In an ever-increasingly digital world, personalised customer relationships are crucial for business success and quality data bridges the gap. However, according to a recent study on the State of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Data Health, 44% of respondents estimate that their company loses over 10% in annual revenue due to poor quality CRM data which results in the loss of customers.
Now that employees have experienced remote working, many don’t want to return to the office, leading companies to opt for hybrid work.
As a result of Covid-19, employers need to re-look office culture, teamwork, and talent strategies to acknowledge both a shifting business landscape and changing employee expectations.
2022 was set to be a year of growth and recovery for small businesses, however, the war in Ukraine is beginning to thwart this projection. The World Trade Organisation has recently slashed its global growth forecast to 2,8% from 4,1% before the war. This, coupled with supply chain disruptions and rising fuel and food prices, is set to have a further negative impact.
The latest South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) Business Confidence Index rose to a three-month high of 94.1 up from 92 in the previous month. This is attributed to the recovery of external trade and retail sales following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and the end of the travel ban imposed by several countries.
Skynamo’s Sam Clarke (CEO) and Wim Morris (COO) talks to The Margin about the challenges that comes with growing a global salestech business.
Businesses and consumers alike have had to weather several shocks over the past two years. In this article, I advise how businesses can make 2022 a year for rebuilding and taking advantage of new opportunities.
Following South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the fourth wave of COVID-19 is expected to begin in December, many businesses face uncertainty. This is compounded with the issue of supply-chain disruption which the pandemic has wrought worldwide.
Organisations need to be serious about creativity if they want to drive sustainable business success across global markets.
It’s often forgotten that business is a creative pursuit. Every business, be it a technology giant such as Microsoft, or a tiny corner store serving one community, stems from a single idea. An idea that’s born from creative intent, but can be lost in deadlines, bottom lines and lines of business. Success today is still defined by return on investment (ROI) and numbers, but it’s strengthened by the organisation’s ability to build a culture of creativity. In the era of the always-on business, customer and employee, this is as invaluable as ROI.
Following the report of the first slowdown of sales growth recorded by the Skynamo Industry Thermometer in August 2021, the results for September have indicated very little movement month-on-month.
The Skynamo Industry Thermometer is a free-to-access resource that benchmarks industry sales activity and sector health on a monthly basis. It reports average order values and volumes from approximately 1000 South African manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors across 26 industries using the Skynamo field sales app.
Zane van Rooyen, Product Marketing Manager at Skynamo says that the company’s Industry Thermometer recorded the first slowdown in August 2021 following encouraging signs of sales growth heading towards pre-pandemic figures since January 2021. “The results for September are almost a carbon copy of those recorded in August with minimal movement, positive or negative, across all our tracked industries,” he says.
With this in mind, van Rooyen points out that it’s hard to ascertain what this plateau means in terms of the momentum of steady growth witnessed since the beginning of the year. “It could mean that local businesses have reached a peak in volumes or that the pressure on global supply chains is placing significant risk on companies. It could also simply be a reflection of the calm before the festive season storm.”
On a positive note, he highlights that the data is clearly showing that the Building & Hardware as well as the Food & Beverage industries are still vastly leading the race when it comes to order values and volumes with order revenue. “These are up by 100% and 400% respectively year-on-year.”
“As the world slowly opens up, with measurements set in place for businesses to operate and people to live alongside the virus, the results of the fourth quarter of 2021 will be a tell-tale sign of what to expect in 2022,” concludes van Rooyen.
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About Skynamo
Established in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2012, Skynamo is the leading field sales technology provider with close to 10,000 users at nearly 1,000 companies across a wide range of industries in Southern Africa, Australasia, the UK, Europe and the US. Skynamo’s field sales mobile app and cloud-based management platform are used by manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors with sales teams in the field, selling products to an existing base of customers. Skynamo integrates with a wide range of ERP and accounting software to improve order accuracy and fulfilment. Skynamo was named Sage ISV Partner of the Year for 2019 (Africa & the Middle East) and an Acumatica Certified Application and Customer Verified Application. Skynamo received $30million in funding from US based software investment firm Five Elms Capital in 2020 and forms part of the Stellenbosch-based Alphawave group of software and electronics companies, with more than 100 employees in South Africa, the UK and the US.
A related article also appeared in:
IT Online on Oct 20, 2021
Construction World on Oct 20, 2021
Engineering News on Oct 21, 2021
Startup Africa on Oct 21, 2021
Retail Brief Africa on Oct 21, 2021
Recent data released by Skynamo’s Industry Thermometer has revealed that the unrest which took place in July is having a long-term impact on local businesses. This is following previously recorded signs of strong sales growth which were heading towards pre-pandemic figures.
Skynamo now integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to give sales reps the ability to improve order accuracy and shorten order fulfilment times for manufacturers and distributors.