On August 30, 2022, the Digital Council, System Solutions, and the Cercle du Lac organized a workshop followed by a discussion on the digital transformation of Walloon SMEs. What is the current state of digitalization among our small and medium-sized enterprises? What are their top priorities? What advice can we offer to help them succeed? A recap of a day filled with lively discussions.
How far along are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their digital transformation? Despite the launch of the Walloon Region’s digital strategy in late 2015 and despite a pandemic that forced companies to accelerate the digitization of processes essential to continuing their operations, the results have been mixed.
The latest figures from Agoria’s DigiScan show that barely 21% of SMEs score above 50% in their use of digital technologies to generate new revenue, improve customer relations, grow their business, and diversify their offerings. In fact, digital innovation appears to be the neglected area of digital transformation among Walloon companies. Unfortunately, companies still too often prioritize a defensive strategy (digitizing processes) over an offensive strategy (acquiring new customers and markets, innovating their offerings, building customer loyalty, etc.). Consequently, a shift in perception is needed at the strategic level to enable companies to view and use digitization as a true driver of growth.
Digital Transformation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Where and How to Start?
Having a clear understanding of the challenges to be addressed and the issues to be resolved are the first two elements of a successful digital transformation.
At this stage, the company’s tasks are as follows:
- To explore the growth opportunities enabled by digital innovation
- To identify time-consuming processes that could be streamlined or even automated through digitization.
It will set priorities based on the estimated return on investment for each of these processes.
When it comes to digital transformation, the scale of the efforts required and the budgets needed obviously depend on the size of the company. “We recommend that very small businesses start their digital transformation simply, one small step at a time, one task at a time,” advises Simon-Pierre Breuls, founder of Maia Consulting, who spoke at the keynote session to share his experience as a business leader and advisor to small and medium-sized enterprises. “There are now tons of free (or very affordable) tools available that can, for example, improve customer relationship management or automate certain tedious processes such as invoicing or contract management.”
What about small and medium-sized enterprises? “For SMEs, which are already more structured in their organization, we recommend not only investing a little more to consolidate their digital transformation, but also supporting the change in a cross-functional and inclusive manner to ensure everyone’s buy-in for the project. “In fact, the larger the company, the more critical change management is to the success of digital transformation, ” explains Simon-Pierre Breuls.
Getting Support to Move Forward More Effectively
As participants in the workshop and discussion will have realized, digital transformation should be viewed as a comprehensive strategy leading to a complete or partial overhaul of how a company operates. As such, it is just as essential to plan its implementation carefully as it is to assess its costs and impacts on human resources.
Do you need help developing and/or implementing your marketing strategy? The consultants at Maia Consulting are ready to support you in all your projects, whether they involve marketing, sales growth, or optimizing your existing processes. Contact us!