INLSA

A screen grab of the Woza Online website, which aims to bring thousands of small businesses online by enabling them to create their own websites and develop an online presence.

Having an online presence has never been more vital to the long-term sustainability of a business.

Local ICT fundi Arthur Goldstuck, the principal analyst behind the annual SME Survey, says small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that embraced technology were more competitive than those that did not.

He said according to the latest findings of the SME Survey 2012, one in five SMEs in SA would not be able to survive without a website.

The survey has reached the halfway mark with its interim findings presented by Goldstuck at the recent launch of the Woza Online project.

Goldstuck said an online presence for SMEs was becoming increasingly important, as the public’s internet access continued to accelerate.

About 65 percent of formal SMEs reported having an online presence, while 20 percent of those surveyed said their businesses would not have been possible without a website.

Meanwhile, many SMEs were still put off by the cost and complexity of building and running a website.

To tackle this Woza Online has been launched by Google, the Department of Trade and Industry, Vodacom and the Human Resources Development Council, to enable thousands of SMEs to create websites, at no cost, in under an hour.

Robynne Erwin, CEO of Durban’s SmartXchange ICT small enterprise incubator, hailed Woza Online.

“It is incredibly important for all businesses to have an online presence in today’s hi-tech business environment. However, we believe using ICT needs to go beyond just having an online presence. For us at SmartXchange, we believe that it’s even more important for businesses, especially SMEs, to have a full understanding of what IT can do for a business,” she said.

“Businesses need to look beyond just having a static web page and need to embrace low-cost social networking business marketing avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube. All serious entrepreneurs need to keep up to date with the latest technology.

“For example, it’s becoming increasingly critical for businesses to look at having a mobile presence with ‘mobi’ sites and business offerings… Tech-savvy youth are embracing mobile technology and if you are in a business targeting the youth, the mobile needs to be embraced.”

Goldstuck said the survey’s interim results indicated there was a strong link between being online and being competitive, profitable and sustainable.

“Some 79 percent of SMEs with a website reported profitability, whereas only 59 percent of SMEs without a website reported the same,” he said.

The interim results “have also shown that a company website, as well as the use of cloud computing, is closely correlated with being highly competitive and strongly profitable”.

The success of SMEs “will, in turn, have a positive impact on the South African economy as a whole”.