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EDITOR ’ S
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HOW CAN THE CHANNEL HELP SMES ?
INTELLIGENT
38Q
Worldwide , small and medium enterprises ( SMEs ) are acknowledged to account for the majority of businesses . They contribute immensely to job creation and economic development in all countries .
South Africa is no exception to this with SMEs operating in a diverse number of sectors through the country . SMEs are said to be defined in terms of the number of people employed – a maximum of 250 full time staff – or an annual Rand turnover of up to R220 million . ( Department of Small Business Development 2019 ).
The International Labour Organisation ( ILO ) estimates that SMEs provide 89.2 % of employment in sub-Saharan Africa . SMEs are important drivers of the growth of economies throughout the world , including in South Africa .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS TECH CHANNELS Issue
BRETT THOMAS , APEX BI , CHIEF SALES AND MARKETING OFFICER
The sector faces significant challenges because of their character , size and immense competition , plus reduced capacity to work from home scenarios and limited access to technology . The latter is where channel partners can be of immense support to SMEs .
South Africa ’ s SME sector is said to have been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 economic fallout . This illustrates how quickly revenues can decline and yet costs remain static with limited reserves available to sustain them . This is exacerbated by the contraction of the economy and the downgrading of the country by international rating agencies making borrowing for government and businesses more expensive .
In circumstances such as this , businesses react differently but many demonstrated what I would call a panic response looking at the first obvious place to reduce overheads quickly and that is – headcount reduction . This in turn has had a seriously negative knock-on effect on the national economy .
The South African Reserve Bank predicted that the local economy would likely contract by between 2 – 4 % during 2020 . However , Stats SA has recently released data showing that the actual shrinkage has been recorded at 7 % – almost double what was anticipated as a worst-case scenario . SA ’ s economy is now attempting to move into recovery mode with SMEs now facing the costly and time-consuming exercise of recruitment , as they try to fill the
gaps in their organisation while keeping a firm grip on business overheads .
SMEs can look to technology channel partners and tap into their expertise to assist them to quickly deploy solutions that have been developed specifically to assist businesses to understand , simplify and automate their dispersed IT and telecoms spend , services and assets . Channel partners are best placed to understand what modular options are available to SMEs and can guide on what is best suited to budget and application . SMEs are not financially positioned to hold such technology skills and depth of knowledge in-house , therefore , consultation with the channel can be an immensely beneficial model for the sector , especially in the tough on-going trading conditions , triggered by the pandemic .
Good channel partners can help SMEs to acquire complete control over ICT provider billing , and consequently any potential effect of revenue eroding expenses .
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