South Africa has almost three million small firms: about 710 000 formal small businesses and roughly 1.75 million informal ones. TIPS reports that owners believe digitising small and medium enterprises (SME) would help their businesses, yet plans often do not turn into steady action Cape {town} Etc, reports.
Digital transformation is now a practical imperative. Starting with simple, fit-for-purpose tools can protect margins, improve discoverability and make operations more resilient.
According to mastercard.com, customer habits are moving online. Research forecasts online retail will top R130 billion in 2025, making a simple, measurable online presence more important for finding customers.
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At the same time, about nine in ten SMEs now accept digital payments, showing that some practical digital steps are already common.
An article by Elemental’s Co-CEO Angelo Zanetti, ‘Digital dithering keeps SA businesses in the slow lane,’ argues that many firms will gain more from building basic systems and clear processes than from chasing the latest headlines.
The Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has signalled departmental support for market access and e-commerce programmes to help firms scale. This policy line aligns with the practical steps experts recommend. (gov.za)
Zanetti’s practical digital checklist is straightforward:
- Ensure customers can discover and buy online
- Remove payment friction; adopt fit-for-purpose systems
- Build simple digital workflows to capture data and reduce manual rework
- Prioritise skills transfer and plain-English documentation, so teams are not vendor dependent.
‘Digitisation isn’t buying software for the sake of it. Start with clarity. Look at which customer journeys matter[…]When strategy leads and tech follows, growth sticks,’ adds Jerry Diender, COO of Elemental.
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Picture: Elemental
