Going digital for your Business

If you’re thinking that the online space is only for big or mid-sized companies, you might need to rethink again before you are sure of it next time. A variable increase in the number of traditional, small businesses is now adopting the digital way to a varying extent and for good reason.

Going digital should not be seen as a way to build an image but has several other leveraging advantages.
In today’s world, you will find yourself in the online space on a beneficial need. No matter what sort of business you do, the type of customers you handle, the model that you follow or create for you, what category of Business it comes under, you make it a necessity to mark your presence in the online world.

Choosing to establish a digital presence sure does have value in it. A quick google search would land you any business sure does have a mark on the digital space or in simpler terms have an online footprint.

Today even if you are having a hardware or a supplies business, you could say that even if not a giant, you do have an identification on the online space. With a simple receipt of money from accepting cards, UPI, or e-wallets which are something like mobile application-based payment, congratulations you have made good progress.

There is always scope for improvement similarly, if you are already into the digital world, there is still a possibility to expand the digital footprint to magnify your presence.

Digital trends impacting MSME

Increased number of small businesses moving online.

A recent study that was conducted indicated that 63% of MSMEs wanted to go digital but only 5% went in the real digital world. A majority of MSMEs reported positive responses to post moving into the digital world. One more study mentioned that businesses that opted for the digital way doubled their growth in a quicker span than their offline counterparts which is a seemingly big achievement. SO on the whole considering both the case study above it is evident that small businesses are continually moving towards digitization.

Adopting cloud technology

Several small businesses adopted cloud technology to improvise their way of working. This included solutions that help in password management, mailing lists, and handling customer relationships. This helps organizations achieve productivity and make a competitive achievement. This was agreed by a majority of MSMEs where the results were proven to be positive. The cloud-based technology solutions that were opted for by the organizations are affordable and could be tailored to suit any business scenario.

Encouragement from the Government to adopt a cloud strategy

To raise the contribution of MSMEs GDP to 50% in the next 5 years the Government has placed the adoption of cloud-based solutions as one of the priorities. !8 tool rooms have been set up to assist the MSMEs in the cloud-based solution adoption which is expected to be increased to over 150 training centers.

Understanding and adjusting to the millennials

In terms of the sheer number and purchase power, the millennials rule the online world. So to get your business on their radar the small businesses must adapt video content for promotion, influencer marketing, and usage of social media.

Power of social media and its dominance

In terms of reach, impact, and conversion to sales social media dominate the marketing strategy. Facebook and Instagram in particular are the key players to focus on.

Chatbots for customer service

Better customer service is the key to financial growth. Given limited resources, automating customer service and response to customer queries help in streamlining the process. The quicker the turnaround for a customer query the more you get to score in terms of valuable service and definitely, that paves way for word of mouth growth, which in turn means more number of customers and could be possible conversion to sales.

How can it serve to be a springboard to success?

Adopting digital methods or digitization is served to be a springboard and bring in exponential growth

A representative of business transformation

Adopting cloud-based solutions helps to streamline the operating process and helps in improving growth and productivity. The most powerful effect on Business would be from adopting digitization.

Versatile and dominant medium of business

High impact branding and communication in the form of text, audio, and video is possible and thereby bringing in unprecedented reach. Helps enable real-time two-way communication through dedicated brand platforms that help in driving interaction and engagement.

The ultimate path for sales

With e-commerce raising the curtain for the show of online shopping from the comfort of homes and at suitable times, the products are available at ease, and payments are also made hassle-free.

A deeper insight into above-sighted advantages is below.

Triggering business transformation

These cloud-based solutions are plug and play which in other words mean they can be tailored to suit your business needs. With Big- data analytics-enabled it helps access patterns and insights and enabled to choose business decisions accordingly. From manufacturing to supply chain to CRMs they are tailored accordingly.
Mailing Management – MS Outlook ,Gmail
Storage management – One drive and Google Drive,
Accounting software – Intuit QuickBooks Online,
CRM software – Apptivo
Though it requires time and effort to choose the best that suits your needs, the return on investment is exponential.

Versatile cost-effective medium

To reach out to prospects nationwide and worldwide is the best means. Another added advantage being the ability to effectively narrow down the target prospects based on purchase power, demography, and many such factors.
Online videos on Youtube, are a great way to capture the eyeballs and register your brand to the target audience.
A key performance metric is an engagement that decides the success rate. The prospects’ progress journey that lands on sales are the result every business looks out for. This can be achieved by content creating that is compelling and interactive enough to initiate engagement.

Sales enablement

An eCommerce platform could either be your own or can be chosen to be a part of eCommerce aggregator platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, snapdeal, and Shopclues.

The deeper you go into digital, the number of benefits it would reap you. But the ultimate choice of what solutions you select should take your business to the next level. This should be the ultimate goal. The digital space has a lot of aspects to offer so choose wisely. If done appropriately, it can propel growth to greater heights. But bad customer experiences could get blown out of proportion so that needs to be taken care of.

Double or triple check before you dive into a digital initiative. So make wise choices and keep testing for loopholes that need attention. Investments into these solutions could be counted as risks, but if you have everything in place and confident about what lies ahead then definitely the results would overshadow the risks that you take.

Written as part of Blogchatter’s campaign #ECommerceInnovation. Read more posts in the campaign here.

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