Post pandemic SMB success stories will be powered by the cloud

Small and Medium Businesses have a pivotal role to play in the overall economic landscape. Data from the World Bank suggests that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) account for about 90% of businesses in the world and employ about 50% of the workforce. India is home to about 63.4 million MSME units, which employ 120 million people and contribute around 45% of the overall exports from India.

With growing digitization, small businesses are quickly understanding the need to look beyond the status quo and challenge conventional thinking to achieve growth in the new digital world. Innovative entrepreneurs and businesses understand that they have no choice but to adapt and do things differently in order to be successful. The longevity or size of a business is no longer a huge strength. 

It is not about large versus small, it is about fast versus slow. Digitization, therefore, is no longer optional; it is a business imperative for SMBs. SaaS and Cloud platforms offer this agility, cost advantage, speed and scale in a secure environment that can help SMBs deliver innovation to their customers using the channel, time, and place they prefer.

Technology adoption in small and medium businesses has been underway at a modest pace over the last few years. The pandemic, however, created a greater sense of urgency. As the pandemic progressed, it was clear to SMBs that they must adapt quickly to the new reality and leverage cloud technologies in order to remain relevant. The new normal requires SMBs to innovate faster, transform customer experiences, and have the agility to scale up or down rapidly.

Cloud as an equalizer

One of the important trends that we have been observing over the past 15 years is that technology has gradually moved into the boardroom, resulting in Digital Enterprises and Businesses. The boundaries have blurred between business and IT and IT has moved from being a cost centre to a revenue and growth driver.

Proprietors, CXOs, and senior leaders from SMBs are increasingly bringing tech leaders into the boardroom to influence business strategy, increase the velocity of innovation, and reduce the time to market for new products and services. Therefore, across functions, like marketing, operations, human resources or even the CEO’s office, every aspect of the SMB business could benefit from technology.

Broadly, the impact of cloud on SMBs can be found in some key areas.

Streamlining Operations and Driving Growth

With Covid 19 negatively impacting most economies, businesses need the right supply chain solutions that help them integrate multiple business functions into a single management solution. SMBs are also investing in improving their websites and investigating marketplaces or eCommerce functionalities. An inefficient operating environment can have a tremendously negative impact on the ability of an organisation to achieve its goals. As a result, many organisations are digitising their processes from end-to-end, putting them into a cloud environment, and evaluating their systems that manage the supply chain and physical assets.

Building a happier and more productive workforce

One big challenge for SMBs was ensuring that the workforce stays healthy and safe amid the Covid- 19 pandemic while continuing to be productive. As remote or hybrid working models become mainstream, enabling employees to access the data, apps, and systems which support them to complete tasks and deliver superior outcomes is crucial. Another prominent area is retraining existing staff to make sure they have the right skills for the new digital-first era. The cloud provides organizations with reliable and secure solutions for employees to work from anywhere while increasing workforce collaboration.

Cost management

Cost is always a key concern for small and medium businesses. SMBs are striving to improve their cash flow by cutting out unnecessary spending on services. Better cost management isn’t simply about reducing costs but also relates to liquidity or cash flow. In addition to changing the way that businesses make investments i.e. moving from Capex to Opex, cloud is essential for modernizing technology, which plays a key role in improving cost management.

As small and medium businesses wake up to the relevance and benefits of cloud technologies, it is clear that SMB success stories of the post-pandemic era will be powered by the cloud.

Puneet Chandok

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Puneet Chandok is President, Commercial Business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), India and South Asia, Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (AISPL)