How technology helps small businesses save resources

Digitalization has covered almost all spheres of life, and the pandemic with its limitations has made this trend even more relevant. What previously had to be done manually can now be entrusted to technology. This is especially important for small and medium-sized businesses that cannot boast of a large number of resources.

Digital tools help companies automate business processes, freeing employees from routine work and allowing them to focus on more creative tasks. What entrepreneurs value most are the benefits of digitalization, such as improved ease of doing business (57%), faster workflows (53%), and improved customer service (22%).

However, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) still have room to grow in terms of technology adoption. A high level of digitalization is demonstrated only by every fifth medium-sized company and only 2-15% of small and micro-enterprises. Meanwhile, the market today provides every opportunity to improve this indicator.

Instead of an HR manager – a recruiting platform

In small companies, the hiring is often done by the business owner, this distracts him from other important tasks and can negatively affect the company as a whole.

You can hire a recruiter for outsourcing or conclude an agreement with a recruiting agency. But this comes with serious costs. Technology today makes it possible to automate the HR function, especially when it comes to hiring blue collars.

On the recruiting platform, you can post vacancies in just a few clicks. It is also easy to set up a promotion, for example, to make the vacancy higher in the search results, or to highlight it, making it more noticeable against the background of competitors’ offers. In addition, you can configure the receipt of notifications about new relevant resumes in order to quickly contact their owners. It is also often possible to conduct mini-interviews in written or video format right on the site.

Instead of an online sales department – marketplaces

During the pandemic, online shopping has become the only way to shop for many. This market has experienced explosive growth.

For small and medium-sized businesses engaged in the production of various goods, large platforms – Wildberries, OZON, AMAZON, Ebay, Alibaba and others – are an excellent sales channel. As a rule, they are interested in expanding the range and are ready to offer attractive terms of cooperation to small companies. Working with marketplaces relieves the business from the need to develop its own online store and makes it possible to focus on the production of products, expanding the assortment.

What does technology have to do with it? They are “under the hood” of such sites. Thanks to them, marketplaces can collect and process huge amounts of data on user behavior, predict which products they will like, and recommend them. For suppliers represented on the site, this means an opportunity to increase the average check and cross-sales.

Instead of an accountant – specialized cloud services

As a rule, the activities of small businesses are not associated with serious financial flows, and such companies need an accountant from time to time, for example, during the period of tax reporting. It is impractical to keep a specialist on the staff. But you can also save money on a freelance accountant, preferring specialized services to him. Usually they work in the cloud, which means that the company does not need to buy and install any programs, but it is enough to pay for access.

Accounting services will help to generate primary documentation, calculate the amount of taxes, submit reports, check counterparties – that is, to do everything for which the company would pay an accountant, only much cheaper. When used correctly, technology can be a powerful driver for the development of a small company.

The trend towards digitalization will not weaken, and those entrepreneurs who saw the potential of technologies earlier than others and began to implement them in their companies will benefit. In addition to convenience, they also provide a serious competitive advantage. And you should not miss this opportunity.