Building your digital presence and literacy

Small business owners embracing digital technology say it has made them more profitable, found them new customers, and made them more productive or efficient.

However, insights from our engagement with small business showed digital literacy and capability still need to be built up, and adoption of advanced digital technologies is low with 67% of survey respondents not adopting any new or advanced technologies.

For those that do have a website, the top benefits they found were a more professional brand image, more new customer inquiries or leads and ease of customers to do business with them. For social media, the top gains were all the above plus an increasing appeal to younger customers.

Every small business from every industry and sector can benefit from using basic digital tools including:

• software to keep track of your transactions
• social media to promote your products or services to new customers
• e-invoicing to save you time and money and improve your record-keeping
• e-commerce website to make sales 24/7.

To effectively run a small business today, it is crucial to have a basic understanding of digital literacy - this is an umbrella term used to describe the skills and tools you need to communicate and access information via technology such as internet platforms, social media and mobile devices. It is more than just knowing how to create a document on a computer and save it to a folder or surfing the internet.

Based on your answers you will receive a report benchmarking your digital readiness and a list of actions that you can consider taking.

By having a basic understanding of digital literacy areas, small business owners can more effectively navigate the digital landscape, communicate with their customers, suppliers, distributors and other business partners, protect their data, and leverage the right digital tools for their business growth.

Continuous learning and keeping up with digital advancements will further enhance your digital literacy skills and contribute to your business's success.