In recent months we’ve experienced incredible amounts of uncertainty and change. Small and medium enterprises around the country all might have had the same question on their minds; “What will this mean for us?”
As the UK government continues to fluctuate and change between leaders and decisions, compounded by soaring raw material costs, a compressed labour market and inflation, it’s a very difficult environment for businesses to trade in. It’s more important now that it has been in living memory that businesses capitalise on the opportunities of the new digital economy, improving customer experience and expanding to new markets.
Going digital
The internet changed everything. What started as a simple form of information exchange has evolved into a sophisticated tool. And the speed at which the internet continues to evolve has affected every aspect of modern life. But there is still significant opportunity to be explored by the UK’s business community by transforming to digital ways of working.
Many businesses across the UK still rely on outdated paper or disconnected systems and are yet to realise the potential in digital transformation to streamline costs, increase productivity and efficiencies, improve transparency and enhance agility, along with countless other benefits. Having a laptop and a contactless payment system is one thing, capturing and using the intelligence from across the business to improve it is quite another.
Businesses looking to adopt new digital technologies and ways of working need to set out their strategy for transformation. It’s well known that organisations with a thorough strategy are more likely to meet their digital transformation objectives. This means defining a strategy that accounts for a strong change management culture, the processes of moving from legacy systems to intuitive and integrated systems, and the requirements of upskilling staff to adopt and operate in new ways.
Improving the customer experience
As technology changes and improves the ease at which we can access information and services, people’s expectations are continuously raised. Customers expect a seamless digital experience, whether that be ordering a pizza, creating a new bank account or any other multitude of needs. For businesses, that means providing beautiful, customer centred digital experiences, from the website through to native mobile apps.
At a time where customers will have less discretionary spend and will be more selective of the businesses they choose to work with, it’s important to deliver a great first impression. Aligning online channels can also help businesses create more effective marketing strategies. Even a small business can gain valuable insights by better understanding customer engagement and acquisition and make better use of automation and personalisation to drive revenue.
Looking to new markets
We’re living in a moment of increasing uncertainty, and the continuing changes and lack of consistent-decision making from government does not help. If businesses are going to survive through this period of uncertainty, we need to learn from what’s come before. Much as we saw with the pandemic, facing these current challenges will require us to move quickly, think differently and create more personalised solutions.
As the complexity continues to increase – from movement of goods to the cost of energy and economic instability – businesses should be looking to diversifying their services or products to meet the changing needs of their customers. This might look like using the cloud to deliver services in a new way to people nationally or even internationally, or doubling down on the parts of your business that are working well and reducing waste – be that time, cost or energy.
What stands true through this all is UK business cannot wait for support or intervention from government. It may never come, and if it does, it’s unlikely to look like the support you truly need to sustain, let alone grow, business. We cannot wait for top-down solutions that will inevitably be too little too late.
That means acting now, moving quickly and thinking flexibly, to put customers at the centre of everything you do and embrace technology to improve services or products and create better experiences for potential buyers.
