Tech-enabled resilience: the key to SME success in 2023

Lindsay Brown, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific and Japan, GoTo

A building is not just designed to withstand a one-off calamity but to be resilient for years to come. Using the same analogy, when you’re running a business, it’s not just about overcoming one disruption but having your business stand the test of time in the face of multiple disruptions.

Navigating the current business landscape, as per the National Business Survey 2022/2023 carried out by Singapore Business Federation, 66% of Singaporean SMEs have cited increase in overall business costs as their most pressing concern, amongst ongoing challenges such as talent crunch, lack of sufficient capital and evolving customer expectations.

Budget 2023 reaffirmed Singapore’s steadfast commitment to supporting SMEs with a shift in emphasis from ensuring survival, to fostering long-term economic growth. It has become even more evident that SMEs need to adopt a far-sighted mindset when it comes to building financial resilience and ensuring business continuity in the new year.

Establishing a strong foundation of technology, could be key to achieving that.

Scaling up on technology does not have to mean implementing more tools that costs the business more but rather consolidating the right tools that help with rationalising costs. Let’s look into the benefits of doing so. 

When it comes to IT, less is more

64% of business owners in Singapore prioritise preparing for an economic downturn – with one of the steps being implementing technology to enhance operational resilience and productivity.

However, despite these benefits, inflationary pressures have made the high cost of technology adoption a difficult barrier for SMEs to cross. In other words, SMEs need to strike a balance between investing in technological solutions to build a robust market presence while exercising fiscal prudence in the prevailing economic conditions.

The answer to that dilemma lies in IT consolidation. Regrettably though, only 22% of Singaporean SMEs are prioritising tech stack consolidation as a way to offset budget limitations.

Investing in multiple software tools might seem like the correct thing to do when you are looking to strengthen your IT infrastructure but in doing so, you potentially run the risk of IT bloat in your business. This not only impacts an SME’s bottom line, it also affects the productivity of their employees who are having to spend time switching between multiple applications to get work done, as well as their IT teams in having to maintain and support these tools.

Consolidating your IT tools creates greater visibility for your IT team, causing them less strain and streamlining workflow processes between various departments in an organisation. And it goes unsaid that this saves your business, both time and cost.

Delivering a seamless experience for the customer of 2023

The fast-paced digital world we live in, has skyrocketed customer expectations. So much so that 76% of consumers would stop doing business with a company after just one bad customer experience. This means that long hold times, or multiple call transfers can cost your business a lot more than just money.

This is where choosing and consolidating the right IT tools becomes even more crucial.

Strive for a solution that does the job of three to four different tools and integrates all your data within one unified dashboard. Invest in a product that meets the customer where they are, no matter the device or digital channel they are using and one that alongside AI Chatbot integrations, allows your business to provide personalised IT support through visual engagement.

Having an all-in-one IT support solution that encompasses remote monitoring and management, remote access and support, ticketing, and automation to name a few, will help businesses achieve the same or better results with fewer resources, thereby boosting productivity and improving the bottom line.

More importantly, it will help SMEs deliver a seamless customer experience in an age of instant gratification.

Tech + Talent: the winning formula for a strong business

In conjunction with technological advancement, SMEs need to simultaneously invest in the upskilling and re-skilling of their current employees as well. For instance, the rise of ChatGPT has shown that while AI won’t replace human labour, it will boost the demand for workers who can efficiently utilise it.

The recent Budget announcement highlighted the critical role of up-to-date industry-specific training in supporting the existing workforce. Doing so, enables organisations to retain staff in the long run and equips them to effectively adapt to rapidly evolving skill requirements.

In addition, by encouraging learning and development as an integral part of its culture, a company can enhance employee job satisfaction, stay competitive and unlock the full potential of its workforce.

Much has been said about choosing the right tools being paramount to building a strong technological foundation of a business, however there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to making that decision.

A good starting point would be to assess your business needs and objectives. The needs of one business will always vary from another depending on scale of operations, budget, manpower, digital maturity and so on. If the solutions you have in place are not fulfilling those needs, cut down on them and instead focus or invest on the ones that do.

By leveraging and consolidating the right digital tools and solutions, businesses can improve their operational efficiency, agility, and responsiveness to disruptions.

Investing in technology is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses looking to stay competitive and thrive in the long term, while navigating any challenges that may arise with confidence.