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CH 3b : Go Digital!

I am revitalizing my 2020 article into a video.

Below is my article in 2020:

CH 3b : Go Digital!

There are two important things an existing business must do to succeed in the New Normal; 1) Reset-Realign-Restart which I have touched on my previous article “CH 1 : How my sanity survived the New Normal?” and 2) Go Digital!

The video Change(squared) by Gerd Leonhard was produced in 2016 long before the COVID-19 pandemic and businesses were already expected to embrace digitization to succeed. This has become a necessity in the New Normal due to the quarantine implemented by the government to protect its citizens.

Going Digital is not just having a web presence, which is having a website or an FB page. Going Digital is adapting technology in different areas of your business. What are the different areas of your business? See the figure below which is an Internal Analysis Framework in Strategic Planning:

If you are a micro business or even a sole proprietor this does not mean you have to create departments and hire people. You can assign yourself the different functions. Owning a business is not simply producing your product and selling it. You need to improve your product, deliver quality, have a good relationship with your suppliers, maintain financial books, file government compliance, and more. Based on studies, doing the other functions is a factor for business success. A common practice among the less than 0.7% of businesses that survive more than 5 years.

After being aware that there are more things that needs to be done in owning a business, you now do an internal analysis of your business. Track the process of your product from ordering your raw materials from the supplier to delivery to your client, plot the process into different boxes, as below:

Match your business process with Porter’s Value Chain Model and see what is missing in your business. Check what you cannot do during the New Normal and make two lists, in the 1st list put what you can do on your own and in the 2nd list put what you need manpower assistance. Items in list 1 can be solved with technology intervention and items in list 2 with outsourcing. The motorcycle delivery app is an example of an outsourced process for your business. It is not something you can do on your own and need extra manpower to achieve.

If you also want to have focus in just creating and selling your product, there is an option to outsource the other items in your list 2. There are businesses, such as SMEpinoy, who are offering business process outsourcing for MSMEs. You would be surprised how affordable it is to outsource, even much more affordable than hiring an employee.

But if budget is really tight and you want to do everything on your own, adapting technology is an option. How do you acquire technology? What you need can easily be Googled now, there are also friends you can ask or social media groups you can join.

But is technology expensive? On the contrary, do you know Google Suite and Microsoft Teams has a free usage for limited use. Which is enough if you’re a Micro Enterprise. You just start to pay when your transactions increase as your business grows.

If your still stuck in acquiring technology, feel free to ask for our assistance by emailing us at team@smepinoy.com. We will be more than happy to help since this is our mission. To help businesses succeed in the New Normal.

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