The Future of SMBs – Innovating at the Edge

No matter the country, sector, or individual, everyone has been hugely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. But now that we are on the path to recovery, we must ensure that businesses of all sizes are able to bounce back better than they were before.

SMBs and start-up culture are embedded in this country’s DNA. As of 2020, there are 6 million SMBs in the UK – accounting for over 99% of all businesses; the vast majority (96%) of these are micro-sized firms, employing fewer than 10 people. They are key to building a stronger, more resilient economy, and a more innovative future for industries across the UK. 

The ability of SMBs to adapt and flex to changing circumstances has long put them in a strong position to tackle the challenges of the immediate future. 

With this in mind, we can expect to see a new wave of innovation from small businesses as they re-emerge into a new type of workplace. However, for them to truly make a difference in this new world of work, they need dependable, low touch IT that can support both remote and in-office work. 

For small businesses specifically, this means employing an agile and adaptable IT network that pairs end-user mobility with enterprise IoT, increasing efficiency, personalisation, and productivity.

Small but powerful

It wasn’t long ago that digital tools were only available to a select few organisations who had the capacity and budget for specialised DevOps teams. In the present day, however, most sought-after tools have been democratised and are available on mass through pay as you go As-a-Service applications. This now equips small businesses with the necessary tools to compete in the premier leagues of business. 

Factors such as size, or even location for that matter, are no longer an obstacle. Larger organisations may have the benefits of scale but are often at the mercy of inflexible processes and complex supply chains – with stakeholders from around the globe trying to work harmoniously, which can slow the decision-making process and prevent the business from adapting to change at the necessary pace. While smaller, more localised businesses, on the other hand, aren’t immune from issues in their own supply chains, with the right technologies at their disposal, they’re well placed to react, adapt, and deliver in a way larger businesses often can’t. 

Innovating at the Edge

The Edge – for anyone who hasn’t yet come across it – refers to the generation of data where a business operates, as opposed to in the cloud or at a centralised data centre. Put simply, it is where users, devices and ‘things’ come together. With the Edge at their disposal, small businesses cannot only cope with but also process vast amounts of data that can fuel their decision-making in real-time.

Pivotal here is the network – moving data and connecting people to apps and services, from anywhere, at any time. At the Edge, the requirements of the network go far beyond just standard connectivity. The shift to hybrid working means such networks are now bound by human capacity and experience – only being as secure and agile as those operators managing them. 

In fact, our recent – At the Edge of Change Report – found that the majority (93%) of IT decision-makers globally pointed to a skills shortage impeding their ability to unlock the power of the data produced in their organisation. Whether this is just another repercussion of the pandemic or a longer-term issue recruiting people into the IT sector doesn’t change the outcome. SMBs especially will suffer here, with their ability to employ a dedicated IT team that can ensure the network is managed correctly.

Enter AIOps

Given the sheer volume of devices connecting to any given network, manual human intervention is simply no longer practical. This is where AI comes into support. 

AI allows teams to develop policies that leverage context, such as the user role, device type, certificate status, or location, to make quick and accurate automated decisions. By leveraging AI correctly, adjustments can be made well before network issues arise. This new world of AI is providing a prescription when all that was available previously was a report of pain.

Various new solutions look to go one step further and can predict potential changes that may be needed in the future. Their capabilities are centred on AI-based solutions as well as access to deep historical data lakes that can train the machine learning algorithm. 

What’s more, the added benefit of AI-driven platforms is that they give time back to employees so that they can focus on more critical tasks and plan accordingly for the year ahead. 

SMBs will need to continuously update and redefine their network and IT infrastructure to keep up with today’s challenging and unpredictable economy. Fortunately, with the wide-scale democratisation of DevOps services, alongside the growing desire from consumers to look more locally for products or partners – SMBs are steadily making their way up the ladder and becoming a force to reckon with.