Top 3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Must Go Mobile
The pace of business is not just moving quickly, it’s moving at lightning speed. When competing against the giants of the industry, small businesses often feel the need to work twice as hard just to keep up. But where SMBs lack in size, they make up for in agility, adaptability and flexibility.
This occurs particularly when it comes to business processes—when something doesn’t work, SMBs can quickly implement change. If there is new technology, they implement it. There are no long approval processes or multiple layers to cut through. This is why it’s no surprise SMBs have not only taken to, but excelled with, using mobile business solutions.
1. Accessing business from anywhere
Mobile business solutions do more than just enable work to be accessed from anywhere. Many SMBs find that using mobile solutions is changing the way they work for the better. In a recent report by the SMB Group, From Manual to Mobile: Speeding Business Success for SMBs, a survey of small businesses found that:
“67% of SMBs strongly agree/agree that mobile solutions are changing how they work and collaborate (Figure 5). The top benefits from mobile solutions include improved employee productivity, improved access to people and information, and time savings.”
Beyond business process benefits, mobility positively affects SMB’s employee recruitment and retention. The ability to work from anywhere opens up the talent pool, giving SMBs more access to top talent. The flexibility of mobility attracts the younger generation of workers (Millennials) who expect to work both in and out of the office.
2. Giving your employees (and business) a leading edge
As mobile technology gains momentum, so do the capabilities of various applications. SMBs are using more than just the standard productivity and collaboration apps for their mobile business solutions. They are using apps to manage everything from CRM to spend management.
A good example of powerful spend management solutions are Concur Expense and Concur Invoice. These applications allow SMBs to track employee expenses and review and approve invoices in real time. Since SAP Concur uses cloud technology, information is transparent and accessible by any team member with access.
An added mobility benefit with Concur Expense is the ability for employees to use their mobile phone to record expenses, snap photos of receipts or approve employees’ expense reports.
Not only are businesses reaping the benefits of a mobile business solution, they are also feeling the impact of time and cost savings thanks to efficient automated software.
3. Creating a powerful mobile business solution cocktail
Choosing the correct mix of mobile business solutions that are right for your company starts with taking a long, hard look at your current processes. From there, you can determine which practices would be made even better with mobile business solutions. Remember to think beyond just automating your current processes. Mobile and cloud-based software can often re-work or even eliminate processes altogether.
Keep the big picture of your processes and tools in mind as you make your decisions. Mobility is here to stay, and your employees will continue to demand more and more flexibility. Integrating mobile solutions in a thoughtful way allows both your company and your employees to reap all the benefits of a mobile workplace, ensuring that you stay ahead of the pack.
Are you ready to create a mobile workplace? Download From Manual to Mobile: Speeding Business Success for SMBs. This Perspectives Report by SMB Group, sponsored by SAP Concur, explains the many ways mobility is changing the SMB marketplace.