The New Faces Supporting the UK's SME Business'

I’m around 12 weeks into my new role leading one of the teams here in the SME sector at BT. A key focus in this role is to look at how we transform the way we interact with customers within the sector and enable our teams to be as effective as they can be. And so the concept of Trust is something that I’ve thought a lot about over the past few months when listening to the way in which our customers wish to interact with us.

Prior to joining BT, I worked for a family-run business. and working with family members meant evening dinners were business meetings, holidays were there to allow for thinking time in strategy and trust me, working in an environment where you spend 24 hours a day with your work colleagues takes a real skill. ?

Many SME business come from similar roots and as a result of the sheer amount of time and dedication spent in building the business and embedding the runnings into every day life the connection that gets built between the owners and staff and the business outcomes is incredibly strong. It also means that the emotional connection to that business is second to none. That is why trust with suppliers is imperative when working with small businesses and the reason why I started to lean on this equation:

Trust = Credibility + Reliability

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Intimacy

Any advisor and account manager to SME’s need to be highly valued in order to be trusted. This is built through demonstrating 2 things; Credibility, meaning we draw upon likeminded case studies and reference points to be really relevant to the business and Reliability by making commitments and sticking to them. Finally this all teamed with intimacy makes up the Trust equation. By intimacy I mean the ability to really understand the business, the in’s and out’s the investments the directors have put into the business, the worries in between and act as a sounding board and mentor.?

I now have the opportunity to work with people and build this equation into their day-to-day engagements – their faces are ultimately what inspired this blog, and the reason why I chose to join the team that supports the SME sector.

SME sector post-pandemic

SMEs have had a tough couple of years. The pandemic has meant that many organisations suffered. Many stated that they felt they would be out of business within the next 12 months when surveyed by the Office of National Statistics. With SMEs contributing so much to the economy and the labour force, they have a key part to play in the UK. To add to this SMEs are now faced with rising fuel and energy prices, adding to their financial pressures.

Luckily, there are green shoots starting to form: they are starting to bounce back, with more than one in six SMEs seeing their turnover now exceeding pre pandemic levels and many more that have matched them.

The pandemic has made me a more conscious shopper, and I think that has also applied to others. Many large organisations who were better equipped to pivot to the changing conditions benefitted from lockdowns as consumers had less choice over where to spend their money. This led to many actively looking to support SMEs, where possible, and the theme of ‘shop local’ became more of a priority.

The backdrop of sustainability has also grown in its importance. This means organisations are having to work harder to ensure they offer a fully sustainable supply chain. If SMEs want to continue serving government organisations and securing contracts with large firms, evidencing their sustainability claims and accreditations will be crucial as both government and corporate organisations look to procure increasingly responsible contracts. Embracing technologies in the cloud will support this and the agility of SME’s to demonstrate their carbon footprint is lower should open up opportunities for them to win more contracts.

This changing buying environment means that managed digital/cloud services become increasingly important. SMEs need to be able to focus on growing their businesses safe in the knowledge that their digital partner has their best business interests at heart. While we’re all more conscious buyers (both in the corporate and consumer world), we are still driven by convenience, which is largely achieved through the device at the end of our fingertips. The job of the digital partner is to help SMEs stay ahead of technological advances and become more productive through the adoption of digital services. ?

Technology is an enabler for SME’s

Today, small organisations largely accept that they receive a consumer grade of service when it comes to connectivity. For example, someone running their business from home using a consumer broadband service may be subject to network drops at peak times, which can impact their productivity and cost them precious time and money.

Similarly, many small businesses aren’t properly equipped to handle the demand placed on them by consumers who have come to expect a convenient and seamless purchasing process. For instance, slow Wi-Fi speeds that mean PDQ machines don’t work efficiently and ultimately sacrifices sales. These scenarios can and should be avoided given the connectivity options available, but many small business owners simply aren’t aware that there are alternative options.

Once the right connectivity option is chosen, SMEs can deploy more innovative technologies allowing them to embrace AI, Machine to Machine automation technologies and look at areas such as IoT which can, for example, simplify stock taking or allow, as an example, breweries to effectively measure temperatures.

A trusted technology partner

How does this relate to trust? It’s more important than ever that the digital partner an SME chooses to work with is highly reliable, credible and therefore trusted. SME’s don’t always have large IT teams and so the digital partner needs to play that role, add value to the business, and work on behalf of that business within their organisation. Without dedicated IT support, many SMEs can experience fear of failure or fear of deploying technology incorrectly, which can lead to risk aversion creeping in.

Everyone we’ve recruited to support the new sales team has been recruited for their ability to be trusted. What’s more, and from my experience, small businesses deserve to be treated and serviced with highly skilled people who can be trusted to understand their business and enable technology that can support and help grow their organisations.

Our people are a key part of this. They act as the open gateway to the digital partner. That gateway includes access to marketing support, research and development investment and outputs already made and the gateway to great mentors and which can benefit the SME. That’s why I’m looking forward to joining the sector meeting more of our customers and leading a team of trusted Account Managers here to be credible, reliable and ultimately trusted.?