A new year brings along new opportunities for entrepreneurs to review their businesses and identify areas to improve. We know that South African small businesses are operating within a tough environment, but tapping into technology can help automate manual processes, free up time and drive greater efficiencies.
Technology adoption accelerated with the pandemic as small businesses acted quickly to take their business online and connect with customers. Investing in technology then has helped them withstand the hardships of business interruption but has also set them up well to handle ongoing challenges.
South African small businesses now depend on digital tools for survival and day-to-day tasks. Xero’s State of Small Business report shows technology was the most significant factor that helped small businesses survive and grow in the past year.
The research also shows nearly three-quarters (74%) of small businesses in South Africa say the importance of technology has increased in their business in the past 12 months, and 56% have increased their investment in tech over the last 12 months. Many are seeing the benefits, with 39% reporting technology has made a significant positive impact on their business profit and 40% are planning to build on the investment in the coming year.
Business owners who make use of digital tools such as online accounting and connected applications tend to experience greater flexibility and efficiency, allowing them to automate and manage a range of operational functions such as capturing expenses, managing payroll, and tracking invoices and payments wherever they are.
The Xero App Store has over 1 000 connected apps to help small businesses build a robust tech stack across all areas of their business in 2024. Here are five apps to consider:
Hubdoc does the heavy lifting for business owners by reading key information from bills and receipts and feeding it into Xero, saving time by reducing data entry. Rather than holding onto a pile of paper, all bills and receipts are securely stored in the cloud. When the data is published in Xero, it’s easy to match transactions to bank feeds.
A South African business that’s gone global, Syft Analytics is a reporting and analytics tool that helps accountants and businesses understand their financial data. As well as cash flow and profit and loss forecasting tools, Syft creates beautiful reports that visualise business data and show trends.
Bridgment is breaking down the barriers to access finance for businesses across South Africa. Traditional loans from banks and other lenders have a slow application process, require a lot of paperwork, and often have strict criteria. Bridgement helps businesses get faster access to funding by using cutting-edge technology and data science to offer flexible credit facilities.
For businesses with employees, SimplePay provides payroll software that keeps business owners compliant. It’s suitable for any business size or industry and includes everything from payslips to reports to filing and allows business owners to keep track of payroll costs. Business owners can also allow their employees to use SimplePay self-service to view their payslips and to request and view their leave days.
Unleashed is an inventory management app for manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. It allows business owners to have better control of their inventory by showing them what’s in stock and where, at any time, and allows them to manage their production.
These are just a small sample of more than 1000 connected apps available on the Xero App Store to help business owners and their advisors get their work done faster and more efficiently.
