Software Needs a New Mission: Helping Small Businesses Thrive Toby Scammell
Something happened on the way to software eating the world‌.
‌. small businesses got left behind. Way behind.
It makes sense why. There’s more money to be made selling software licenses to large companies with big budgets and sophisticated teams.
We live in a digital world, and the rate of change is increasing. Businesses that have access to technology make the leap into the so-called “digital transformation” and those who don’t, don’t.
In 2011, Womply was founded to bring the benefits of the SaaS movement to mom-and-pop shops.
It’s easy to believe the only companies that matter are Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft...
So why is it important for small businesses to succeed?
Nearly 58 million Americans - about half the workforce - are employed by small businesses.
Nearly 30 million businesses - or 99.95% of all domestic companies - are considered small businesses; even if you reject the U.S. Small Business Administration’s threshold of less than 500 employees as small, there are 23 million sole proprietorships and 20 million people working for companies with less than 20 employees.
Since 1990, big businesses have eliminated 4 million jobs while small businesses have added 8 million jobs.
54% of all U.S. sales flow through small businesses.
Small businesses are truly the fuel of the U.S. economic engine.
Just think about a few of the ways technology has changed everything around small businesses in recent years...
Local search apps like Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor have flipped how people find small businesses.
Customer behavior has shifted away from clipping coupons and toward expecting deals to be delivered to the inbox. 86% of people actually want to receive promotional emails from companies they visit at least once a month.
Millennials are taking over the workplace and expect work communications to be delivered in a messaging app.
We’re quickly moving into a future where only small businesses that make the digital leap will survive.
Ironically, these same technological forces driving these changes for small businesses can aid their evolution.
Small businesses are now adopting SaaS in droves: 94% are now using cloud services to run their businesses, a massive increase over 27% in 2011.
Change is the only constant for small businesses trying to survive in a world awash in technology.
Womply’s reason for existence will always be to build technology solutions that help small businesses adapt to the constant flux of technological change. Our mission is to help small businesses thrive in a digital world.