According the Sydney Morning Herald ( Australia ) the results of two new research studies about small businesses’ use
of technology are almost diametrically opposed. One study conducted by
Google released this morning shows more than a third of those surveyed
don’t use the internet. The other survey by the Commonwealth Bank of
Australia says small businesses are tech-savvy.
The Connected Small Businesses report released today
found businesses that use the internet as a key business tool are twice
as likely to be growing as those that don’t. In addition, they earn
twice the revenue per employee compared to businesses that are not
engaging with the online world.
The report was prepared by professional services firm Deloitte for search engine Google and surveyed 500 small businesses.
Findings from the survey show businesses that are engaged
with the internet earn 20 per cent more than those that are not engaged
with the ‘net. They also have better growth prospects, more diversified
revenue sources and a larger customer base.
These results are in line with accounting software business MYOB's
March 2013 Business Monitor. Its study of more than 1,000 small
businesses show only 38 per cent have a business website. Businesses
with a website were 60 per cent more likely to have had a lift in
revenue over the past year.
The results of Google's research show only 16 per cent of
businesses are highly engaged with the internet. Thirty-five percent of
businesses are not engaged with the internet at all.
The results of Google's research contradict research
conducted by the Commonwealth Bank. Its research shows 81 per cent of
small businesses rate their knowledge of digital technologies as good or
better. In contrast to Google's research, CBA's research found the
majority of small businesses use digital technologies on a daily basis.
The study also shows the average small business has invested
$28,226 in digital technologies and that digital technologies have
generated an additional $57,574 in revenue for the average small
business.
The research did acknowledge the high cost of technology and
uncertainty about the return an investment in digital technologies will
produce are reasons why businesses don’t adopt digital technologies.
So why are the findings of the two studies so different?
Technology commentator Trevor Long says one of the reasons is because the two surveys focus on different areas.
“What we can see in these surveys is the very clear need for
small businesses to understand and embrace digital technologies. On this
they agree,” says Long.
“However Google is keen to see small businesses embrace the
web. In Google terms that means them having a cracking good website,
understanding and using e-commerce and understanding and embracing
search engine and online advertising,” he says.
Long says from a CBA perspective, the report concentrates
more on small businesses’ total digital investment, looking at hardware
such as tablets or computers, as well as what is spent on online and
social media technologies.
“The bank was much more wide ranging in its approach to what
digital is in the survey. CBA wants to see business spend more on
digital, perhaps borrow more to get that growth potential. Google wants
small businesses to see the upside in spending on marketing and
advertising online as well as selling to consumers online.”
Andrew Thomas, CEO of technology business Thomas Duryea
thinks the results of CBA’s survey reflect a lack of awareness among
smaller enterprises of the potential of technology.
“I suspect for that percentage of SMEs to rate their
knowledge and use of digital as excellent, they are not aware of the
extent or power of the latest digital technologies. I know of very few
businesses that are exploiting the latest capabilities in big data and
analytics,” says Thomas.
“This includes taking existing deep customer data, combining
it with public data, website traffic and other private datasets, then
running complex analysis to yield insights, trends and opportunities
that would never have been available three years ago,” he adds.
Thomas says small businesses don’t even make the most of
simple technologies, such as using different website landing pages for
different audience or using different phone numbers for different
marketing campaigns to test which work the best.
“I doubt whether most small businesses could quote the
frequency of relevant search terms or the difference between source
traffic that browses for research, compared to traffic that arrives to
purchase from a website.”
Adam Franklin, social media speaker,
from web strategy consultants Bluewire Media thinks the difference
between the two pieces of research lies in the fact small businesses
understand they need to use digital channels, but they don't have the
time or know-how to implement these technologies themselves.
“Eighty-one per cent say their understanding of digital
technologies is high, but only a handful have high engagement. It is
much harder to get everything implemented and use it week-in week-out,
than it is to merely know you should be doing it,” says Franklin.
“It’s kind of like exercise. Everyone knows the benefits but
getting up and actually doing it everyday is a different story,” he
quips.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire