Trending market patterns, growing consumer demands, and establishing a competitive edge against the big businesses in the market has always been a challenge for small businesses (SMBs). With the economy trying to recover from the recent pandemic-driven recession, SMBs are predicted to foresee higher challenges up ahead.
According to a recent report by ZDNet, “Small business tech outlook: Here are the challenges and opportunities ahead”, inflation increased by 2.47% worldwide and is posing a challenging for SMBs. As a result, small businesses are scrambling to up their game by offering unique customer services, improved customer relations, and increased operational efficiency. Here are some of the technology challenges SMBs face
Choosing the right software or a technology solution is crucial with many vendors out in the market, offering more or less the same features. This is more of a challenge to SMBs due to a lack of proper information they are offered by the software vendors also they are prompted to adopt multiple tools due to difficulties in adopting the right platform. SMBs need to select a platform that quickly adopts the ecosystem which is scalable with the changing business and other tech capabilities.
SMBs often hesitate to deploy new technologies due to fewer resources and limited time. Businesses need to invest in a technology that is applicable, relevant, user-friendly and easier to navigate, and closely aligns with the workflow. Implementing a new technology can be quite rough, and a solution could be investing in a tech consulting service or a partner who can help guide the company and its workforce through the transition.
Lack of accessibility can limit SMBs from adapting the new technologies as software and tools that can be accessed only from particular premises confines its benefits and usability. Due to this, businesses are likely to lose interest in technology. A simple software platform that offers secure access to data, productivity tools, dashboards, and performance metrics from anywhere can be an ideal technology.
Subscription schemes that come with most of the technology platforms turn out costlier than expected. Monthly integrations and updates that come with the schemes might affect the business if not updated at the right time. SMBs need to invest in a unified platform that integrates different features and functionalities in a single platform and will also aid them to cope with such drawbacks.
Also Read: Top Four Trends in AI to Look Out for in 2023
Information security is one of the vital challenges for businesses. When a company is transitioning to new technology and is using multiple applications ensuring one’s financial data, IP data, and customer information is challenging.
The apprehension of losing the data restricts SMBs from deploying new technologies. Technology solutions that provide efficient data security should be deployed to ensure guaranteed data and IT security via private servers, updated firewalls, and access controls.
The pandemic has led to an inevitable shift to hybrid work culture and has taught small companies and their workforce to adopt new technologies. Hence, it is necessary to choose an imperative platform. SMBs must prioritize technology that enables effective collaboration, instant communication, simple and secure access to tools and data, business transparency, and effective and centralized IT management from anywhere.
Companies that are reluctant to adopt new technologies and tools might end up impacting even the functioning of clients and vendors. Hence companies need to enable seamless third-party and custom integrations which will be favorable in the long run. If a company is already using a technology that limits integrations, it’s never too late to switch to a solution that allows for more flexibility.
Also Read: The Rising Need for Composite AI in 2023 and Beyond
It has become challenging to keep everyone equally engaged, motivated, and on the same page with team members working from various locations today. One can now enable easy and secure access to tools, applications, data, and files with the cloud. Temporary access to clients and vendors for further smooth functioning and unrestricted operations can be granted with cloud abilities added with custom dashboards, so employees can stay engaged, and updated and remain connected from anywhere.
SMBs running on a restricted budget need to invest in a platform that allows centralized IT management. When all of the data, IT assets, storage, and even employee and client management are managed from a single platform, businesses gain greater visibility and control over their operational costs. Furthermore, consider the versatile storage management controls enhanced security, and single sign-on convenience that such a platform would provide for your small business. This way, when businesses can think of scaling the server configurations cost-effectively with technology.
With the challenging and fast-changing market SMBs, sustainment and success is the key. Deploying the right technology might be challenging but updated technology and the right strategies are the vital steps a business can take to keep up with the big giants.
Check Out The New Enterprisetalk Podcast. For more such updates follow us on Google News Enterprisetalk News.
Apoorva Kasam is a Global News Correspondent with OnDot Media. She has done her master’s in Bioinformatics and has 12+ months of experience in clinical and preclinical data management. She is a content-writing enthusiast, and this is her first stint writing articles on business technology. She has covered a wide array of crucial industry insights like Blockchain, strategic planning, data analytics, supply chain management, governance, compliance, and the latest industry trends. Her ideal and digestible writing style displays the current challenges, and relevant mitigation strategies businesses can look forward to. She has a keen interest in the latest enterprise trends like digital transformation, cloud, and enterprise resource planning. She looks for minute details, while her excellent language skills help her deliver a crisp-looking, niche-specific message through her articles. She is looking forward to exploring her writing styles and portraying her thoughts that can help enhance organizational effectiveness, business performance, and sustainability. Apart from writing, she enjoys spending time with her pet and reading oncology publications.
