It’s an undeniable fact that technology has changed the way the world works and businesses operate, but how has it changed the way local businesses get started?
Technology has changed the way local businesses get started by making it easier for entrepreneurs to get businesses up and running; here are a few examples to illustrate why that’s the case.
1. Technology has made starting a business more affordable
This is the most prominent reason that explains why it’s easier to set up a local business than ever before.
Bear in mind that this hasn’t affected all business models, though businesses operating in the service and similar sectors have found getting up and running much more affordable than in the past.
Think back to the days where every office-based business needed a collection of office equipment – fax machines, photocopiers, scanners, etc. – and compare those days to the present where those bulky, heavy, space-consuming pieces of equipment are increasingly outdated and businesses can operate comfortably with minimal office equipment.
The paperless office may have failed to materialise but it isn’t difficult to operate with a minimum amount of office equipment, admittedly equipment that’s multipurpose in nature, and that’s significantly reduced the cost of setting up a local business.
2. Technology has made accessing top talent easier
Technology has also made outsourcing widely available by swelling the numbers of home-based freelance professionals who are leaving the corporate world in droves to take advantage of the many benefits that working from home provides.
This has resulted in it becoming more affordable for local businesses to get up and running because business founders no longer require mountains of capital to hire full-time employees and pay full-time wages, not to mention enter into legally binding employment contracts, when they lack the revenue to cover their operating expenses.
Additionally, this not only makes it more affordable for local businesses to get started; it also makes the prospect of establishing a local business more practical, and that’s another reason why we’re seeing the ranks of small local businesses swell at such a rapid rate.
3. Technology has made marketing accessible to all
Small local businesses were traditionally restricted to local advertising and marketing methods, for instance local newspapers, radio and physical advertising materials like flyers and leaflets.
However, now that technology has entered the equation and brought about cost-effective, investment-measurable digital advertising, every local business is marketing locally, and in many cases internationally, with great success, empowering them to level the playing field and compete as equals with larger businesses.
4. Technology has made communicating easier and more affordable
More affordable, if not practically free, communications have been a notable game changer that’s empowered talented professionals to throw off the shackles of the corporate world and work from home, plus it’s also made communicating with clients locally and overseas more affordable for small businesses, empowering them to enter markets that were once inaccessible to them.
Email communications have been a great enabler in this regard, but perhaps the title of ‘the great enabler’ should go to VoIP technology, which has enabled entrepreneurs to communicate with their clients, employees and the freelance professionals they outsource to with their smartphones from wherever they are at that particular moment in time.
5. Technology has made operating from home increasingly realistic
This trend encompasses the three trends above mentioned, but it’s an important one because technology has empowered local entrepreneurs to operate from home – they might still find the need to seek informed business advice in Vanuatu if they’re registered in the idyllic tax haven – and avoid having to raise the funding required to hire an office and deal with all the expenses that entails.
A high percentage of local businesses start off based out of someone’s spare bedroom or garage, and whether or not business owners find they need to relocate to a dedicated office space at a later date, it can’t be denied that having the opportunity to get up and running on a tight budget – a budget that would have previously proven impossible to do much with had it not been for game changing technology – has resulted in a significant increase in the number of small local businesses operating today.
