At a time when businesses were thriving owing to online presence, India’s MSME sector has grappled to leverage this digital boom. Failure to adopt this new normal has left these industries in a lurch. Inadequate funding is the primary deterrent to digital transformation for these industries. This blog will show you how can How can MSME & Smalls Business Scale-up Business Online.
How digitization will benefit MSME Sector and smalls businesses?
Ideally, a business with an online presence is more likely to gain sustainable growth unlike the one with an offline presence. Such a change can render a much-needed boost to your company, and all othersuch small industries operating pan India.
Here’s how digitization can help the MSME sector grow
Improved Customer Service
With features such as AI, chatbots & more, firms with a strong web-based presence can easily offer great customer service[1] to their prospects. Over time, this can assist in streamlining the company’s services.
Low Production Costs
With ML i.e. Machine learning &predictive business analysis, an online platform can help minimize expense relating to production.
Increased Profit Generation
Scaling small businesses online is cumbersome. But, if you do it somehow, considerable dividends will wait for your company. Usage of the latest tech results in improved products, which eventually crank up your profitability to new heights.
Improved Data Collection
Knowing what end-users wish & how they observe the company’s offerings, is a benefit predominately accessible to web-based firms. Furthermore, you can gather data from your rivals, increase your sales, & most importantly, render insights into the production & marketing department of your firm.
Fencing of potential Errors
With the technological up-gradation of MSMEs, human errors can be minimized, thereby putting brakes on mistakes. Automation & web-based integration is the key to achieve an effective business model, with almost no room for mistakes.
Nonetheless, the initial cost of establishing a web-based model often demotivates smalls business owners from making such a decision. Although the advantages far outweigh the expenses, smalls businesses simply lack the capital imperative for such a transformation.
Read our article:MSME Registration status and process: All you need to know
Steps to transform MSMS/Small Business Online
When the capital crunch is no longer a trouble, you can plan to transform your business into a web-based entity. The following can assist you in the process
Obtain a domain name &set up a website
Your site & domain are the two vital things when establishing an online business[1] model. Plan every detail about your name for your domain and website. Keep in mind that this is the initial point of contact between your firm and the end used users. The impressive & optimized site can give a boost toonline traffic, thereby increasing sales and revenue.
Create user-friendly content & optimize the site accordingly
Create site pages that inform end-users about the type of service you render. You can also make them aware of various aspects of your firm. But, drawing an adequate amount of online traffic to a page can still be daunting, if your SEO is lacking. Luckily, you can outsource such projects to a legit third party to ensure better rankings in Google search results.
Establish Social Media Accounts for better customer’s interaction & retention
Operating Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. accounts for a firm is more than a necessity today for businesses seeking online success. Apart from sharing regular notifications regarding discounts, offers, & other detail, such social media handles can also let firms correspond directly with clients.
It evident from above that each of these steps seeksa substantial pool of capital from business owners. Procuring funds for such purposes can be extremely daunting for small and micro-enterprises. Invoice discounting & other capital solutions can come in handy for such establishments to meet liabilities effectively.
Key digital trends impacting MSMEs and Small Businesses
Here are some important digital trends that will have significance on MSMEs and Smalls Business.
More small businesses shall adopt digital space
The recent study manifests that while more the 60% of MSME surveyed would like to go online, approximately 5% of them have done so. Nearly 80% of digitally-empowered MSMEs showed overall positive online experiences. According to another survey, the digitized smaller firms have grown twofold compared to their one that operates offline. Both surveys manifest large-scale online adoption amongst small firms is beyond imminent.
Small businesses leveraging cloud-based solutions
60% of MSME-based firms have cloud-based technologies rejoice competitive advantage & improved productivity. Solutions on offer are modern yet cheap, adaptable to all sorts of establishments, and yield economies of scale. Key solutions they choose include CRM, password management, & managing mailing lists.
Government promoting small businesses to scale up via cloud-based technologies
One of the stated priorities of GOI is to assist MSME leverage the digital technologies to thrive & scale to increase the sector’s share of the GDP from 35%-50% over the next 5-6 years. It has commenced 18 training avenues or tool rooms to aid MSMEs adopt & learn technology and aims to increase the footprint of such centers. It is also extending subsidies to firms adopting information technologies & cloud-based communication via the direct benefit transfer route.
Social media to becomes the center stage of marketing for small business
As per the latest marketing data, nearly 95% of small firms are leveraging social media platforms in their marketing strategy. Facebook has proofed its prowess in the marketing realm as far as the reach, impact, & conversion.
Chatbots will have a remarkable impact on small business
Around 45% of small firms believe optimal customer service is crucial for revenue growth. As they continue to adopt the digital space, given their limited resources, automation will likely play an important role in improving end-user experiences, while also streamlining their operations.
Bottom Line
If you wish to transform your smalls business online, be ready to arrange considerable corpus in deploying such a change. The digital wave has already taken the world by storm and is likely to stay prominent for years to come. Therefore, the non-adoption of such a technology can put the future of any business in danger. Erstwhile business practices will become dated sooner or later. Thus, it would be better to leverage technologies that matter most for the company.
Read our article:Underlining Government Efforts to Prevent MSMEs from getting Liquidated under IBC amid Covid19
