At a glance

• New technology systems can bring a host of benefits for businesses, from driving efficiencies to improving customer experience.

• Begin with an audit of your existing systems, looking at where there are gaps. Then conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

• Consider the technical capabilities of your team, too, and whether your staff have the ability to implement and work with the new systems.

Regularly updating your software systems is a critical way for most small businesses to boost efficiency and maintain a competitive edge. But doing so can feel out of reach for many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Larger companies often have teams dedicated to evaluating and investing in new technologies, something that most SMEs simply don’t have the resources for. However, there’s an increasing number of products designed specifically for smaller firms that can impact business performance significantly.

A review of your systems will help you stay on top of the latest technological developments – from robotic process automation (RPA) of manual processes to cloud software and low-code or no-code (LCNC) applications.

How to identify digital opportunities

Before planning your tech refresh, look at what opportunities some SMEs have been realising from a fundamental review of their systems.

Simon Dresdner, Founder and CEO of property-technology firm Symple, recommends looking at solutions to automate operational processes. “This reduces errors and supports a consistent customer experience,” he says.

Performance measurement is another benefit. “One system we use tells us exactly how many jobs each staff member completed in any period, how long it took them, details of outstanding jobs and more,” says Simon. “We never micro-manage our people, but a business owner needs to know how each team member is performing at any time, and good systems will deliver that data.”

New features and security

James Stokes, Co-founder and Director of comparison site Coach Hire Comparison, says upgrading software ensures his technology constantly evolves to unlock new features.

“For example, we’re planning to redevelop our user interface to a system that enables us to integrate with third-party systems more easily,” he says. “This will provide the foundations for us to create a native app [coded for a specific processor or platform], with opportunities to attract new customers and operators, and enhance our offering to them.”

James says his firm has learned from experience that no matter how painful these changes, they’re critical milestones to development, and improving the business and offering.

Another reason for refreshing your systems is security. “Legacy software can be exposed to security breaches,” says James. “By constantly upgrading our software and host platform, we’re more protected against potential vulnerabilities.”

Benefits for employees

Keith Robinson, Co-founder and Director of digital business-card platform Zappify, says the most important benefit of a technology refresh is employee engagement. It shows you’re investing in systems to make people’s roles easier or more efficient.

“You want your staff to be proud of having the latest, greatest tools available,” he says.

For example, with the trend towards remote working, some simple yet powerful communications platforms have come to the fore. Also, cloud-based systems have made it much simpler to integrate parts of the business – such as accounting and commercial (ERP) systems, he adds.

How to plan a tech refresh

If you’re planning to overhaul your tech, start by auditing all your current systems. Look at how you use them and what software or parts of your software are redundant, unused or underused. Compare this with what technology is available to fill any gaps, then conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

Mahdi Shariff, Co-founder of operations-automation and AI platform The Humble AI, says: “You’ll already have lots of subscriptions, some of which you no longer need. But paying by subscription makes software costs easily controllable. You can try something for a few months and if it doesn’t work, cancel it.”

There are several risks to manage, however. The biggest is around people – especially given the fierce war for technical talent.

“Do you have the right talent available to implement the technology?” says Mahdi. “Is the person who implements the new software well incentivised to stay in the firm? If not, could you be left with technology that no-one knows how to adapt or fix?

“To help address this, consider formalising training around the software. Relying on informal structures increases the risk that critical knowledge relating to that system could leave with an individual.”

Also, consider whether there are enough people in the firm who will use the new software to justify investment. Do those people have the skills to get the best from it? Or will it require lots of training and changing people’s roles? If so, factor this into the investment case.

Keith says his priority is to involve affected employees from outset and get their buy-in.

“Then they will be motivated to overcome any additional short-term workload or challenges the implementation brings. The key measures of success are staff feedback, and intangible benefits from improving their working environment.”

Bridging the technology gap

Some technologies will be out of reach, especially for smaller businesses, because of the cost of the systems and the staff to run them.

Mahdi says: “There’s exponential growth in demand for technology, but linear growth in supply of technical talent. So the cost of development and technical talent keeps increasing. While there are many great tools that could help SMEs, they often require technical knowledge to either set up or maintain, making them inaccessible to many SMEs as this relies on their ability to attract, hire and afford engineers to implement them.”

LCNC software enables users to build applications with no or limited coding knowledge. But, Mahdi warns, it’s still a new market and some applications are still fragile, or lack sufficient governance if errors occur. The errors often still require tech specialists to resolve. But LCNC is an evolving area that holds great potential for SMEs.