Businesses can save 150 hours per year with new technology tools

New research from Dropbox and Enterprise Nation reveals that thousands of small and medium businesses (SMBs) can save up to 150 hours a year — hours that can be used to grow their businesses with new technology tools in digital operations handbooks. While the majority of UK business leaders (77%) cannot survive without the tech tools, the report shows that too many cannot take advantage of all the options available, which together will provide them the equivalent of £8.1 billion in savings. year period.

According to the study, barriers to using technical tools are diverse, with a lack of expert advice and information, and high costs being seen as the main challenges for UK small and medium-sized businesses. About a quarter of respondents said they did not use cloud computing and the same percentage did not use video conferencing, both considered critical to business continuity, and more than half of respondents have yet to receive secure document signature and electronic signature. Additionally, project management tools have been deemed very important to sustaining the business over the past 18 months, even though nearly a quarter (22%) said their business does not currently use these tools.

Access to information is a critical step in enabling businesses of all sizes to use the full range of tools at their disposal. Only 34% of companies with 1-10 employees are very active in adhering to technical trends, compared to 50-250 employees compared to 66% of companies. With 5.7 million UK businesses in 2020, falling into the under-10 category, representing 96% of all UK businesses, this presents a huge untapped potential for the economy.

Government programs like Help to Grow: Digital provide impartial support to small businesses on how technology tools can help them grow their business potential. The government will make significant progress in this pilot program and we believe there is an opportunity to expand its success. To help thousands of other businesses across the UK improve their digital performance, expanding eligibility criteria for government initiatives will benefit businesses by improving their productivity and sustainability.

“We have to break the cycle of ‘I can’t adopt, I won’t accept’.” Small businesses in the UK face hurdles due to a lack of information about products, services, entry-level offerings and free products, as well as new tools and services to help them take their business to the next level. With time constraints, we cannot expect them to navigate this difficult scenario without leadership, which is why we are working with Enterprise Nation to address this issue and make a number of recommendations for industry, government, customers and entrepreneurs themselves,” said Andy Wilson, Director of Dropbox UK.

Emma Jones, CEO of the Central Bank of Egypt and Enterprise Nation, said: “ Small business owners have done an amazing job mastering digital tools over the past 18 months, and it’s our duty to continue to support founders with the information and resources they need to make major technology decisions. This study shows that there are some barriers to bringing technology into the small business community and this guides our work and engagement with government as we see Helping Growth: a digital program being rolled out. We see the benefits small businesses derive from digital knowledge from the start and look forward to working with Dropbox and other technology sectors, as well as government, to ensure the issues the report addresses.

For 1000heads social and marketing agencies, advising on introducing technical tools during a pandemic has allowed them to take collaborative efforts a step further and build relationships with colleagues and clients faster, to increase operational efficiencies.

“By using collaboration tools like Dropbox, we have been able to streamline processes and allow people to work securely in a single environment, and have made financial gains by eliminating alternative services,” said Nick Smith of Digital Operations and IT. Director of the Socialhead Marketing Agency 1000heads. He added, “When we focus on the ‘new standard’, where the vast majority of companies have a flexible work environment, flexibility and the ability to work regardless of the job really determine the success of the company.

Dropbox and Enterprise Nation have partnered with small business owners with free events, webinars, e-learning videos on productivity and collaboration, business tech tools, and more. This partnership will help entrepreneurs gain the skills, confidence and knowledge needed to apply technical tools to grow their businesses. The first webinar will take place on November 22nd, and anyone can register here.

For a full list of recommendations and more research findings, see the report here.