embrace tech
Leveraging tech to help people & businesses thrive!Businesses large and small are investing in digital technology. More than ever, customers and other stakeholders expect to interact with digitized businesses through enhanced customer experiences, social media engagement, convenient online shopping, and much more. Thriving businesses are leveraging tech more than ever to focus on what’s important, to align resources and to measure what matters.
Time to Tech-Up!
Today’s businesses and consumers expect to be able to interact with businesses through digital tools and online technology. But according to a Deloitte small and mid-sized business (SMB) study* commissioned by Google a few years ago, 80 percent of these businesses were not taking advantage of even the basic tools. Not surprising, the top 20% of businesses that leveraged digital technology saw significant benefits compared to businesses that were not technically engaged. For starters, they:
- Earned 2X as much revenue per employee
- Experienced 4X the revenue growth over the previous year
- Were almost 3X as likely to be creating jobs over the previous year
- Had more than 6X the average employment growth rate
- Were 3X as likely to have exported over the previous year
So what do these businesses do that made such an impact and how can your business begin to enjoy the benefits of the technically engaged?
They leveraged digital technology in ways that made them more productive, enhanced their relationships with their customers, automated their busy work, and offered unique solutions that would benefit their businesses.
communicate
A basic necessity for any business is a website where customers can read about the business, its products and services, hours of operation, and any other important information they need to know. But that’s not all. Social media has become important to establishing and enhancing relationships that traditional “brick and mortar” businesses naturally developed. Find out how >>
Coordinate & Collaborate
Whether small or mid-sized, it’s important to identify what is mission critical to the business, align team objectives and key results (OKRs) to those of the business, then identify metrics to measure what matters…and adjust as needed. This ensures resources are aligned on what matters to the success of the business, optimizes collaboration critical for innovation and minimizes wasted work. Find out more >>
automate
Effective organizations don’t get bogged down with the mundane. They automate much of the repetitive behind-the-scenes processes in marketing, sales, and customer support to focus on impactful customer experiences. Discover their secrets >>
*Unfortunately, there is no standard of what constitutes a small or mid-sized business. The US Small Business Administration definition of small business varies by industry, ranging from $1 million to over $40 million in total revenues and by employment from 100 to over 1,500 employees. For the purposes of its research, information technology research company, Gartner, defines small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) by the number of employees and/or annual revenue. Small businesses have fewer than 100 employees and less than $50 million in annual revenue; midsize businesses are those organizations with 100 to 999 employees and/or make more than $50 million, but less than $1 billion in annual revenue. According to SalesForce, SMBs are defined as 2-200 employees and an annual revenue of less than $1 billion. For this study, Delotte surveyed 2000 businesses with less than 250 employees.
percent plus of businesses are small & mid-sized
Million small businesses in the U.S. (2019)
Million net new jobs created/yr by SMB in US (2019)
Percent of the total new jobs/yr are SMB in US (2019)
SMB Acceleration of Tech
In the fifth edition of the “Small and Medium Business Trends” report, it’s clear that more and more SMBs are embracing technology, convinced that their very own survivability depends on it.
It All Starts With Focus first
With all the talk about OKR alignment, check-ins, and measuring what matters, it’s tempting to get the “cart before the horse” but focusing on and messaging the high level objectives are key.
top 3 technology priorities
SMBs are investing in technology, but what is it that they are prioritizing? You may be surprised to discover that it’s different for growing businesses vs. stagnant or declining businesses.
Top 5 SMB tech solutions
Want to know what digital tools and technology software SMBs are using to run their businesses? The Top 5 hasn’t changed compared to last year but their ranking has. What’s changed?
OKR: Goal-setting on steroids
If BAU, KPIs, and the latest 3-letter business jargon make your head spin, you are not alone. Discover the latest goal-setting methodology and how this simple goal-setting framework called Objective and Key Results (OKRs) has enabled leaders to effectively execute their strategies and transform their companies.
First introduced in the 1970s, iconic leader and CEO of Intel, Andy Groves, took Peter Drucker’s 1950’s MBO framework and injected outputs into the goal-setting process. Click here for a short video.
Fast-forward to the late ’90s when John Doerr, former Intel engineer and marketing manager-turned venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins, begins introducing the OKR framework to the company’s funded start-ups including Google. He would go on to write the 2018 New York Times best seller Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs, showing how both tech companies and non-tech companies have transformed their companies using OKRs. Find out more…
Starting With The Basics – Part 2.1
Getting started with social media? Discover the basic process for social media marketing, review the networks on which businesses market, and begin to identify your target market.
1-Week Accounting Migration
A nonprofit had outdated accounting software and brought in a firm to update it. 3 months passed and still no progress. Find out what this nonprofit did to turn the situation around.
Starting With The Basics – Part 1: Small Business Websites
Does your business need a website? Of course it does! Don’t know where to begin? You’re not alone – get started here