Written by: Diego Pekerman, General Manager for SMEs and Corporate Customers, Microsoft Latin America and the Caribbean.
In my career, I have had the privilege of working closely with the Small and Medium Business (SME) sector and one of the main lessons learned is that those who have managed to survive and succeed have the most clear idea of the business they are in and how they differ from their competitors, regardless of size or location. geographical or industry. To reach this understanding, SMEs go through continuous trial-and-error processes, accommodating the real needs of their business and target audience and advancing their long-term goals.
Of course, every company is different, and the speed at which they travel on this route is also unique. On some occasions, it happens that they have to give a complete turn to their products or services; But overall, their entrepreneurial spirit and talent lead them to respond quickly and look for alternatives to challenges. Thus, SMEs, particularly Latin American companies, have found opportunities in various challenging contexts and have known how to differentiate themselves to continue to contribute to the local economy and, often, even to global markets.
The main challenges facing SMEs
- hybrid work. It is a fact that most organizations have focused on digitization as a resilience strategy. According to a Microsoft Global Study The voice and trends of SMEs towards technology 2022And the 80% of companies[1] It expects to have a mixed workforce of at least two years, requiring technology to reliably and securely support their business goals. The challenge in this regard is to find a point of balance. So each SME will make use of technology in a different way to find its own balance and integration model, which will allow them to work and collaborate in a new format, but adapt to their own productivity needs.
Let’s think crevisa, a Brazilian small and medium credit company with an environment with multiple collaboration technologies that made it difficult for teams to interact and work in the IT field. As part of its digital transformation, it decided to modernize its business model and today, with a single tool that runs in the cloud, everyone can collaborate more effectively, no matter where they work from, encouraging collaboration and productivity for your employees.
- IDC expect That by 2024, 33% of SMEs will experience quarterly security breaches that cause business disruptions for at least one week each quarter. It is clear that SMBs need to ensure that they provide customers with fast and secure remote access, manage and protect their business devices and data against attacks and potential data loss, without increasing their costs, or those of their customers. For this, they should think of sustainable solutions in the future.
In Mexico we have a case EstablishmentAnd the A company in the financial services industry that has developed a secure platform through which to validate code and comply with local security policies. In addition, they have created an advanced security and authentication system for users and collaborators, as well as a unified security management system that enhances the location of data centers and provides protection against threats. Thus, today they can handle processes that used to take up to 24 hours, in just a few minutes.
- talent. Latest version of Microsoft’s Career Trends Index It found that 43% of the global workforce say they are seriously planning to change jobs or completely change industries in the next year. This trend sees a change in employee needs, a highly constrained talent environment, and new job expectations pressure companies to rethink everything including how they hire, raise their skills, raise their employees’ experience, and build a culture.
In this scenario, it is remarkable that according to the regional study data The impact of COVID-19 on the culture and operation of SMEs, more than a third of SMEs employ a hybrid method and another third in person. This is the case Lopez Brothers. , an Argentine SME dedicated primarily to the manufacture of bicycles, which, by adopting a hybrid business model, has found an opportunity for growth and development by employing collaborators from different parts of the country, with which it has added diverse training and experience to reinvent the road. Doing things in an integrated way, without compromising the values and mission of the company even though they are not all there.
- adaptability. The cloud has allowed small and medium businesses to adopt strategies and solutions that were previously only available to large businesses. At the same time, acquiring and maintaining a customer base required rapid expansion with demand, creating excellent user experiences, and quickly adapting to changing consumer trends. But, above all, it meant re-adjusting business models.
A readjustment status (for many business models in the same sector) can be found at sostiAnd the A Colombian small and medium-sized company focused on the agricultural sector, which has developed a platform where various industry players collaborate to promote livestock and farm sustainability, connecting producers with investors committed to raising livestock free from deforestation, abuse, burning and chemical inputs. win for all.
Three ways to maximize the potential of SMEs
- Start small and invest in what the company needs most. SMEs need to develop a strategy and roadmap that takes into account their current and future goals: they must analyze the innovations that need to be implemented and link this transformation to their business goals.
- Focus on delivering value, not just technology. The organization may be technologically stronger, but if you don’t change behaviors to accommodate new opportunities, you won’t get value from them.
- Simplify a basic principle. Working with an implementation partner who knows how technology tools associated with cloud and cybersecurity work can help determine which systems will work best to achieve corporate goals.
With 99% of global businesses actively looking for solutions to meet current challenges and create new opportunities, the large SME community in particular is not far behind. It affects economies around the world and the livelihoods of billions. And they do this not only to be resilient and survive, but also to thrive, bring innovation to their industries and deliver value to their customers. That’s why we at Microsoft are excited to continue to listen and learn from the resilience, creativity, and innovation of Latin American SMEs.
[1] For this study, more than three thousand technology decision makers from small and medium businesses in 10 middle and high income markets around the world, including Mexico, were surveyed.
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