When asked about the most impressive brands, most people's answers may focus on a few of the "greatest" companies, but around the world, a large number of "silent" small and medium-sized enterprises play a pivotal role in economic development like cornerstones.
Ninety-five percent of all companies in the world are small and medium-sized enterprises, which are responsible for the majority of labor force employment pressures. That's why it's critical to keep an eye on the state of SMEs as the industry giants compete with capital for the high ground of emerging technologies.
The challenges of the new technology era
What size companies can be called "small and medium-sized enterprises" (SMEs)? The criteria vary slightly from country to country and region to region. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, SMEs are usually defined as "unaffiliated independent companies with no more than 250 employees", with small businesses having no more than 50 employees and micro businesses having no more than 10 or even 5 employees.
In the era of rapid technological change, most of these companies face the same challenge: how not to be eliminated by the wave of emerging technologies.
In November last year, the Telegraph cited a survey that said that one third of company leaders in the UK admitted that their organizations were significantly behind in embracing new technologies. Dominic Perks, co-founder and chief executive of startup investment firm Hambro Perks, believes the percentage could be even higher for small and medium-sized businesses.
"There are a lot of small and medium-sized business owners who basically don't use new technology in their company's business because they are completely tech-ignorant and unaware of the possibilities that new technology can bring." He said.
For Chinese SMEs, adopting and using new technologies represents a huge challenge. A previous survey of Chinese SME leaders showed that 58 percent of respondents believe information systems are important for improving their company's competitiveness. However, a separate survey showed that SMEs spend less than 4 percent of their sales on software, hardware and website development compared to larger companies. A survey of Beijing-based SMBs said that although these companies have IT talent and support systems in the capital, 50 percent of their IT applications are outdated. The survey also said that at least half of the SMEs are still entering accounts manually.
This will bring a series of potential problems to the operation of enterprises, such as the use of "outdated" software may reduce efficiency, increase maintenance costs, and even bring network security risks. In addition, technology is evolving at an exponential rate, and neglecting to understand and use new technologies may cause businesses to lose touch with technological advances in the long run.
Crisis is also an opportunity
The speed of the "fourth industrial revolution" seems to make the challenge of accepting new technologies more severe, but for some companies that are good at seizing opportunities, this crisis is also an opportunity.
The arrival of artificial intelligence has raised concerns about "robots taking human jobs," but for small and medium-sized businesses, AI can be a "use-it-for-me" tool that can solve even the most basic labor problems. According to an article in the Financial Times, AI gives people a low-cost, easy and fast way to access and process data; big data-based algorithms can make more accurate predictions about market trends; and AI can also provide a "human touch" to customer service and deepen the connection with customers.
In addition to artificial intelligence, a series of emerging technologies consisting of the map can penetrate into all areas of business operations, the first to benefit from high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises. Deloitte, an international management consulting firm, has pointed out in its series of "Shift Index" studies that technological developments in the information age will significantly increase business productivity and Internet penetration, while the cost of digital technology, information storage, data transmission and other technologies is greatly reduced.
While the size of a company represents its talent and strength base, small companies have the advantage of flexibility altogether. For small and medium-sized enterprises in the technology category, play this feature as soon as possible to absorb and use new technologies, but may be a step ahead of some of the slow action of large companies. This is the reason why many "small and beautiful" teams in the technology circle are taking advantage of the new generation of technology wave. Even for non-technology oriented SMEs, there are possibilities to leverage new technologies in any part of the company's operations.
How SMEs can survive
Simply put, there are several key points for SMEs to survive in the new technology era.
● Attitude of embracing new technologies
Fred Smith, chairman and CEO of international logistics company FedEx, said at a recent public event in New York that "keeping up with the times" is a key quality for a company to have. If you run on the cutting edge of new technology, you're going to get disrupted," he said. If you're not willing to embrace new technologies like the Internet of Things and blockchain to address new threats, chances are, at some point in the future, you're going to be extinct."
Of course, for some companies in traditional industries, embracing new technologies doesn't seem to be a matter of urgency. But as Smith notes, following trends corresponds to long-term goals. It's understandable that smaller teams lacking IT talent will continue to work in traditional ways, but if you look at the big picture, the initial cost of new technology is higher, but so are the long-term benefits.
● "Trust" automation
Currently, automation in industries other than the automotive industry is not as advanced globally and is an area that needs to be strengthened. In the future, automation of business processes is likely to be the standard by which a company is judged, as it will be an important indicator of productivity, efficiency, quality and risk control.
Daniel Danes, CEO of UniPath, a process robot, has said in a media interview that the company provides services to automate processes for its clients, especially in the field of accounting, and the results show that the cost and error rate are greatly reduced after using robots to handle these matters.
● Partnering with giants
In recent years, many industry giants have open-sourced their heavyweight machine learning projects and shared them with developers around the world, such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, OpenAI, and, in China, Baidu and Tencent. While there are commercial considerations behind this move, it is also a great opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises to leverage advanced platforms to develop their own technologies.
Comments
Post a Comment