FINANCE
PR Newswire | January 10, 2024
According to new data revealed today by vcita, the business management platform for SMBs and the organizations that serve them, economic factors are dominating the concerns of SMBs in the new year, with 67% of SMBs citing the financial elements of their business to be their biggest worry. These findings underscore the pivotal role financial stability, and the technology that secures it, plays for small and medium-sized businesses navigating the business landscape in 2024.
As SMBs brace themselves for the challenges of 2024, economic elements loom large on their horizon. Cash flow, deemed a pressing concern by 25% of SMBs, stands alongside the equal worry of attracting new clients. Moreover, rising inflation is weighing on small business owners, with 17% citing it as a major concern. Reflecting this sentiment, they have an increasing demand for comprehensive financial tools, which have proven to be major contributors in the development of financial resilience and healthy cash flow management, with 38% expressing a preference for an all-in-one digital solution that encompasses billing, invoicing, payments, and accounting reports. In fact, 49% of SMBs are already using digital tools to automate the financial elements of their business. In addition, 31% of SMBs have indicated early adoption of AI technology, leveraging AI applications to gain insights and generate content for marketing and client communication. These statistics emphasize the growing reliance of SMBs on digital solutions to navigate the complex business terrain ahead.
"As economic headwinds intensify, the need for reliable digital tools becomes paramount for sustaining business resilience," said Itzik Levy, CEO and Founder of vcita. "SMBs are increasingly embracing digital solutions and recognizing the critical role they play in ensuring their adaptability and continued success in an ever-evolving market. We have been supporting the SMB community with digital solutions for over a decade, and are committed to continue expanding our platform, including the incorporation of AI technology, to facilitate the growing needs of the SMB segment."
In terms of willingness to spend their hard-earned dollars on these digital tools, 72% of SMBs are already spending a minimum of 1200 USD per year on digital tools with 58% spending between 1200-6000 USD every year. This highlights how SMBs are leveraging digital innovations as a means of navigating the complexities posed by business and financial uncertainties.
Additional findings include:
The State of AI: 31% of SMBs are already using AI in their business operations. For the 69% who are not using AI in their business, the main reasons are that they don't feel it would help their business (31%) and that they don't understand how to use AI (30%). The SMBs that are using AI saw a multitude of uses for the technology in their businesses from helping with pricing services and products based on competition (20%), to writing email and SMS campaigns (18%), to following up with clients (16%).
Multiple Digital Tools: As SMBs continue to navigate the intricate landscape of digital tools, a prevailing trend emerges – reliance on multiple tools to manage diverse business needs. 79% of SMBs are utilizing two or more digital tools, with a notable 13% juggling five or more tools to efficiently operate their ventures. However, amidst this multiplicity, there's a resounding desire for consolidation, with 90% of SMBs expressing interest in combining all the capabilities of their digital tools into just one tool.
Peer Recommendations Key: When it comes to choosing these tools, SMBs heavily rely on peer recommendations, with 49% valuing word of mouth from friends and fellow business owners. Google reviews also hold sway, influencing the decisions of 23% of SMBs seeking reliable digital solutions.
About vcita
vcita is an SMB tech company dedicated to helping small and medium businesses thrive in today's digital world by providing them with the tools to manage and grow their business. With vcita's solution, small businesses can manage all aspects of their day-to-day operations and client engagement including scheduling, billing, payment collection, client management, email and SMS marketing. inTandem by vcita is a platform designed to serve the needs of SMB service providers, offering a customizable, white-label, platform that allows organizations that serve SMBs to bring their clients all the essential vcita tools under their own brand. With inTandem, partners can deliver great service and value to their SMB customers and unlock new revenue streams, reduce churn, and increase customer loyalty. With hundreds of thousands of small business users worldwide and partnerships including marketing agencies, banks, financial service providers, telcos, MSPs, and fintechs, vcita delivers an innovative digital solution uniquely designed to serve the needs of SMBs and the companies that support them.
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TECHNOLOGY
PR Newswire | January 10, 2024
Alibaba.com, a leading platform for global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and part of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (AIDC), will launch its latest Smart Assistant features powered by artificial intelligence (AI) at CES in Las Vegas, NV from January 9-12, 2024. The Smart Assistant, an AI-powered global sourcing tool, caters to both newcomers and seasoned entrepreneurs in the dynamic world of global commerce.
As a one-stop B2B sourcing platform, Alibaba.com remains committed to delivering innovative solutions to help buyers and suppliers streamline operations to more efficiently reach their goals and continue to grow. The Smart Assistant updates unveiled at CES will help business owners adeptly enhance their supply chain and solve complex sourcing needs and challenges as they seek to stand out in today's competitive marketplace.
"Today's small businesses face a variety of headwinds, but with the right technology and support, they can feel confident that they will overcome obstacles and help their business thrive, which is why we're expanding the features of our new Smart Assistant tool to better serve today's entrepreneurs," said Chris Lu, General Manager at Alibaba.com North America. "With advances in AI, we are ushering in the next generation of sourcing and empowering small businesses to succeed with our Smart Assistant at their side."
The Smart Assistant: Shaping the Future of Sourcing
Alibaba.com developed the Smart Assistant as an AI-powered, intuitive personal guide to sourcing that helps small business owners discover new opportunities, stay up-to-date on trends, seamlessly track orders and more in a single, efficient touchpoint.
First announced at CES and coming soon to the Alibaba.com Smart Assistant is the Instant Help feature, which leverages an AI-powered chatbot to answer basic inquiries and offer real-time insights and resources, regardless of time zones or language barriers. The Instant Help feature provides buyers with essential knowledge and industry insights about a variety of verticals and product types, as well as offer tips to elevate their communications with suppliers. It will help ensure small businesses can increase efficiency, purchase smart and keep up with trends by leveraging AI to increase competitive advantages.
