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REINVENTING WITH THE CLOUD

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TECHNOLOGY

Jun 25, 2023

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WSJ. Magazine

5 WAYS SMALL BUSINESSES CAN DRIVE GREATER EFFICIENCY AMID RISING COSTS

How the cloud is helping businesses innovate to economize.

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By Claire Gribbin, Head of Small Business Worldwide, AWS

Rising inflation, supply chain disruptions, and worker shortages are just a few
of the challenges small businesses face right now. Many respond by scaling back
and cutting costs, but that might not be the right option for growth in the long
run. And it isn’t the only option—especially for organizations operating in the
cloud.

Here are five actions every small business can take to save money by driving
greater efficiency:

1. Get a clear view of your data

Collecting data is one thing, gaining insights is another—and essential to
controlling costs. Technology solutions can help manage data more efficiently,
connect the dots across diverse customer behaviors, and unearth the insights
that reveal opportunity.

For example, Gourmeat, a meat boutique, was using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
to manage isolated inventories manually, and it took approximately four hours a
week to create the reports it needed. After it built an integrated inventory
application on AWS, report creation went down to less than 20 minutes a week.

Moreover, with simultaneous access to reliable inventory data that’s updated in
real time, Gourmeat can make better decisions and make the most of its
resources, resulting in better-timed shipments to stores and an increased shelf
life for meat products.



2. Invest in employees

Another way a small business can drive operational excellence, optimize to
reduce costs and risks, and tackle new or unexpected challenges is by investing
in employee digital skills training.

Giving employees the knowledge and skills to keep pace with rapidly evolving
cloud technologies is vital to not only overcome obstacles but also thrive
because of them. Investing in the skills of employees empowers them to
anticipate, navigate, and adapt to whatever challenges emerge.

After upskilling its workforce with AWS Training and Certification, Paymerang, a
financial technology company, saw a four-time reduction in deployment time of
services, a five-time reduction in recovery time, and improved employee
satisfaction and customer retention.

3. Automate repetitive tasks

Businesses often can increase productivity and employee engagement by putting
people to work on essential, high-value projects and using digital technology to
automate repetitive tasks.

The technology, such as machine learning (ML), that powers automation has become
more accessible over the years. For example, AWS offers a variety of pre-trained
AI services for applications and workflows, and users don’t need experience in
ML to integrate them.

One time-consuming task that many businesses struggle to manage is answering
common questions for customers. Green Flag, which offers vehicle recovery and
24/7 roadside assistance services, used AI to develop and launch chatbots for
its call center system on AWS in just a few weeks to free up employees for
higher value tasks and help customers faster.

4. Increase customer retention

Losing a customer is bad for any business, but it can be even more devastating
for a small business. That’s why it’s important to find out how inflation is
impacting customers and how you can help them, by  providing flexibility on
payment terms, for example.

For business customers, this could be as simple as shifting accounts payable
from 30 days to 45. You can also support your customers and increase retention
by providing them with a better, more personal experience.

Giving employees the knowledge and skills to keep pace with rapidly evolving
cloud technologies is vital to not only overcome obstacles but also thrive
because of them.

For example, Desygner, which offers multiple graphic design apps, more than
doubled its user retention after it implemented a scalable marketing
communications service from AWS to create personalized email and customer
journeys as opposed to generic batch communication.

5. Switch from capital to operational expenses

Capital expenses, such as on-premises call center hardware, require upfront
investment, incur maintenance costs, and are difficult to scale up and down with
demand fluctuations. With operational expenses, businesses aren’t locked into
long-term investments, don’t have to worry about maintenance, and can scale
easier.

That’s why many of our customers chose our cloud contact center, which charges
per usage by the minute. As normal and peak times come and go, companies pay
only for the time agents are actually interacting with customers. As a result,
companies no longer spend time and resources maintaining the contact center and
they can focus on more important things, like improving the customer experience.

Lead with empathy

During times of uncertainty, many small businesses feel like they don’t have a
lot of choices, and it can be easy to make impulsive decisions. But there are
usually several levers leaders can pull to help their businesses thrive during
uncertainty.

Those choices are easier to see when you lead with empathy, and recognize a
business’s most important assets are its customers and employees.

Learn more about how small businesses are innovating on the cloud. 

Go to our hub to read the entire “Reinventing with the cloud” series.


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Department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the
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