If you’re the owner of a small to medium enterprise in South Africa and you feel like you are hanging on by your fingernails, you’re hardly alone.
Rolling black-outs are causing havoc throughout the country and stalling economic growth. While inflation is cooling somewhat, consumers are still under severe cost of living pressures. Threats of recession loom on a global scale as the unrelenting war in Ukraine goes into its second year.
South Africa’s SME sector contributes to around 60% of country’s employment and remains our best hope of lifting millions out of unemployment, especially the youth. Yet, entrepreneurs, often find themselves going it alone during tough times like these.
According to Innovo Networks founder & CEO Damian Michael, it is important to go beyond finding the wherewithal to survive, and rather deploy strategies that can help you to keep growing your business in the face of adversity.
As the business leader of a start-up that has now reached its 10-year milestone and is maintaining its scaling up phase, Michael is focused on priorities that generate momentum. He says, “As SME owners we have to find solutions to load shedding impacts as well as to look to cost-saving ways via smarter tech – and because we are competing harder, we need to be using new ways to improve our CX, the customer experience.”
While the costs of keeping the power on during Eskom black-outs via generators and solar systems is typically beyond the budget of most SMEs, there are more affordable solutions that can at least help to keep communication systems open. Michael says, “It helps for the business to have a load shedding plan, even though the schedules are so haphazard.
If you are clear about what you can be doing during black-outs you can mitigate against the worst of the loss of productivity. For instance, with a UPS in place, you can keep your internet connection and pivot to online lead generation or marketing to customers during load shedding hours. This can transform what could be downtime into the most valuable hours and attention that you can give to your business.”
Michael encourages SMEs owners to fully embrace smarter technology. “I believe it’s vital for entrepreneurs and founders to keep abreast of latest tech. There are so many ways to save on costs, professionalise your operations and bring in new business if you know what is available and don’t hesitate to use it. My advice is to be constantly on the lookout for new tech tools that can help you to take your business to the next level.”
Michael recommends four key focus areas for SME leaders determined to keep scaling up their businesses in 2023:
- Prioritise digital CX – now is the time to know exactly what your customers are thinking and feeling. Invest in CX tools like real-time customer insights platforms and omnichannel tech solutions that centralise customer communication in one place, such as email, SMS, chat, and social media integration. The less scattered and fragmented your communication channels are, the more control you have in managing expectations. Optimise your servers and CRM systems and asses any missing connectors.
- Tech for SMEs by SMEs – there is a host of cost-saving and time-saving tech solutions and innovations, many created particularly for SMEs by SMEs and therefore, priced affordably. Find out how you can best utilise the services of these companies and automate routine business tasks, for example, explore the benefits of cloud computing, Software as a Solution (SaaS), and replacing telephone lines with fibre solutions.
- Harness digital tools for lead generation – with inverters or a UPS in place, you can keep your internet connection and pivot to online lead generation marketing to customers during load shedding hours. This can transform what could be downtime into the most valuable hours for your business. Use platforms such asYouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn to expand your reach and target a wider audience for leads, as well as engage with existing customers. Becoming adept at using these platforms and actively making connections and building relationships greatly expands the pool of possibilities for your business. One thing you can count on is that most of your customers are more than likely using these platforms daily.
- Voice over IP (VoIP), and Hosted PBX solutions – optimise call processing duties with cost-saving solutions that can guarantee uptime like VoIP. Look at cloud-based call services so that you save on infrastructure costs and keep communication data reliably backed up. Also, find communication solutions that don’t require multiple licences and subscription fees. An example is Innovo Network’s video PBX system, which enables employees and clients to join online meetings and virtual events without having to pay multiple licence fees across platforms like Zoom, Microsoft teams, Google hangouts, slack, etc. This also a great tool for centralising and streamlining communication.