For SMEs, cloud operation is key to digital transformation

Maher Al-Khaiyat The hallmarks of today’s society are constant change, unpredictability and digital disruption. Companies must be nimble to manage this unpredictably changing terrain. Gaining competitive advantage is the goal of agility. According to Deloitte, it’s about improving a company’s ability to “react to and capitalise on its changing operational environment.” Being agile involves a paradigm shift in which business and technology are no longer separated: It’s all about digital transformation. Cloud technology has undoubtedly played the most important role in assisting businesses in digital transformation to stay competitive. Indeed, during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, which saw firms scrambling to facilitate remote working, cloud use skyrocketed. Embracing the cloud allows for far more, yet it should be highlighted that the future of work will demand organisations to be flexible in where they operate, with hybrid work setups remaining viable options. Cloud adoption, when done strategically, lays the ground for enterprise agility and growth. It’s the starting point for digital transformation, which can result in a 30 per cent rise in productivity, operational performance, staff engagement, and as a result, customer satisfaction. In the early days of cloud adoption, a Harvard Business Review survey identified cloud’s ability to increase competitive advantage, which 74 per cent of business respondents have experienced. With advancements in this enabling technology over time, the case for cloud’s utility for businesses is only going to get stronger. Business management, which is at the heart of any company’s decision-making process, is one area where it’s most transformational. A unified perspective of business activities is required for quick decision-making. This is possible with a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. It links previously segregated areas of an organisation’s operations (from accounting to warehouse management and more) in a safe, unified manner to give a company end-to-end, company-wide information. This is the future of operations. Businesses would profit from centralising management systems on the cloud, which has both cost-cutting and growth-supporting benefits, which are particularly significant for small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) operating on tighter budgets, less capital and in an increasingly competitive environment. The cost and time involved in manually updating systems and ensuring security is maintained; the cost implications of scaling up, if necessary, should the organisation grow; and the staffing requirements and costs associated with overseeing and providing support for the system are just a few of the challenges SMEs face with on-site ERPs. When an ERP is relocated to the cloud and managed by a single, reputable service provider with a 24-hour assistance, these restrictions are removed. A last year research by Forrester bears witness to this. It looked at the financial implications of switching to platforms like Microsoft’s cloud-based Dynamics 365 Business Central, a comprehensive business management system. The requirement for new hires was decreased by 10 per cent, while operational flow rose by eight per cent. Many factors contributed to the savings, including fewer support people, lower license fees and infrastructure and the ability to replace third-party reports with more granular internally-derived reports. Benefits not quantified in the study but still significant included a further streamlining of operations due to easy integration with other Microsoft solutions, as well as real-time visibility of key business data and metrics enabling proactive, efficient decision-making by making timely decisions using comprehensive, real-time reporting, embedded analytics, and AI-driven insights. Being able to use the same ERP capabilities as larger organisations without having to invest a large sum of money in on-site infrastructure and specialised IT teams is a plus for SMEs, especially in current economic climate. Saving money and increasing efficiency are important but being able to adjust operational needs is especially beneficial for smaller organisations. An SME can swiftly scale up or down based on operational or budgetary needs using a cloud-based ERP. This solution can expand or decrease in response to the needs of the company. — Maher Al-Khaiyat is Regional Business Applications Director for Microsoft MEA

For SMEs, cloud operation is key to digital transformation

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