However, a critical aspect of systems and digital transformation for small businesses is the way they make humans more effective. Once again, if systems and digital transformation are the wave, make sure that you and your team are on top, not underneath.
Little helpers with big impacts
Quick steps to getting back on top include creating frequently asked questions pages on your business website (and making it obvious to visitors where to click to get to your FAQs). This will already get customers quicker answers to the most common questions. Take digital transformation for small businesses a step further with a chatbot on your site to simulate an interaction with customers. And from the time you reclaim, invest a minute a day to review what’s going on in your industry and what your competitors are doing. Knowing what’s going on will tell you when your business needs to pivot, and digital transformation will make it that much easier.
FAQs on digital transformation for small businesses.
- How can I tell if my business is underperforming? A decline in sales is the classic sign. But be sensitive to customer criticisms about clunky processes and staff complaints about laborious manual tasks. It’s only a matter of time before your business starts falling behind.
- Will my team be able to cope with digital transformation? The real question is, will they be able to cope without it? It’s a wave, so make it a small wave to surf in the first instance. Get your toes collectively wet with a small digital transformation project that brings tangible benefits, like an entry-level customer relationship management (CRM) system, then grow from there.
- Why don’t I just hire more people? People do one thing, systems do another. If the most immediate benefit comes from a solution to consistently accomplish a process without error at any time day or night, a digital system(of the right kind) may be a better, safer, more cost-efficient solution. It can also free up time for people to do things that systems cannot do, like creative thinking, strategizing, and interacting face to face with customers.
Next steps for digital transformation for small businesses
Move from uncontrolled expansion to sustainable growth by improving processes, leveraging automation and AI, eliminating bottlenecks, and readying your team for the most effective use of digital transformation for small businesses. Take it one step at a time with a simple playbook that explains what to do and which benefits to expect at each step of the way.