Since the turn of the 21st century, technology innovation has outgrown its long-celebrated fortress within large corporations and has spread its wings in helping smaller enterprises reimagine their business operations. While the breadth of digital technology leverage at smaller businesses may not be in line with what happens at large multinational corporations, they certainly have become a part of major decision-making events at small businesses. 

Studies have shown that at least 45% of all small business leaders in the United States use CRM software to handle their customers daily. For small businesses, ignoring the digital bandwagon can prove to be disastrous. 

However, when compared to larger enterprises, small businesses have fewer resources in terms of personnel, capital, and expertise to manage their digital transformation efforts. Hence, the best option for smaller businesses is to leverage the power of readymade enterprise solutions rather than having to build one on their own. The latter approach could result in heavy cost overruns and may affect the smooth operations of the core business. With readymade enterprise solutions, small businesses can leap into the digital realm without much hassle. 

Here are four reasons why small businesses love readymade enterprise solutions:

Cost Advantage

Smaller businesses have the lesser financial muscle and can find it extremely difficult to find a sizeable budget for IT investments. Hiring team members and setting up a dedicated technology team can send costs up the roof, which may not be feasible as smaller enterprises require capital for their core needs. Hence, investing in a readymade enterprise solution makes sense. Because it does not involve any technology development costs, nor is a need for a periodic enhancement budget as the solution provider will offer an attractive upgrade or enhancement option.

Better Industry Acumen

Readymade enterprise solutions are created by vendors after making a comprehensive study of the business domains and markets where the solution would be deployed. The solutions developed have a more realistic knowledge of market conditions, are deployed with a unified build that can be used easily across businesses in the industry, and have a powerful framework suited for the industry. Being a readymade software solution, it will have already incorporated best practices and features that are used by leaders in the market segment. If small businesses were to build such capability on their own in their enterprise software, there would be several misfits and technically complex challenges that may not fall under the purview of their core operations.

Faster Time to Market

There is no waiting time for small businesses to have their digital platforms launched when they use readymade enterprise solutions. For example, a small business can launch their own mobile app or web portal using a readymade enterprise solution in a matter of minutes rather than the months it takes for them to build one from scratch. Or they can start using a readymade ERP or CRM solution within a matter of a few weeks instead of spending months building a custom solution. There is no wait time for design, development, and quality assurance. This makes readymade enterprise solutions a particularly interesting choice for small businesses that wish to leverage technology to bring transformational change in their operations. The only confusion that SMB’s will face in this regard is the evaluation and selection criterion of several solution providers who would be offering similar readymade solution choices.

Periodic Updates

A readymade solution has the advantage of continuous improvement by the solution provider. Irrespective of the fact whether a business uses a licensed enterprise solution or a cloud-based one, the vendor responsible for the solution will continuously provide updates that make the software competent according to market conditions. Every update that is designed, built, and deployed by the vendor would have associated learning and training collateral. Using such opportunities, small businesses can train their staff to handle their digital options easily. 

By leveraging the power of readymade software, small businesses get a stepping-stone to their digital transformation. Events like the COVID-19 have accelerated the growth of digital among all segments of business as more people move towards a digital-first mode of conducting business with people. Readymade solutions hold a huge potential for small businesses to enable them to easily integrate digital in their business operations at minimal cost and effort. The savings in time and capital can be utilized by SMBs for providing employees with the right tools to perform at their best levels every single day. By identifying the scale of business and potential growth rates, small businesses must spend wisely on choosing readymade enterprise solutions that are deemed as an absolute necessity for growth.

Over the past 15+ years, Benchmark has helped several worldwide enterprises with hundreds of implementations of various readymade enterprise solutions. Let’s connect, and we will help you with your digital transformation journey.