As
the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic hits South Africa’s business
sector, small and medium enterprises are in a fight for their survival. With a
slowing economy, low consumer confidence and now a pandemic, SMEs are
increasingly in search of tools that can help them build resilience against the
ongoing disruption.
Dumisani
Moyo, Head of Mid-Market for Southern Africa at SAP, says some businesses were
fortunate enough to have the tools and systems in place to enable remote work.
“This
minimised the negative impact of the lockdown on their productivity and
operations and enabled them to maintain business continuity more easily,”
he says. “However, some SMEs have out-of-date technology, while too many
have not invested in technology at all. This leaves SMEs stranded and lacking
the capacity to adapt to a very disruptive environment.”
According
to the World Bank, SMEs account for about 90% of all businesses and
more than half of all employment worldwide. However, the coronavirus pandemic
and resulting lockdown measures have crippled SMEs: a recent report found that 60% of all SMEs in South Africa could
close down before the crisis is over.
Cloud
holds key to productivity
Moyo
says that SMEs that had adopted cloud services prior to the lockdown would have
been in a better position to maintain business productivity and keep operations
running.
“If
you are stuck with outdated on-premise technology, however, the lockdown would
have been devastating to your productivity, especially as employees were
suddenly working remotely and without physical access to the office.”
Despite
South Africa’s lockdown easing for most industries, with about 70% of the
country’s workforce back at work, many companies have persisted with remote
work.
“There
is growing evidence that employees can maintain the same – or even higher –
levels of productivity when working remotely as they do when they are at the
office. One of the key enablers of this is their use of technology tools such
as cloud-based enterprise resource planning solutions that enable them to
orchestrate their business productivity regardless of where they are.”
Enterprise
tools for SMEs
While
ERP solutions were traditionally leveraged by large organisations that had the
skills and capital to successfully implement them, technology vendors have made
a concerted effort over the past few years to extend these offerings to the SME
market.
“Nearly
80% of SAP’s customers globally are SMEs,” says Moyo. “And with an
implementation period of as little as two weeks, the solutions that are
available to SMEs can transform how they operate quickly enough for it to
matter as they recover from a tough trading period due to Covid-19.”
Moyo
points to partners and resellers as key enablers of cloud adoption among
SMEs.
“A
strong partner ecosystem can help SMEs navigate some of the trickier aspects of
cloud adoption and help build innovations that are tailored to the SME market.
The pandemic is also forcing some change in how partners and resellers engage
with SMEs.”
Kerushan
Govender, managing director of SAP partner firm Blacfox, says tech resellers
are facing a step change in the market.
“Resellers
have no choice but to expand their portfolio with what the SME market needs,
and since the Covid-19 outbreak, what SMEs need most is the agility,
cost-savings and productivity benefits of cloud solutions. While adopting and
implementing cloud was generally seen as a nice-to-have or a goal for some time
in the future, the very survival of many SMEs now depends on how well they
adopt and leverage the many benefits of cloud technologies.”
Govender
believes many resellers will need to reconsider their business models with
urgency.
“SMEs
are looking for cost-efficient cloud solutions that can be implemented and
deliver business results quickly. The growing adoption of born-in-the-cloud SME
solutions such as SAP’s ByDesign and Business One also gives resellers access
to a broader market, as these tools can be used by smaller businesses as well
as more established enterprises.”
New
breed of partner
Lillian
Serobatse, head of channel for Africa at SAP, says the ongoing disruption has
changed companies’ expectations of their technology partners.
“The
new currency is lifetime value, in other words, how can my partner provide
ongoing value to my organisation and help me make decisions over my technology
that support the achievement of my business goals. It’s not enough to just sell
a product or solution: channel partners are now tasked with helping customers
extract the maximum amount of value over time from their technology
investments.”
Serobatse
says that these changing expectations have given rise to a new breed of partner
organisation.
“The
best value-added resellers and tech partners today develop extensive
industry-specific expertise, take the time to really understand customer pain
points and opportunities, and then co-develop tailored solutions alongside the
larger vendors. This gives them access to very specific markets where their
solutions can make an immediate and long-term positive impact.”
Govender
believes the tools that SMEs need are already available to value-added
resellers.
“Many
of these solutions arguably provide a panacea to the current challenges
resellers and their customers face. Lightweight, native cloud applications such
as SAP ByDesign answer a customers’ urgent need to support a remote workforce
without compromising compliance. Technology partners who don’t have an
effective answer to the SME market need to act speedily. Their survival, and
the survival of many SMEs, depend on it.”
- Blacfox is hosting a series of webinars in partnership with SAP, bringing experts from across multiple industries together to discuss current challenges and suitable solutions. Registrations are open now: https://www.uniteforsmall.co.za/partner
