One of the ultimate goals of every small business is to scale to a considerable level. However, just a few achieve that feat due to the complicity of starting and running a business. According to a 2022 Small Business Administration (SBA) report, the US has about 33.2 million small businesses, making up about 99.9 percent of all businesses in the country. This makes small businesses the backbone of the US economy.
However, about 80% of these businesses have no employees and are run by individuals due to their inability to scale. What are the other 19.9 percent doing right that makes them able to employ and even scale? Aside from overcoming financial and other business challenges, some small businesses have realized the importance of digitalization and are streamlining their operations in that regard.
This means digital transformation and innovation are crucial for scaling your business in today’s fast-paced and competitive business environment.
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What Is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the introduction of technology into the core operations or all areas of a business. This has become essential, especially for small businesses seeking to remain competitive and scale, since it increases efficiency and productivity.
Here Are Seven Ways Small Businesses Can Scale Through Digital Transformation And Innovations
#1. Quality And High-Speed Internet Connectivity
Quality and high-speed internet connectivity play a central role in the digital transformation drive. Without it, the transformation effort will be futile since almost every tool and platform needed for digitization uses the Internet to communicate.
From communication and collaboration, data collection and sharing, to project management and cloud computing, you need a high-speed internet for smooth processes.
Small businesses can just rely on any high-speed and quality broadband internet provider to get connected. However, businesses with branches seeking to synchronize their operations will need SD WAN to enhance the process.
This technology enables businesses to build and manage wide-area networks using software-based controls and policies instead of traditional hardware-based networking gadgets. flexiWAN is one of the easiest SD-WAN to deploy and configure and combines networking and security in one deployment.
#2. Automation
With digital transformation, businesses can automate almost all business operations to enhance efficiency and productivity. Automation makes tedious and time-demanding tasks easier and done in less time.
This enables you to focus more on core business duties and strategies that can help the business scale. It also helps you save money, as it reduces the number of human resources needed.
To scale through digitization, identify all the manual and repetitive tasks that can easily be automated. There are some AI tools that help to automate manual data without getting into any trouble. As a result, you can easily complete any kind of data in a few minutes without worrying about it. This way you can spend your precious time on other activities. This helps to save your manual work timing as well as energy.
Administrative tasks like scheduling, invoicing, payroll processing, data entry, etc., can easily be automated and wouldn’t cost much. Even tedious tasks like accounting, human resource management, customer relationship management, project management, social media management, and sales, among others, can have full or partial automation.
#3. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing allows you to easily access and manage business data and software everywhere you go. It is cost-effective and prevents the cumbersome process of always carrying storage devices wherever you go and the loss of data.
With it, teams can easily collaborate virtually as they can access and work on projects and document anywhere. This enhances scalability as it improves the technological capabilities required for faster and more seamless operations.
Additionally, When transitioning to cloud solutions, organizations should also explore options for data center asset recovery, ensuring that surplus infrastructure assets are efficiently repurposed or recycled, maximizing cost-effectiveness and environmental responsibility.
#4. Employ Social Media And Digital Marketing
Social media has become a big global market, and with the use of digital marketing strategies, businesses can reach millions of potential customers worldwide. Small businesses can scale by creating business pages on various social media platforms.
Platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., afford businesses the opportunity to create and engage target audiences through creative content and targeted ads. You can also create an online store on some of these platforms to sell products and services directly to interested audiences.
Aside from that, digital marketing strategies like a paid advertisement, pay-per-click, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing enable you to increase visibility, expand brand reach, and create quality leads.
#5. Make Use Of Data
Collecting, analyzing, and properly using data in decision-making is key to any business seeking to scale and grow. After collecting customers’ data, businesses can use analytic tools to gather insights and market trends of each customer.
This helps in making guided and informed decisions that aid in meeting customers’ needs and improving their experience. Leveraging data also helps businesses to identify growth opportunities, create quality leads, and minimize associated risks.
#6. Improved Customer Relationship
By using digital tools, businesses can create and improve customer relationships and experiences to enhance their growth. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho can help businesses understand customers’ needs to create personalized interactions.
It also helps in contact, lead, sales, and opportunity management. Some CRM tools come with analytic features that help businesses gain insights into customer behavior, marketing, and sales performances. This promotes data-driven decision-making for business growth.
#7. Make Cybersecurity And Data Privacy A Top Priority
Utilizing digital transformation in your business scalability effort means you will deal with lots of data. It is, therefore, crucial to ensure the security and privacy of business and customer data.
Device robust cybersecurity measures that will prevent or minimize any cybersecurity threat. Ensure data security compliance, encryption, secure access controls, and regular security audits to build trust with your customers.
Conclusion
Scaling your business through digitization is a process and not an event. It needs to be well-planned, strategized, and executed. Any rush can end you in a crush. Adopt an approach and tools that perfectly matches the business size, vision, and expectation.
Don’t forget to have high-speed internet connectivity, leverage customer data, employ cloud computing, and utilize social media and digital marketing in your quest to scale through digital transformation.
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