Why SMBs Should (and Do) Embrace IT

Young and small businesses have a reputation for making-do with technology. They use the most expedient solutions to their immediate problems. Embrace IT? Mmmm. Maybe later.

This made a lot of sense before the cloud. It cost a lot of money to buy all the software that did different things.

Companies had to contract with an IT company for maintenance and support.

It makes sense now, to some degree.

Entrepreneurs put their money and time into making a great product. Why not jump right in using Google documents and spreadsheets?

Experience has taught us that companies do get along this way. For a while.

Then they realize they can get so much more with a little tech investment.

More SMBs Embrace IT

Very large companies are still the major investors in information technology.

But SMBs are catching up.

As Enterprise Innovation notes in a recent article, citing IDC analysts, 45% of global IT spending comes from businesses with more than 1,000 employees. Very small companies, however, now account for 25% of that figure.

The smaller companies recognize the value of linking software investments to business processes.

This accounts for another trend that sees software spending surpassing hardware purchases by next year.

Cloud computing has driven prices down, putting powerful tools into the hands of small businesses that even five years ago were out of reach.

Entrepreneur recognized the importance of embracing IT in another recent article.

“The question is no longer ‘When do we innovate?’ but rather ‘How do we innovate?’”

The Benefits

Omnichannel sellers can take advantage of lower cost software solutions to make their businesses grow.

Digital technology pervades the B2B and retail landscape.

Entrepreneur writes that by taking advantage of CRM software, eCommerce websites and marketing automation, “small businesses can compete, and even beat larger competitors, whose implementation processes are often complicated and time-consuming due to legacy technologies.”

Companies can also embrace IT to get more money out of their inventory.

Read how the platform built for fast commerce gives companies real-time view of stock, sales and COGS, to get more out of their business.