Digital: the life-saving jacket we might need?
Sometimes starting a new business feels a lot like drowning. You thought you were a strong swimmer, you’d done the research about the tidal currents, you’ve bought your swimwear and goggles, chosen the best place to set off. You thought – yes, I can swim that distance.
So you dived in.
And then at some point things start to get tricky. Suddenly, there’s a tanker that no one expected, coming towards you, and when you avoid that, the waves are coming from every direction, sharks are circling, you get stung by a jelly-fish… and you realise, maybe I need a bit of help here.
That’s when you start waving….
Getting help when you’re drowning is obviously pretty important, but it’s not easy. Because the arm you need to hold up to wave, is the same arm you need to fight off the jellyfish and the sharks. Getting help before you’re downing is therefore maybe something to consider.
That’s why I was delighted to be invited by Business Insider Magazine to be on the panel talk about one of the opportunities available to help small businesses. LCR4 START is a new initiative supporting Liverpool City Region SME business leaders and companies to gain a competitive edge through the development of practical strategies for effective digital adoption.
Many companies think that the last thing they need to do is add a digital element to their long list of tasks. But doing something digitally instead of manually, using AR communications to enhance training, or networking software to aid team planning for instance, can often be massively more cost-effective in the long run. Look at the organisations who already used Zoom or Microsoft teasm before the pandemic to connect their teams. My son’s school had been using Microsoft Teams for a few years, they were mostly set up, many of the teachers knew how to use it, some had some lesson plans. So when lockdown hit, they were in a strong position to continue to teach the students remotely. Other schools had to start from scratch, and some just weren’t able to.
It’s the same with small businesses. Find out how digital processes can make you more efficient and then you will be saving money, get ahead of the game, and be more prepared if disaster strikes. And maybe, a bit of digitallife-saving might mean that you’ll be able to swim like a fish, taking your business to places you never imagined possible…
And if you feel like listening to the entire interview, it’s here:
