It looks like predicting the future is becoming increasingly unreasonable and unreal. Thinking about inventions and what will happen in 5, 10 and 20 years seems like a science fiction story
Do you think your grandmother would have ever imagined making a video call with a device the size of your hand when television didn’t even exist (1927)?
We are all impatient to reach the future with autonomous cars, with robots that will do our housework, where we can see and interact with objects in augmented reality; a world where, supposedly, we will have more time for ourselves.
Technology in our personal lives has advanced by leaps and bounds, we have personally evolved and adapted to it. Now everything is chat, social media, Internet and mobile devices. Who could even live without their cell phone?
Technological advancement has always been and will continue to be science fiction; until the day arrives when it no longer is.
SMEs and Technology
But things are not the same for our businesses and SMEs. The technological gap between SMEs and us as consumers keeps growing, which will leave thousands of businesses out of the loop in a very short time.
It is difficult to mention examples of SMEs that have ceased to exist due to this technological gap and lack of evolution, since when we hear that an SME closes its doors it is usually attributed to a liquidity problem; But sales are just a symptom of the real problem that we cannot see; the technological gap and a disconnection to the consumer.
Businesses that you probably knew and that have ceased to exist because they did not evolve and had a disconnection with the consumer are: Blockbuster, Kodak and Toys ‘R’ Us to name just a few.
Evolution and Disconnection
What do I mean when I say lack of evolution and disconnection with the consumer? A study carried out on Mexican SMEs by Qualcomm mentions that only 39% of Mexican SMEs have a website (compared to 70% in the USA).
This means that if we as consumers are used to looking up information using search engines your business will never appear.
So, how many SMEs do you think use technology to perform their daily business activities? How many have a system of sales, production, inventory, administration, telephone system? Not many.
Unfortunately, the smaller the SME, the bigger the gap and the worse are the opportunities to stay afloat.
As a consumer and owner of an SME you must ensure to shorten the gap before it is too late. Currently, there are literally thousands of business solutions. All will require your time, effort and vision. The future of your SME is in your hands
In Part 2 of the future of the SME according to Osmos – Predictions for SME 2035 (September 2018) we will talk about 3 forecasts that our Oracles say will happen in the world of SMEs by 2035.
