It can feel like the odds are against you when you’re an SME competing with bigger rivals.
It’s like the third round of the FA Cup when the plucky lower league teams find themselves facing the Premiership giants – and invariably getting thrashed.
The big clubs don’t only have the best players – they also have the kind of facilities and infrastructure that smaller clubs can only dream about.
The same kind of thing used to be true in the business world. The bigger your organisation, the more you could invest in areas that set you apart from your competitors.
But that's no longer the case.
Investing in technology
In the past, it was only the bigger companies that could afford modern technology, and have the means and technical know-how to roll it out.
Nowadays, mobile workforce management solutions are subscription based, meaning that the initial investment is very little, with a monthly ongoing cost.
It allows an SME to benefit from exactly the same kind of technology as a company ten times their size.
Managing digital expectations
By using the same technology, organisations can provide the same delivery standards that we’ve come to expect from the likes of Amazon or Ocado.
With an efficient digital system, it means that services get delivered on time, with customers and clients able to track the status of each delivery online.
It means that you’re able to manage mobile workers in real-time so that if there’s any kind of an issue, you can react to it immediately.
Looking the part
Rather than a delivery person clutching a scruffy clipboard, it means employees are equipped with a smartphone.
It lets customers sign for deliveries digitally as well providing feedback on the standard of service they’ve received - allowing you to identify and address any problem areas.
Workforce management software is helping to create a much fairer environment for SMEs in which to do business as the quality of service an organisation is able to provide is no longer linked to its size or tech buying power, it’s more down to attitude.
It could be argued that access to technology is actually tilted things in favour of SMEs when it comes to competing with much larger companies as they have the benefit of being a smaller, more flexible organisation able to react quickly to local demands.
So while Accrington Stanley face a seemingly impossible task competing against Liverpool, it’s really no longer the case for SMEs.
