21st April 2020: We live in a world in which the headlines are often about global technology players like Google or Amazon Web Services and their role in driving digital transformation leveraging digital technology to fundamentally change the way they do business. But small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the cornerstone of the nation’s economy, and these companies play a key role in the shift towards a digital future. Economic crises, natural disasters, medical emergencies, are situations that can hit a business without any warning and lead to a catastrophic upheaval in their future plans. Therefore, the demand of the hour is to embrace tech disruptions at the earliest and be future ready at all times.
As the shift from offline to online accelerates during these times companies are being asked to do more with less. Mr. Sandip Chhettri, COO, TradeIndia (India largest SME/MSME focused B2B marketplace) says, “63 million MSMEs are there in India of which only 32% are digitally engaged and 62% are still offline; such business must change their strategy and should adopt digitalisation to survive in the long run. Business having digital presence will grow faster as people will avoid meeting each order and social selling will be the new normal.As more and more people will be spending time online it will become more important for SMEs/MSMEs to take digital approach. Need of the hour is the have website to showcase their product and services and option to take payments online because of social distancing. SMEs should look at digitalizing their business operations via a cloud based billing solution.“
He further adds “While we don’t know when the current restrictions on travel and commerce might end, we do know they will end—or at least relax somewhat. However, the lasting impact Coronavirus will have on consumer behaviour remains to be seen. As the situation changes, business online presence remains the most effective method of understanding and responding to customers’ needs now and in the future.”
