In the 21st century, where the world is driven with technology, digitalisation plays a very crucial role in running a business in order to maximize the profit and make a mark in the growing business industry. Last September in a piece for the Forbes Magazine, Steve Andriole wrote that “everyone wants to transform their businesses, and everyone who’s alive knows that transformation and change now depends on digital technology.” These days numerous technological solutions appear in order to meet the requirements of SMEs and multinational companies. Digital transformation is the key to survive in today’s competitive world.
Dependency of SMEs on digitalisation
Information technology (IT) infrastructure has become the most important asset for most small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and also a mantra for growth due to the fact that information technology has revolutionised the way today’s business operate – from the onset of email and mobile communications, to the ever-increasing growth of online trading and electronic payments.
One out of five SMEs say that online dealing and social media marketing is the biggest scope for their opportunity for growth, with innovations such as mobile technology (18%) and cloud computing (11%) also topping the charts.
Digitalisation is the grand source of marketing for the SMEs as one out of ten individuals are socially influenced and hence proper online marketing strategies create an influential impact on the consumers gaining their attention.
How SMEs learn to expand their business?
It’s very important for the SMEs to learn and implement new strategies to expand their business. They opt various ways of learning to scale-up their business. Some of the ways are listed below:-
Free advice forums
Registering to free online websites that provide advices on how to take your venture to another dimension serve as a great help to the SMEs. SMEs are switching to the technological world in order to scale up their ventures and stand out in the competing business industry.
Online courses
Nowadays, travelling to a good institute to gain knowledge becomes cumbersome and hence, SMEs are switching to online courses that provide them great business strategies to boost their sales and market their products globally. Flexibility and affordability are the major aspects as to why SMEs are switching on to online courses.
Connecting with experts
Online services don’t limit to just courses but they give the SMEs the opportunity to connect with the expertise and take their valuable advice on how your scales would scale-up, discounts on which products will drive sales and also which products will draw maximum revenue maximizing the profit of the firm. When SMEs can’t afford to hire an expert on their own, switching on to online services becomes a convenient option for them.
Learn from other SMEs
SMEs find this as the best of learning to take their business to another scale. Different SMEs implement different marketing strategies to maximize profit; hence this paves a way for other SMEs to learn from them. One SME might specialize in one aspect whereas other will be an expert in something else; this is an opportunity for the SMEs to learn from each other and boost up their business to another level and walk out as a confident firm.
Three years for the Narendra Modi led government’s emphasis on encouraging the upliftment of the small and medium scale businesses has given some phenomenal results.
In a report published in August, 2016; it is mentioned that the small and medium sized enterprises are of utmost importance for the development of Indian economy as they contribute over 45% of the country’s GDP which is almost three times the GDP contributed by the corporate India. Not only this, the SME sector contributes majorly in the country’s employment. It accounts for employing over 46 crore people helping the nation to transform into a developed nation and also growing at a rate of 11% annually. Hence, SMEs are the major contributors to the Indian economy.
The Survey
A survey was conducted by facebook in collaboration with the Organization for economic cooperation and development on the “dependency of SMEs on one another for learning new strategies” to see the developmental procedures of the SMEs which contribute a surplus amount to the economy these days.
In line with the global trends, the small enterprises in India are growing at another level and are relying on each other to learn and are sharing contemporary ideas on the digital platform says the survey. Rather than competing amongst themselves, they have chosen a better option to help each other grow and contribute towards the economic development of the nation.
Number of SMEs who took the survey:-
Nearly 2,00,000 SMEs in more than 40 nations worldwide drawn from 70 million businesses actively participated in the survey who possessed an active facebook page.
In March, 2017 the survey included a very important education on how businesses learn to grow and how do they perceive the gaps.
The results obtained from this survey were:-
Internationally, around 42% of the SMEs said that learning from each other is the best way to grow and master the mobile environment and develop better marketing strategies to excel in their venture. It helps to maintain a contact and creates a symbiotic relationship which is beneficial to both of the businesses to make a mark in the society.
64% of the SMEs in the world rely on the online services to learn about new ways to enhance the business and expand their horizons.
Talking about India, 38% of the total SMEs told that they rely on each other to grow and stand out in the ever-growing business competition. They believe that Experience is the best teacher and hence learn from the experiences of the other SMEs and master the new digitalized technology.
The results indicate that many businesses are appreciating the digital marketing as a source for better marketing campaigns and grabbing the attention of the consumers to increase the profit. It also helps to connect and sale their products online making it convenient for the consumers. This is very true for the SMEs who seek help to grow their business effectively. In India, the survey highlights:-
A sense of optimism in the economy:-
Businesses learning from each other and connecting with other firms develop a sense of confidence and authority. The survey showed that around 41% of the businesses are confident and learn from each other developing a sense of positivity. While, 61% of the business ventures lack confidence and fail to learn from the other ventures.
Growing globally:-
A supportive community can aid businesses scale globally. Businesses that trade internationally learn from many sources and have more educational interests in business-related issues. They also cite more educational interests to grow internationally.
Increase in the employment in the society:-
This is the most important benefit availed from the businesses as it has helped the Indian economy to grow tremendously and is currently helping to evolve as a developed nation. The figures say that nearly 41% and 39% of the SMEs that have added jobs in the past six months or are planning to add more in the next coming year also learnt from other growing SMEs.
The motive behind the survey:-
The survey conducted by the future of business survey- in collaboration with facebook, the OECD and the World Bank which focuses on SMEs across the globe introduced the survey for the following reasons:-
Help the businesses succeed in the industry by developing a better understanding of the economic environment in which they function.
To share the learning and also the challenges and opportunities existing in today’s business industry which will help them evolve as a better venture.
This type of study helps to attain timely information about businesses as to how they function, what strategies they implement to enhance their business, what are their future plans, how do they target the audience and also what are their marketing strategies. It also provides a pulse on the present and future of the economic environment.
Ankhi Das, Director of Public Policy for Facebook India and South Asia, said, “To help businesses succeed in today’s digital economy; we need to understand the current and future economic environments in which these businesses operate.”
On the whole, the survey indicated that many businesses are embracing the power on technology to develop a connection with other SMEs and target new customers to enhance their venture. They are also emphasizing on digital marketing which is the sole of the ventures these days as it is the most influential platform. It made clear that this is the time to connect and grow. Developing number of connections is the key to develop your SMEs and compete with the world. The survey gave an insight on the present scenario of the learning sources of the businesses and the future of the economy. The survey concluded that it is the time to develop mutualism and help each other rather than competing with other SMEs.