Digital transformation: Business leaders discuss why it is important to pick the right technology for your business – rather than jump on the next hype

With a rise in emerging technologies, what is the best way SMEs can utilise these newer platforms to help them reach their goals?

Digital transformation: Business leaders discuss why it is important to pick the right technology for your business – rather than jump on the next hype

With a rise in emerging technologies, what is the best way SMEs can utilise these newer platforms to help them reach their goals?

Founder of Small Business Britain Michelle Ovens CBE, Biplab Rakshi, Managing Director of Atomic Acquisitions, Kim Antoniou, co-founder of Kafoodle, Melissa Snover, Founder of Get Nourished and Pete Oliver, Managing Director of BT & EE joined us for the first day of Elite Business on 11 March as in the digital transformation panel, speaking about the ways businesses can discover real opportunities in digitisation and how they can take the right steps to explore emerging technologies.

With all the different types of technology out there, sometimes businesses can get spoilt for choice or more so, overwhelmed with the options available that they jump on the digital bandwagon – but this can cost them lots of money and resources if the tech they choose isn’t the right fit for their business. Biplap Rakshi addressed this issue, saying: I think a lot of people have invested in IT for the sake of IT, thinking this is going to be a panacea to a new proposition or a new activity. But they found that either the cost is too much or the ability to manage that is not relevant and that’s caused problems. So, the resources, training and development have not been there to back up what they’re trying to do. So, the end goal has not been there. The thought and road map to delivery is not there. 

When a new emerging technology jumps on to the market, businesses may feel the need to jump onto these newer platforms ‘ and even social media platforms, like TikTok. But Michelle Ovens CBE advised businesses to think of the next step forward that will serve their businesses in the current climate, rather than worrying too much about the hype. I wouldn’t worry about missing out on the next big thing, Michelle said. Let’s not worry about that. The key thing is to think about you and your business and what your business needs to move forward, which is not going to necessarily be the same as everyone else. TikTok for example, I cannot tell you how many people in the last six months have asked ‘Should I be on TikTok, should I be doing this? I don’t know what to do’… But the key thing is to address you and your business, what does your business need, how is your business operating. How can you take that next step forward? Digital transformation doesn’t have to be this massive five-year plan. Particularly at the moment when perhaps the future is a little bit less certain. Just think what’s that next step forward. 

Digital transformation has brought about not only a change in the way businesses can work as a team, but also connect with their customers in ways they were never able to before. Melissa Snover spoke about her days doing business in retail, but said having an online business brought her much closer to her customers than previously. Through online surveys, Melissa was able to receive overwhelming customer feedback to tailor her vitamin products to fit their needs, as many had requested vitamins for mental health benefits and to help reduce anxiety. I think that’s one of the best things about having a digital business, Melissa said. We’re digitally native with nourished and we have a direct connection to our customer. In my previous businesses, I’ve sold through retail. And don’t get me wrong, there’s huge volume, it’s really exciting but you have a huge disconnect with you and the end-user of the product. And it’s really hard to understand what the feedback is on it. So now we have thousands and thousands of customer feedback we receive on a monthly basis… For example, we have a quiz in our consultation questionnaire and the number of people asking for mental health solutions as their number 1 goal went up rapidly during the pandemic. And so, we introduced a new ingredient with huge clinical evidence to show that it actually really assists with anxiety and mental health. 

As a start-up, businesses may think they need to do it all and take complete autonomy in the day-to-day running of their operations. However, technology may be a whole different ball game. Kim Antoniou advised businesses to seek out expert help and support especially if they are planning to new technology, rather than trying to do it all on their own. For us when we first started to build Fonetti, which is our voice recognition platform, Kim Antoniou. We set out 8 years ago to build an app to help children learn to read and to practise their reading. But we didn’t realise at the time the technology behind it didn’t exist. So, we thought we were setting out to build an app but we actually had to build the technology. And I think the lesson for me was the fact that we tried to do that internally for a couple of years and we had a little bit of success, but then we realised that you have to work with the best people and we partnered up with the University of Edinburgh and that was absolutely powerful and that’s what enabled us to actually build the now patented technology that we’ve got. So, I think that the lesson for me is stand on the shoulders of giants. Don’t be afraid to work with people that you aspire to be, who are so much better than you, because that’s how we learn. We have a tendency to think that we have to know it all and that we have to know all the answers, especially when you’re running a business and running a team. But actually no, the lesson is work with experts. 

With the UK being in lockdown for almost a year, businesses have switched to online portals to continue working effectively and efficiently. Pete Oliver believes flexible working will continue even in a post-lockdown world, allowing workers the ability to continue using digital platforms to their advantage. I think you have to take people with you and explain what’s in it for the customer but also how it will help people do their roles more effectively. And what’s interesting from the last 12 months is that we’ve all had to learn how to use Teams and Zoom and allow people more flexible ways of working and that’s something we think will continue in our company. Even when we return to the office, we’re going to be able to offer people the ability to work more remotely as well, and that’s potentially good for the individual as well as the business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Latifa Yedroudj
Latifa Yedroudj
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