While it would be logical to assume that the prospect of a British exit from the EU would have a negative impact on small and medium sized businesses, the opposite seems to be true in the current market. More specifically, many remain unfazed by the prospect of exiting the EU, with a recent study suggesting that some 70% of business-owners were indifferent to the UK’s future membership plans. Furthermore, a miniscule 8% reported that speculation about the EU had taken its toll on strategic planning, with just 18% claiming minor disruption.
3 Digital Investments to consider for your Business
This suggests that business-owners are likely to be willing to invest heavily in the development of their venture in the coming months, although there is still a pressing need to spend wisely. Digital investments offer a particularly lucrative ROI in the modern age, especially the following: –
Mail Management Solutions
Logistics remains a crucial element of your business, while it can also be extremely costly over the course of the financial year. With this in mind, investing in digital mail management solutions can help to drive efficiency and cut costs considerably, while actually improving delivery speeds and accuracy. Service and technology providers such as TNT can help business-owners to reduce their operational mail room costs by as much as 20%, so the initial investment can easily be repaid over a sustained period of time.
Analytic CRM
CRM (customer relationship management) systems are extremely popular in the modern age, but some small business owners remain immune to their considerable charms. Analytical CRM software is particularly beneficial to small businesses, as it drives incredibly accurate data collation and enables markets to target specific and carefully defined demographics. In terms of identifying profitable consumer groups and driving a higher return on your marketing investment, analytic CRM remains the seminal tool to integrated into your business in 2016.
Online payment services
The growth of e-commerce and mobile platforms means that the rate of online spending is continuing to rise at an exponential rate in the UK. With this trend set to grow even further in the next year and beyond, it is little wonder that 13% of small businesses plan to develop online payment services and capabilities in the next year (in addition to the 345 that already have this in place). This represents a crucial digital investment and one that you consider, as it simplifies the consumer journey, offers flexibility to individual customers and actively increases your sales conversion rate over time.