SMEs urged to harness power of digitization to create value and stay relevant

The Innovation and Partnerships Manager at Wineloya Digital, Mr. Simon Alangde has reiterated calls for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to harness the power of digitization in order to stay relevant and create more value using digital channels.

According to him, though digital technologies have the potential to boost SMEs productivity and growth, SMEs need to embrace the digital solutions to compete and survive.

This comes at a time when many small and medium scale enterprises have been the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Already, recent data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicates that over 150,000 service-oriented businesses closed down during the lockdown period, while 96,276 businesses remained closed in May and June.

Speaking at a CalBank webinar on “How SMEs can create value using digital channels”, Mr. Alangde urged businesses to retool and rebuild their skills to transform their businesses.

“For businesses to understand or leverage digital channels and to create value, they first need to understand the benefits of having a business online. They need to understand that the digital ecosystem basically allows you to target specific groups which enable you to narrow down your marketing. So if you know that your potential customers are, maybe female, based on your demographics, or are people who have a job from nine to five, you can build a profile to target that. This means that you can put these demographics into your digital campaigns and save cost compared to the traditional means of advertising. It also allows you to analyse and get more insights about your business to influence your next decision,” he said.

He also encouraged SMEs to use data to position themselves properly in order to stay relevant.

“Another great thing is re-marketing. Here they can implement a tracking code on their social media handles which can allow them to re-market the brand and build customer loyalty and retention. Businesses can also use this to build data or customer information. One of the key things that businesses can do is to have data. To have data is to have information and to have information is to have power. Today there is a scientific approach about everything, so SME’s should use data and trend analysis to stay relevant,” he added.

The maiden edition of the CalBank webinar targeted business owners and individuals looking to start up their own businesses.