The business landscape is changing rapidly today.

With the emergence of smartphones, high speed internet, and social media, the way we live, transact, and connect with each other has drastically shifted to the digital space.

However, although this "digital lifestyle" is penetrating every facet of humanity, many brick & mortar/traditional businesses have yet to make the shift to the digital space.

Here’s 5 key reasons why now's the perfect time to do so:

1. Customers are moving online, especially the younger generation.

Today, over half the world's population has access to the internet via a smartphone, and that number is continuing to rise each day among the younger generation.

With access to social media and search engines, the younger generation are getting most of their content and information online from these channels.

Having an online presence matters a whole lot more today than it used to before.

2. It’s significantly cheaper and more efficient

In today's unstable economic climate, businesses could save a tremendous amount of time and money by automating most internal processes through software and automated technology.

Not only does this improve efficiency, it creates a greater competitive advantage against competitors that aren't leveraging technology, as well as increasing profitability dramatically.

3. Risks can be reduced, problems could be solved faster.

Poor decision-making could destroy a company.

In today's digital world where everything can be tracked and measured, making data-driven decisions goes a long way.

In fact, leveraging on data to make decisions for one's business could significantly minimise risks and improve the accuracy to problem solving in the long term.

With more and more of these tools being readily available online, a small monthly subscription could be the difference between making the right decision and the wrong one.

4. Startups are disrupting traditional SMEs

They are fast, heavily funded, and are powered by technology.

With many new startups having a strong grasp of the digital space, many of them are building solutions that are rendering traditional ways of doing things obsolete. 

Coupled with the immense amounts of venture capital funding that's pouring into these technology companies, many startups are taking over markets that previously belonged to brick & mortar/traditional businesses.

Going digital ensures a competitive advantage against these rising tech companies, as most traditional businesses have a head-start with an initial base of customers, giving them an advantage when seeking to raise external funding to expand digitally.

5. Big corporates are innovating as well

It's a myth that large corporations are slow.

In fact, many large companies are adopting digital solutions faster than most SMEs, and are aggressively expanding into new territories to retain market dominance.

Foreign conglomerates like Amazon, Huawei, and Xiaomi are heavily expanding into local markets, leveraging on technology to accelerate their market entry.

Going digital helps create a barrier of entry from these large companies, allowing smaller companies to protect their turf.

Moving Forward

Making the shift to the digital space can be a challenging feat, especially for traditional businesses that aren't familiar with the industry.

This is an area the upcoming Innovatif+ Summit aims to solve, by bridging valuable connections and resources to SMEs that are seeking to protect and transform their businesses to greater heights.