Welcome to Part II of Hadageto’s lockdown coverage for small businesses. You can check out Part I here where we explain how easy it is to use a Digital Document Management System (DDMS) to protect your profit margins, paperwork and people from the COVID-19 pandemic, or you can stay here and see what we have to say, two months later.

This post looks at the rapid rates of digital transformation forced through by the shift to remote working and communicating brought on by events in 2020. It also explains why DDMS systems like ours, which enable secure sharing, play a crucial part in helping SMEs to keep vital intel, customer and employee information safe and secure.

A global perspective

Back in the summer, we all knew that the likelihood of more lockdowns was fairly high, and here we are. In Europe, cases were up 28% to the week of 09 October. Madrid is back in lockdown, Paris has strict curfews, major Dutch cities have reimposed measures and the UK has begun localised restrictions.

It’s not much fun, is it? As we agreed in Part I, we don’t know what lies ahead. But we do know that many businesses have to adapt and digital transformation strategies supporting secure sharing are the answer.

Let’s look at how this is happening.

According to Twilio’s COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report, the pandemic has accelerated companies’ digital communications strategies by an average of six years in a mere matter of months.

• A whopping 97% of enterprise decision-makers believe it has sped up their company’s digital transformation.
• 95% of the 2,500 companies surveyed are seeking new ways of engaging customers as a result of COVID-19.
• 92% said that transforming their means of digital communications is extremely or very critical to address current business challenges.
• 79% went so far as to say that COVID-19 has resulted in enlarged budgets for digital transformation; an indication of how critical it is, if ever there was one.

It’s important to remember that some of the companies Twilio surveyed are enormous, with cultures inclined towards digital transformation in the first place, so let’s take a minute to look at what all of this means for smaller businesses.

Small business lockdown stats

Let’s have a quick look at the numbers.

According to a recent UK-focused survey by Simply Business, COVID-19 has forced 67% of SMEs to close temporarily. Their survey found that with the total cost to UK small businesses exceeding £69 billion, over 230,000 have been forced to close for good.

A survey from risk-tech experts, Nimbla, found that 38% of UK SMEs are still waiting to be paid an average of £59,013 for work before the first national lockdown. Some 21% said they don’t think they will recover the full amount, which totals £2.2bn in outstanding revenue.

Let’s face it, the lockdown actions we are taking in order to stay safe and stop the virus spreading are simultaneously and negatively impacting our businesses, job markets and economies.

So, if adapting to digital transformation has become necessary to stay afloat, and if COVID-19 is indeed the ‘great technology accelerator’ of 2020, what challenges do SMEs face when it comes to acting now?

Here are some of them, with a silver lining: Using a secure file sharing DDMS like Hadageto can provide many benefits.

I know, you would expect us to say our product answers some of the biggest information issues that businesses face during lockdowns, but hear me out!

Why DDMS are a good call

There are some informative articles intent on helping SMEs to go digital and master smart communicating, information storage and secure sharing.

In this one from CPA Practice Advisor, 5 Keys to Building Core Strength in Your Firm with Effective Document Management, we read that ‘having an efficient and secure information flow through your business is a core competency which can either support or undermine your company’s stability and growth.’ It explains how cybercrime targets SMEs – which we touched on in a recent post, here and likens strengthening DDMS to coping with human, physical weaknesses – a neat analogy!

In this feature from Raconteur, Rethinking Your Continuity Tech Stack, we learn of a law firm that acted fast to embrace a cloud-based DDMS (that’s what we do!) and is much better off as a result.

Spot the theme? Still not sure?

Let’s revisit the conclusions we decided upon in Part I:

• If you have been stuck without a document you’ve needed while home-working, you need a DDMS.
• Your information is secure and so are your instantaneous sharing options. Documents are sent to who you want, when you want, and when they are opened, you know. With our assured digital delivery, you’ll never need get an annoying ‘read receipt’ again.
• Your employees and customers can access the information they need, from anywhere, at any time, and efficiently share what they need to. That keeps cash coming in and projects moving.
• The amount of time small businesses spend on chasing invoices is ridiculous, so we help with that too. You can see when they’re opened, they’re delivered securely
  and tracked, and our system saves time and improves transparency.

The timing couldn’t be better for you to have a chat with Hadageto. You can contact us for a conversation by emailing info@hadageto.com.

Or why not share your thoughts with us by completing our survey, which lives here?