Cape Town-basedICT provider Innovo Networks has introduced what it calls a "business-in-a-box" product toolkit (#Bizzbox) for small businesses.
Innovo Networks provides local businesses with communication, connectivity, cyber security and cloud solutions.
The newly launched all-in-one cloud solution, according to the company, offers SMEs affordable infrastructure that reduces the hardware and maintenance burden on business, particularly those that are newly established.
It consists of fibre or microwave Internet connection over a 4MB link, two Internet Protocol phones with five extensions; a Web site, a registered and licensed domain and e-mail hosting services, among others.
It can be deployed over the SME's existing network or infrastructure.
Damian Michael, MD of Innovo Networks, believes the future of business efficiency lies in connecting people, but sadly, not all businesses have access to resources that enable them to compete with the big guys.
"End-users today have more demand and higher expectations, so companies need to adopt a 360^0 customer relationship strategy to acquire and retain customers in this evolving competitive ICT environment," he says.
Discussing key digital transformation challenges faced by local organisations, Michael points out that high infrastructure costs negatively impact the profitability and performance of SMEs.
"The technological landscape changes and evolves so quickly, and SMEs have to keep up and remain competitive. Businesses today are more mobile and hyper-connected, so in order to stay ahead of the curve, SMEs need to centralise their ICT services so they can streamline processes and keep costs down.
"When starting out, SMEs are not always aware or educated about their ICT options, so doing their homework in this department is key," he advises.
According to a report by Software firm Xero in partnership with World Wide Worx, cloud technology is one digital competency that has huge potential to improve business output for small and medium businesses. Fifty eight percent of the 400 business owners surveyed said cloud technology features in their business plans for 2018.
Michael believes that all-in-one solutions are more affordable and more efficient for a business than a single-use solution. "Businesses today are more mobile and hyper-connected. If they can offer more centralised ICT services, this increases their competitive edge, by allowing them to deploy customer applications in the cloud more quickly, which streamlines processes, increases productivity and ultimately encourages business growth."
Earlier this year, Alto Africa introduced CloudBox, a cloud-based IT offering aimed specifically at SMEs that are looking to up their IT game. The solution combines e-mail, e-mail backups, file sharing, computer backups, antivirus and communication in one package.
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