Why is Digital Transformation a necessity for SMBs?

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital products and services by consumers, making it necessary for SMBs to adopt digital transformation, in order to ensure their growth and competitiveness. Read below to find out some of the most significant benefits of digital transformation and how you can implement it in your own business.

Customer experience

While digital transformation can affect almost any aspect of a business, the most important impact it has is on customer experience. Many of the technological advancements that took place in recent years, such as e-commerce and personalized content, were mainly to the benefit of consumers.

Customer experience is not just about customers visiting a site and making a purchase. It is the combination of all interactions and experiences customers have with a business, from the first time they come across its brand till the moment they complete a purchase, and all the post-sale interactions.
Besides, customer experience includes, not only customer relationship management, but also the user experience on your business site and digital marketing. Digital transformation enables the implementation of innovative technology solutions that manage everything and anything related to customer experience, and thus helps you build trusting relationships with your customers.

Task automation for time and cost savings

Most small businesses are already using some form of automation. However, even though workflow automation plays such an important role in digital transformation, there are still small and medium businesses that have not taken advantage of the available opportunities that could help them automate different tasks (that are still done manually) in a simple and affordable way. Digital automation technology enables you to optimize your business processes and thus gain a competitive advantage. You can save significant amounts of time and free up your resources, allowing them to focus on profitable activities.

Efficient and affordable communication channels

By now, consumers are used to operating in an always-on digital world, where they are exposed daily to hundreds of brands and advertising content. If you know who your ideal customers are, you also know what digital channels they prefer to use, and that makes communication much simpler, since you can prioritize your marketing efforts accordingly without wasting resources. With that in mind, it is crucial that you make the transition from traditional communication methods to an approach that focuses on relaying compelling short messages designed to help you better connect and engage with your audience.
Communication through digital platforms helps you reach a wider audience, while at the same time filtering out those not interested in your offerings. The path to success requires working on your strategy, identifying your ideal customers and their unique needs, and then creating content that will resonate with them on a personal level.

Business resilience

If anything, the recent pandemic taught us that businesses should be able to easily readjust their business model. The ability to adapt is crucial for addressing the needs of a rapidly changing social and economic environment, and its impact on small businesses.

Remember, digital transformation is not just another IT project. On the contrary, it is a combination of different projects that transform every aspect of your business to increase digital readiness.
Your customer, service, and competition strategies, as well as your business branding and marketing, need to be aligned with your digital strategy, which must be designed around your business goals. Only then, will you have a comprehensive strategy that will support digital platforms.