Digital transformation and SMEs

In the ever-evolving technological landscape, digital transformation is no longer just a buzzword. Increasing profitability, gaining a competitive advantage and running your business at maximum efficiency have become a necessity, while statistics show increased adoption of digital transformation.

Let’s look at some of the digital transformation developments affecting SMEs.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Statistics show the rise of AI and ML. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global ML market is expected to grow from $26.03 billion in 2023 to $225.91 billion by 2030, at an average annual growth rate of 36.2%. The global AI market is expected to grow from $515.31 billion in 2023 to $2,025.12 billion by 2030, at an average annual growth rate of 21.6%.

AI and ML help SMEs on their digital transformation journey in the following ways: automating daily tasks to save time and reduce labor costs; helping managers make data-driven decisions by identifying patterns, predicting market trends and providing actionable insights; analyzing data and customer behavior to create personalized experiences; enhancing customer support to handle routine customer queries.

Customer experience

Businesses should leverage customer data platforms (CDPs) to consolidate all customer data into a single view. With all the data centralized and secure in one place, it becomes easy to analyze and take action.
In addition, they should regularly collect customer feedback through surveys, feedback forms and social media to improve customer experience, provide a seamless experience across all customer touchpoints, whether in-store, online, mobile, or social media, use discounts and special offers to offer incentives to loyal customers, and finally, contact customers after their purchase to check on their satisfaction, offering assistance or additional resources related to their purchase.

Cybersecurity

As more and more companies move their data to the cloud, data privacy and security have become major concerns. As a result, businesses have started to focus on cybersecurity and take adequate privacy and data security measures.

SMEs can improve their cybersecurity with the following measures:

• Keeping the software up to date to reduce the risk of attack.
• Monitoring networks for suspicious activity, such as unauthorized access attempts or unusual patterns.
• Using security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems and data encryption to protect business data.
• Educating employees on cybersecurity and best practices.