{"id":3663,"date":"2021-04-08T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liminal.pt\/martech-magazine\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2024-09-27T17:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T16:47:48","slug":"how-to-make-the-digital-transformation-of-an-sme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liminal.pt\/martech-magazine\/en\/how-to-make-the-digital-transformation-of-an-sme\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make the Digital Transformation of an SME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Digital transformation and reconversion to online is, simultaneously, one of the biggest challenges and opportunities to be taken into account by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). According to INE\/Pordata, based on figures updated in 2021, 99.9% of Portuguese companies are SMEs. 96% are micro-enterprises, corporations that employ fewer than 10 people and\/or have a turnover or annual balance sheet total of less than 2 million euros. Faced with this business fabric, it is imperative to integrate new technologies in order to identify emerging business opportunities, competitiveness factors, possibilities for operational optimization, cost reduction, etc. In this article we propose some solutions that allow you to enhance the digital acceleration of a SME, incorporating digital as a central part of its strategy. From the investment in data analysis tools to the centrality of web design as a tool for reconfiguring the company’s image. For example, exploring a digital marketing price list may allow you to find important answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to make the digital transformation of a company step by step<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Designing business goals considering digital<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the market research company GfK, in cooperation with the business management software specialist PHC Software, conducted a telephone survey in which it questioned more than 500 managers of small and medium-sized national companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the central considerations of the study points to the beginning of the digital transformation process in 90% of SMEs. However, most of them still have a long way to go in order to transpose the processes that determine management to online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the digital strategy to permeate the entire structure of the business it is important to follow several steps. When considering short, medium and long-term goals for the company it is important to understand which technology goals to integrate into this strategy. Before modernized consumer communication is considered, internal processes need to be improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Define a team structure dedicated to online<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The articulation between online and offline is one of the essential pillars when we think of reconverting to digital. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight teams to manage the online processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are talking, for example, about digital-centric positions such as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or a Chief Technology Officer (CTO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encourage the continuous training of employees<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The digital environment moves at a crazy pace, which can present management challenges. A company’s employees must have the skills to become more efficient in dealing with new trends in their marketplace, so that the company is not left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of this adaptation of the workforce to the present context also involves outsourcing certain services that may not be offered by the staff they already have, in order to maintain innovation without exhausting economic resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company managers themselves will also have to adapt to these changes in order to communicate and encourage them among their network of employees and suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New hiring policies, operationalization and modus operandi<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The digital context leads to a new corporate mindset. The pandemic played a crucial role in this almost forced acceleration, with corporations facing a recurring challenge: reinvent themselves or fall apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reconfiguration of concerns has led to an increased need to hire new professionals, so that they can bring new and disruptive ideas to the heart of the companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another growing trend is the decentralization and mobility of employees, which creates new and more sophisticated forms of internal communication, reduces costs for office rentals, gives employees a higher quality of life, and, with the right digital tools, a higher return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discover tools capable of empowering digital transformation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is currently an endless number of platforms capable of optimizing a company’s performance in digital. These are transversal to several departments of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when it comes to automation related to business and financial management processes, as well as administrative ones, these allow to facilitate processes such as payroll processing, inventory and sales control, meeting and event scheduling, among multiple others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several management support platforms become central, depending on each business, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n