Remaining an agile business is the key to success for most businesses, regardless of their size. Jamie Akhtar, Co-founder and CEO, CyberSmart, outlines below what steps SMEs can take to ensure they are an agile business.
1. Develop a strategic plan
First of all, you need a plan for where your company wants to go and how it’ll get there. Develop a long-term strategy that outlines your business goals and how you’ll achieve agility and resilience.
What does that mean in practice? Well, the plan should focus on adapting quickly to market changes, using data analytics for informed decisions and how you can foster innovation using new technology – whether that’s IoT, AI or cybersecurity tools.
2. Streamline operations
Streamline your supply chain and operations by adopting lean manufacturing processes, just-in-time inventory management and flexible production capabilities to scale output as needed.
Whether you work in tech, finance or manufacturing, the key is flexibility. By building flexibility into your operations early you’ll be able to adapt quickly to anything the market throws at you.
3. Encourage collaboration and creativity
The most important component in any agile environment is the people. Without staff buy-in and collaboration, the whole thing will fall over pretty quickly. Being flexible requires creativity and cross-team collaboration to work well. And it’s ultimately where the best ideas will come from.
Try to foster an environment where employees feel empowered to share ideas, try new approaches and collaborate towards shared goals. If that sounds a little like ‘running a business 101’, it is, but it’s nonetheless true that a vibrant environment where everyone feels able to contribute is vital for agility.
Which agile methodology you choose will depend upon the needs of your organisation. However, they all have common qualities like iterative development, continuous improvement and customer collaboration. These help you break projects into smaller, easier-to-manage sprints, deliver value to clients incrementally and respond quickly to changes based on customer feedback.
5. Build resilience
You need to ensure your business is resilient to tie it all together. ‘Resilience’ means a few different things. You need a robust business model that can withstand market fluctuations, diversified revenue streams and good supplier relationships.
However, in today’s world, that’s all for nought if you aren’t prepared for cyberattacks and able to respond to and recover from them quickly. Developing cyber-resilience is something every business needs to do and there are a few different components.
First, get the basics of good cyberhygiene in place (schemes like Cyber Essentials are great for this). Second, ensure that staff are cyberaware and working to your business’s security policies. Finally, put crisis management and recovery plans in place so you can respond quickly and effectively to a breach.
Karl Crowther, VP, MEA, Alteryx:
In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, agility is not just an advantage; it’s a necessity. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with their ability to pivot quickly, are uniquely positioned to leverage this trait. However, the most successful companies, regardless of size or their sector, share one common strategy: they harness data at scale and speed, transforming it into actionable intelligence. For SMEs, adopting similar data-driven practices can significantly boost their agility and competitive edge.
For SME leaders, fostering an analytics-driven culture starts with a top-down approach that champions the use of accessible and democratised data analytics. Platforms like Alteryx have democratised data analytics, making powerful AI tools accessible to individuals at all skill levels and significantly lowering the barrier to entry. By embedding analytics into their operations from the ground up, SMEs can make informed decisions that enhance efficiency and innovation.
Initiating small-scale AI projects, such as automating the generation of weekly reports, can save significant time and resources. These projects, though modest, are crucial for building confidence in AI capabilities within your team. They act as stepping stones towards more complex automation and analytics initiatives, enabling your business to gradually scale its data capabilities without overwhelming your operational bandwidth.
Enhancing the accessibility of data and automating data processes are essential steps for SMEs. With options ranging from cloud storage solutions, ideal for scalable, compute-heavy analytics, to on-premises solutions suited for smaller datasets, businesses can choose the most effective technology to centralise and harness their data. This step is critical in the Digital Transformation journey, particularly in regions like the Middle East where digital innovation is rapidly advancing.
Automating analytics to adapt in real-time to market changes can significantly differentiate digital-native businesses from those burdened by legacy systems. Real-time analytics integrate new data points swiftly, offering immediate insights and enabling businesses to respond quickly to changing market conditions. For example, a retail SME could use real-time sales data to adjust inventory levels dynamically, preventing stock-outs during peak demand periods.
Building AI-led decision systems involves more than automating processes; it requires mimicking human decision-making to proactively forecast and react to future conditions. This approach is akin to the ‘recommended for you’ features on streaming platforms, which utilise historical data to predict viewer preferences. SMEs can use similar drag-and-drop technology to transform historical data into predictive insights for strategic planning.
For smaller, digital-native businesses, the shift towards decision intelligence presents a monumental opportunity. By transforming new data into actionable insights, SMEs can react effectively to competitors and market trends. Without the burdens of legacy systems, SMEs are well-placed to turbocharge their operations, enhance decision-making and boost productivity through AI analytics. Now is the time for SMEs to embrace these technologies and secure their place in the future of business.
Mohamed Zouari, Regional Director, Snowflake:
At Snowflake, we believe that the key to agility for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lies in effectively harnessing and utilising data. In a world where market conditions and consumer preferences shift rapidly, SMEs must adopt a data-driven approach to remain competitive and responsive.
Our platform enables SMEs to consolidate diverse data sources into a single, scalable environment. This capability is fundamental for SMEs aiming to become agile, as it allows for quick access to insights and facilitates real-time decision-making. By breaking down data silos, Snowflake ensures that all departments within an SME – from marketing to sales to customer service – can leverage up-to-date, actionable data.
Moreover, Snowflake’s architecture supports the seamless scalability of data operations. This means that as an SME grows, its data environment can expand without the need for significant additional IT overhead or resources. Such scalability is crucial for maintaining agility as business needs evolve.
Through partnerships with leading analytics and business intelligence providers, Snowflake also enhances its offering, enabling SMEs to deploy advanced data analysis tools easily. These tools help SMEs to quickly interpret complex datasets and translate them into strategic actions that drive business responsiveness and customer satisfaction.
Another pillar of agility supported by Snowflake is regulatory compliance and data governance. Our platform automates many aspects of data security and compliance, reducing the administrative burden on SMEs and allowing them to focus on growth and innovation without compromising on security or compliance standards.
Azeem Zainulbhai, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Outsized:
SMEs constantly face the challenge of adapting swiftly to changes while balancing cost and operational efficiency and competitiveness. A crucial element in building an agile business model is effective talent deployment, especially critical when launching new projects.
Often, the urgency to assemble a qualified team is intense, particularly when internal resources are stretched thin or misaligned with the project’s specific needs. This is where the agility to tap into a global pool of on-demand talent proves invaluable. This burgeoning market of independent consultants and subject matter experts enables businesses to adopt a hybrid talent model that blends in-house capabilities with external, on-demand expertise.
Independent professionals can be swiftly onboarded, bypassing the lengthy approval processes required for permanent hires. This flexibility allows SMEs to quickly address urgent skill gaps, enhancing organisational capacity and agility. Utilising a mix of internal and external talent not only meets immediate project demands but also builds a scalable, long-term capacity that is crucial for future endeavors. The inherent flexibility of the on-demand talent model allows firms to adjust their resource levels based on shifting business priorities, which is essential for managing budgets effectively and avoiding long-term fixed costs.
Moreover, independent talent often brings a bias for execution. These individuals are typically entrepreneurial, highly motivated and result-oriented, offering diverse experiences and a fresh perspective that can drive the project forward. They are adept at navigating common pitfalls, identifying upselling opportunities and providing competitive insights.
Platforms like Outsized streamline the integration of skilled independent talent into SMEs by offering access to a pre-vetted global talent pool, specialised onboarding processes and simplified contracting and invoicing. This enables companies to concentrate on core project tasks while ensuring seamless team integration and compliance, thus reinforcing the agility of the business.
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