Eighteen months after the last Covid restrictions were lifted, it might be expected that SMEs would be relying less on new technology, especially technology allowing their employees to work from home. However, a survey last month suggests this is far from the case.
SMEs Are Still Relying on Technology
A study in September by Novuna Business Finance shows that 67% of small business owners consider technology to be having a positive impact on their businesses. This includes 23% who are still using technology to enable their employees to work from home.
While the figures are understandably a little down from two years ago, when we were only just coming out of lockdown, they actually hold up remarkably well. This suggests that the high adoption of new technology during the pandemic wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
Significantly, there was a clear correlation in the figures between plans to make full use of technology and optimistic profit forecasts. 37% of SMEs expecting growth anticipated increasing their use of technology, as opposed to just 19% of those who were less optimistic.
Who Is Most Likely to Use Technology?
Novuna broke down its findings by sector, and those most likely to identify technology as providing significant benefits turned out to be media and marketing (82%), manufacturing (74%) and construction (62%).
However, the specific benefits given as most important varied between these sectors:
- Media and marketing SMEs focused on staff working from home and spending less time in meetings.
- Manufacturing firms were more interested in improved productivity and providing a faster service.
- Businesses in construction (understandably, considering the challenges the sector is facing) concentrated on efficiency and cutting costs.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you own a small business, it’s almost certain that technological advances over the past few years have transformed the way you do business. And that suggests that failing to invest in taking full advantage of these new opportunities will mean falling behind your competitors. In challenging times like these, that could be fatal to your business.
In order to invest in your future, though, you need to either have the cash available, or else have healthy enough accounts to be able to raise finance. That could be jeopardised if your cashflow is stalled by bad debts owed to you. Give me a call to find out how I can help you get your finances back into a healthy condition, so that you can take advantage of the technology boom.