SMEs Riding the Digital Wave:

Gone are the days when the market was just brand-oriented because nowadays we live in an era where factories are more and more and that too virtual and the size is getting shrunken and less important for its success because now it hardly matters how big is the organization you can even win the battle if you own a small startup.

But one needs to learn how to expand their network with other partner companies, they also need to keep themselves updated on what’s happening in their domain currently and in real time they need to make the sense of the customers want and be able to react immediately to market changes and the best part is it's not that tough now with the blooming technology and digitalization. It's very easy for an SME to have a firm hold on market demand.

So the question arises is, what is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is basically the process of redefining the entire business strategy by opting for the latest and emerging new technology for running the business through strategic plans and organizational change to provide sustainable value.

IMPACTS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON SMEs:

DT has a growing impact on Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) and offers new and prolific opportunities to participate and rule the global economy.

Expanded growing Smartphone users and internet access are on no bounds bringing a tremendous shift from traditional to newer ways of manufacturing, handling, storing, and transporting stuff. Digital transformation focuses on new technology in order to ensure elasticity and scalability by the customers and that’s how they add that sparkle factor.

For new enterprises, one of the biggest challenges for a brand is to earn the trust of the customer and build brand loyalty on that trust. If a company/enterprise attains transparency it offers opportunities to lay the foundations of a meaningful relationship with customers it can rule the market.

Some of the benefits gained by SMEs are:

Increase in Revenue:

The most important factor for any organization is its profit, for attaining that higher revenue higher is the growth of the organization.

A tremendous impact is seen in businesses after digital transformation especially in terms of revenue. t has proved that the profits of online businesses grew by approximately 18.7% yearly whereas offline businesses grew by 10% according to a KPMG report.

Enhanced operational efficiency:

As per some companies' stats, it is found that technologies can reduce operational cost by about 20 to 30% through improved labor utilization and reduced marketing expenses.

And is because Digital transformation allows SMEs to decrease overall expenditure by optimizing operational and marketing expenditures via digital platforms and thus improved capital.

Customer Preferences:

Business heads and data analysts have laid opportunities for SMEs to make a better understanding of customer’s side of looking at things. Using customer's needs and requirements, designing new products that would meet customer taste and ensures timely delivery of the right products at a cost-effective price and keeping it profitable at the same time.

Invasion of Digital Marketing:

Nowadays, most of the next generation believes in doing something out of the box and are risk-takers. Many SME owners in recent times have entered the market with a dive into directly online marketing methods with digital marketing as their primary weapon as it promotes their business at a lower cost.

SMEs basically use social media to promote their business. Some of the ruling social media handlers which have been blooming in recent times are Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.

Higher Customer Base:

Customizing technology and having an online presence leads to remarkable opportunities for SMEs to grow and up their game in local and overseas markets. Increased digital engagements allow SMEs to explore more. Results show consumers want more choices and shopping online provides one with a huge selection and variety of products, the convenience of not going to stores, better prices with discounts, discreet shipping.

It also provides quick and easy product replacement and refund, does not contain the crowd and has an easy checkout process, and provides fast delivery options.

But if these technologies were enough to make a company ‘Industry 4.0’, any existing company could become ‘Industry 4.0’. It would be enough to buy and deploy some new technologies.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. If your company is not efficient or has an obsolete business model, the new technologies will not help. Thus the problem boils down to the approach ‘Technologies in, garbage out.