As technology advances, bringing new concepts to the fore, most small businesses struggle to cope with such advancement, in terms of having the time, skills and understanding of how to go about transforming their digitally. Sometimes, there needs to be time spent out of the business, than being embroiled in the day-to-day operation.

[bctt tweet=”technology is continuing to adapt and is re-imagining traditional business models”]

Businesses have to achieve desired business results and need to deliver innovation that produces those results. Developing and delivering digital content is a vital part of most current , and could provide that competitive edge over others in your market.

Identifying your reasons for transformation will help you to choose the most relevant strategy to achieve those results. The reasons below are not exhaustive but commonly will include:

  • Develop new products/service offerings
  • Get to market faster with new or evolved products
  • Evolve existing products/service offerings
  • Develop new monetization/revenue stream
  • Enable international expansion
  • Improve your understanding and knowledge of the customer
  • Enable a more direct relationship with the customer

Technology should not “disrupt” your people, processes and approach to your business. You may have the positive energy and momentum to go ahead, but the challenge is to connect it all together and harness it as an enterprise. So, when exploring your objectives, think about what “data” will matter the most, in what ways will decision-making improve as a result, and how to integrate this into your current approaches.

Detailed objectives supporting your reasons need to be SMART, with deliverables, so that the performance of each activity can be monitored. Choosing a technology partner who lives and breathes mobile platforms, cloud/SaaS, will help you to maximise the benefits and will help you to comprehend real-time analytics.

In terms of skills and training, SMEs have approached colleges and universities to receive what is called “reverse coaching.” Young people enter a business and help people adapt to the new digital age by coaching them in digital skills, for example, how to use iPads, apps and a whole host of software. This helps to bridge the technological skills gap.

In any case, one thing is certain, technology is continuing to adapt and is re-imagining traditional business models. Companies should be exploring emerging technology with their technology partners and be mapping the new emerging capabilities/opportunities, in line with their business objectives.