Since their launch in September 2023, the first two features of the Smart Assistant – Upgraded Image Search and Smart Request for Quotation (RFQ) – have already provided significant benefit to entrepreneurs using the Alibaba.com desktop platform. Based on Alibaba.com's internal study since September 2023, buyers using the Upgraded Image Search have seen a 28% higher deal closing rate than those only using traditional text search. Buyers who used the Smart RFQ tool saw 29% more quotes from suppliers, while suppliers saw a 21% increase in buyer responses to quotes as compared to the original RFQ process.
"Developed from buyer-supplier feedback and embedded with profound industry knowledge, we are excited to demonstrate how the Smart Assistant rapidly and accurately produces product requests and images aligning with buyer needs," Lu said. "Smart Assistant helps buyers embrace their creativity, improve the efficiency of matching buyers and sellers, while making sourcing more accessible for all."
Alibaba.com will provide a showcase of Smart Assistant features at their booth on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 11:00 AM PT, hosted by smart sourcing expert Stella Shenshen. The Alibaba.com booth is located at the Las Vegas Convention Center's Tech East in the AI and Robotics section in North Hall's Grand Lobby on level 1, Booth 9017.
Visitors to the booth will also have the opportunity to network and connect with 20 top-rated suppliers in-person, personally experiencing the ways Alibaba.com offers buyers advanced sourcing solutions and AI-powered tools to take their business to the next level.
Tech and AI Power the Future of Businesses, E-commerce and Sourcing
In addition to announcing new Smart Assistant features at CES, Alibaba.com leadership will discuss the evolution of e-commerce and sourcing, as well as how sourcing has been influenced and improved by AI and other technological innovations.
Going "Entreprenuts" to Support Small Business Innovation
To complement its presence at CES, Alibaba.com is also debuting a new campaign celebrating entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. The Entreprenuts campaign highlights how entrepreneurs are willing to bet big, as well as maintain persistence and boundless creativity, against daunting odds. In other words, they can go a little "entreprenuts" to achieve their dreams and create new products – just like the products showcased each year at CES.
Throughout the Entreprenuts campaign, which will run from January 8 through February 8, 2024, Alibaba.com will encourage buyers to share stories of their craziest entrepreneurial moments, utilizing the most "nuts'' stories in a video highlight to showcase what it means to be an Entreprenut. Buyers can also earn their Entreprenut badge and profile by answering a questionnaire that will determine their unique Entreprenut characteristic. At the end of each quiz, buyers will be provided with exclusive tools and services to help them achieve their goals as they kickstart 2024.
"This campaign demonstrates Alibaba.com's continued support of small and medium-sized businesses in the United States and helping them realize their entrepreneurial dreams and push beyond what others might believe possible," said Rah Mahtani, Head of Marketing for North America at Alibaba.com. "As buyers share their experiences, Alibaba.com will offer innovative new resources and products to help these 'Entreprenuts' succeed on their journey."
The campaign debuts at a key crossroads for small business owners. The US has seen a surge in the number of newly registered businesses, which hit record highs in both 2021 (5.4 million) and 2022 (5.1 million). Sadly, 20% of these new businesses face failure within the first two years, and a staggering 45% of startups do not surpass the five-year mark due to challenges such as market volatility, supply chain disruption, shifting consumer demands, and inventory management. This makes the tools and capabilities Alibaba.com offers, which are designed to help entrepreneurs level up their sourcing and supply chain operations in the increasingly competitive small business arena, more valuable than ever.
About Alibaba.com
Launched in 1999, Alibaba.com is a leading platform for global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce that serves buyers and suppliers from over 200 countries and regions around the world. It is engaged in services covering all aspects of commerce, including providing businesses with tools that help them reach a global audience for their products and helping buyers discover products, find suppliers and place orders online fast and efficiently. Alibaba.com is part of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group.
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TECHNOLOGY
PR Newswire | January 09, 2024
When I Work, a market leader in shift-based workforce management software used by more than 200,000 workplaces worldwide, is excited to announce its new product, When I Work Payroll. When I Work Payroll is designed to make it incredibly easy for small businesses to run payroll. Because the employee schedule and time tracking data are on the same platform with payroll, businesses can pay their hourly workers quickly, with a single click. There's no data entry or uploading timesheets, so there's less chance for errors, letting small business owners spend time on their customers, instead of being stuck in the back office.
"It's been great to have all of our scheduling and payroll information in one place. We don't have to verify numbers in two places anymore—we're able to verify and run payroll in 10 minutes now," said Tim Hogg, owner of Tressia, a popular North Carolina restaurant.
Payroll from When I Work is comprehensive. Your employees track their time by clocking in and out of the mobile app and our payroll software calculates all the data in real time, including hours, breaks, overtime, and paid time off. When I Work automates payments and tax filings to make everything transparent. Employees can update their own payroll forms and personal information through the app. The system automatically handles taxes and sends direct deposits. When I Work also files your payroll taxes with the IRS.
"We consistently hear stories from small business owners about the countless hours they spend manually syncing and reconciling errors between systems," said Kavitha Radhakrishnan, Chief Product Officer at When I Work. "Our customers want an easier alternative to legacy payroll software, and they have a long history of trust with us, so we created Payroll for them. Now our small business customers can focus their valuable time on what they do best—building their teams and running their business."
About When I Work
When I Work is a market leader in shift-based workforce management software and delivers a powerful, employee-first experience that creates happier and more productive teams. Trusted by more than 200,000 workplaces worldwide, When I Work puts scheduling and collaboration at the center of workplace operations and brings empathy, agility, and consumer simplicity to the small business workplace.
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