The Business Start-Up Source Book | Start-Up Business Advice and Guidance | Logo
The Business Start-Up Source Book | Start-Up Business Advice and Guidance | Logo

Cisco

Cisco

DIGITAL EVOLUTION

How to thrive in the digital evolution

The Business Start-Up Source Book | Start-Up Business Advice and Guidance | Woman Cisco

Having a purely physical operation was once the best approach for small businesses. Your brand being seen on the highstreet was important because it was where the footfall was, increasing the chance of a business having a long lifespan.

As time has moved forward, other approaches to business are being used. Consumers are now spending more time online, creating a level of virtual footfall that no highstreet can rival. As a result, small businesses have been embracing digital to continue securing their future – because it’s innovation that enables them to remain competitive and meet their customer’s needs. No threat has made the risks of remaining stagnant in business more apparent than the pandemic. 54% of SMEs believe their future growth depends on increasing their presence online. So far, for those who have put more emphasis on e-commerce, 42% have seen their customer base expand as a result.

Digital’s evident ability to expand the customer base is encouraging for the 51% of small businesses who are planning to ramp up their presence online in the next year.

So much so, that nearly a quarter of businesses are planning to become 100% online in the next five years.

These businesses feel there is enough virtual footfall to sustain their livelihoods.

However, with a bigger pool of global consumers online, comes a more expansive list of competitors similarly jostling for a slice of the opportunity.

“For a large part of the year, if it wasn’t online, it didn’t happen – and for many small businesses there is little contingency for them to fall back on if they’re not able to make sales. While small businesses were already pioneering in their use of tech, in the last 18 months, we’ve seen businesses born online, and others move to be entirely digital.”

– Aine Rogers, Director of Small Business, Cisco, UK & Ireland

This competitiveness means that small businesses must seek to digitally transform in a way that’s completely efficient and secure from end-to-end. Enabling connectivity and collaboration is a big part of this, in order to navigate the moving pieces within the market. Cisco Designed Portfolio, Meraki, Meraki Go, Cisco Business Switching and Wireless, Webex, Placetel, Duo, Umbrella were all designed for this purpose. As we’ve helped small businesses implement them in a way that suits their unique needs and challenges, we’ve picked up best practices for achieving digital success. As much as digital is about tech, it’s also about the people using the tech and pushing the changes through your business. They need to feel confident that they have the right skillset, which is especially important when 83% of small businesses have no IT staff to lead them. Currently, only half of small businesses feel they’re in a position where they could comfortably operate digitally with all of the skills needed. It indicates that if you’re a small business looking to incorporate digital further, you need to be thinking about your employees, and what support you can offer them.
So far, 35% of small businesses are looking to upskill their existing employees to support their digital transformation, while 27% are looking to recruit skills that will support this. Both are good options, but with the digital skills talent pool becoming competitive it may be difficult to find pre-made digital talent externally. If you do upskill your existing workforce, there are plenty of course providers that can give employees all the essential knowledge they need, including the Cisco Networking Academy which aligns to internationally recognised certifications and boasts more than 11,800 locations. Information about this programme here: https://www.netacad.com/. Cybersecurity in particular should be one of the skills your employees harness, as rising use of technology leaves you more vulnerable to attacks. Currently, 40% of small businesses don’t see themselves as vulnerable, despite security being one of the biggest challenges for 58% of small business. Most attacks happen due to human error, the case for training employees and giving them the confidence to remain safe in the digital world is evident.
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CURRENTLY, ONLY HALF OF SMALL BUSINESSES FEEL THEY’RE IN A POSITION WHERE THEY COULD COMFORTABLY OPERATE DIGITALLY WITH ALL OF THE SKILLS NEEDED.

Finding the funds for digital

The returns of incorporating more digital into your business pose a big opportunity.

Having digital infrastructure is becoming necessary to participate in society at any level, and as a result more and more grants, are popping up to help small businesses get their foot on the digital ladder.

Cisco in partnership with the Grants Office developed an ebook outlining exactly where you can access grants, read here: https://ebooks.cisco.com/story/small_business_stimulus_guide/page/4/1.

Aside from these external grants, your actions in digitising your business should continue to benefit your finances.

Technology can create greater efficiency across the business and decrease waste, which means small businesses can savour their resources closely

. This is an added benefit for the 58% of small business owners who said that improving the sustainability of their business is important to them.

It underlines the importance of having a mindset that sees technology and digital as a business enabler rather than just a business cost. As a small business operating in the pandemic, you may have quickly adopted technologies out of necessity. In some ways it’s made the last year a testbed for digital. Now, as businesses begin to operate with less restrictions, it’s time to audit what you’ve accumulated, assess what works, and what needs changing. The popularity of remote working, which 30% of the entire workforce is now expected to maintain according to Global Workplace Analytics, is the strongest example of something that was tested in the pandemic and kept. For these businesses they’ll have to consider if the tech they’re currently using is best to facilitate their needs for the long-term. It’s really important that you remember that being digital doesn’t mean you have every technology under the sun – you must be selective. This can be difficult with the plethora of technologies now available to small businesses, but prioritise the most essential things. For instance, 16% of small businesses are currently unable to increase their digital presence due to poor internet connection – so it’s things like this that should be put first.

IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REMEMBER THAT BEING DIGITAL DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE EVERY TECHNOLOGY UNDER THE SUN – YOU MUST BE SELECTIVE.

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Why make the move to digital now?

Making major changes to your tried-and-tested business model may feel daunting. Although it may go against our risk-averse psychology, times of turmoil are often some of the most opportune moments to reassess, regroup, and grow.

Remember Netflix, Wipro, and National Geographic may all be big brands now, but during the 2008 recession, they too were small businesses vying for a way forward, while staying afloat in choppy waters. These brands reinvented themselves extensively by embracing new digital methods which not only helped them survive the recession, but also stay ahead of the competition to become some of the most successful businesses in the world.At Cisco, it was a similar story.

Witnessing the difficulties faced by businesses during the recession, highlighted the need to integrate buoyancy into business models, through rapidly deployable technology, such as Saas and as-a-service solutions, that could adapt and transform the workplace at a moment’s notice. This has been Cisco’s focus ever since, and the importance of continuing to create even more flexibility and using our network’s expertise alongside our own, has only been reaffirmed by the recent sporadic business landscape caused by the pandemic.

Digitisation needn’t be something your brand does alone. Cisco aims to help small businesses simplify their digital processes in a way that best suits them.

Cisco’s channel partner programme enables this by working with a network of experts around the world who are able to design and architect solutions with your unique customer pain points in mind, and using Cisco technology. It means that we’re able to draw together the expertise you need to produce the single solution your business needs to thrive in the digital evolution.

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