The way that SMBs do business is changing. There’s no question about that. In fact, whether SMBs choose to adapt to the latest technologies can actually impact their bottom lines. For the last decade, large enterprises have been conducting their businesses on a global scale, using services and devices managed by departments of engineers and IT personnel. When it comes to collaboration tools, SMBs were essentially left by the wayside. Yet with the evolution of modern SaaS technologies, SMBs can join the ranks of enterprise giants to build their own digital workplaces.
Introducing Microsoft 365 For Small Businesses
Microsoft has been making huge strides in 2017 to accommodate the needs of small to medium-size businesses. At the Microsoft Inspire Partner Conference in Washington D.C this year, Satya Nadella announced the launch of Microsoft 365. By combining Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility and Security, Microsoft is now offering a turnkey solution for smaller businesses that are interested in creating a secure and collaborative digital workplace, but simply don’t have the resources to make it happen all by themselves. The combination of these solutions represents the culmination of the best of each product, to bring them together as a complete, integrated solution. The cloud-based dashboard is accessible from anywhere at any time, which reduces many of the overhead costs and eases the digital transformation process for SMBs.
Microsoft has already made it clear that its vision for the future is to empower organizations with intelligent, cloud-based technologies that are necessary for establishing a full-fledged digital workplace. But they’re not stopping at the enterprise-level. By setting their sights on SMBs, they’re establishing themselves as the leader of the digital workplace revolution.
What is a Digital Transformation?
As stated by Microsoft, “Digital transformation is about reimagining how you bring together people, data, and processes to create value for your customers and maintain a competitive advantage in the digital-first world.” By breaking down silos and bringing people together in the digital space, the propensity for SMB organizations to achieve higher productivity levels is simply endless. Healthcare, Legal, Financial Services and many other SMB organizations have already recognized the need for a digital transformation. According to a study done by Microsoft and the Boston Consulting Group, 45% of SMBs said their employees get more done in the same amount of time thanks to technologies like cloud and mobile. And with 27% of SMBs doing business internationally in 2010 compared to 85% in 2017, it’s clear that the SMB business landscape is changing drastically.
45% of SMBs said their employees get more done in the same amount of time thanks to technologies like cloud and mobile
SMBs Should Not Forget About Analytics
As many SMBs embark on their digital transformation, it’s common that they get caught up in the frenzy that comes with the deployment of new technologies. But it’s important to take a step back, and really think about strategy before introducing a whole new set of digital tools to a workforce of up to 300 people or less. Even SMBs can benefit from creating a steering committee that is responsible for the optimization and analysis of these tools. This committee will ensure that KPIs are set, and consistent analysis is enacted in order to ensure that ROI is reached. Although SMB offerings are less costly in most cases, these organizations have much less room for error when it comes to wasting funds on solutions that simply aren’t used properly by employees.
To complete the puzzle, it’s absolutely imperative that SMBs invest efforts into creating a digital transformation strategy before they deploy their new Microsoft 365 solution. This strategy should include analytics and engagement tools. Microsoft SharePoint is an important element of the Microsoft 365 solution, which acts as an internal portal for employee collaboration and productivity. Analytics provide decision makers with the data they need to understand what their productivity, search and adoption trends look like. Analytics is the necessary ingredient for transforming raw data into intuitive dashboards.
You might also like to read: A How to Guide on SharePoint Surveys – Boosting Staff Engagement
Small Business SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Analytics
The CardioLog Analytics team truly believes in Microsoft’s vision of the Digital Workplace. We’ve made great efforts to align our products with Microsoft’s, to create a seamless integration. In the places where Microsoft falls short, we invest our efforts to fill in those gaps. With CardioLog Analytics for SMBs, Small-to-Medium size organizations can track their internal portals, and take action based on intelligent insights. The solution is tailored specifically for SMBs, serving the needs of small-to-medium size businesses, with deep Power BI integration and actionable reporting and insights. We’ve set our pricing to accommodate SMBs as well, starting at just $300 per month. With quick setup and low efforts, SMBs can obtain intelligent metrics in no time. Finally, we offer a free deployment for a 12-month commitment. To learn more about the offering, click here.
Related Topic: The Benefits of using SharePoint and its Amazing Features
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