What's keeping small business owners up at night in this digitally driven marketplace?
Given small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 90% of businesses and 50% of employment worldwide, I wanted to explore this area with the Digital Futures series. Hit play and tell me what you think?
Then there's the fact that 9 out of 10 SMEs are actually micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees. The stakes are high for these business owners who don't enjoy the healthier budgets of booming multinationals. They've got to be on top of their game to really duke it out with the big players.
But digital technologies are going a long way in levelling this playing field. Services that were previously accessible only to large enterprises are now available to SMEs through say, cloud based subscription services.
When it comes to cyber security however, understandably SMEs often don't have the budget for an entire IT dept or high-end infrastructure. Let's put this in perspective.
Last year, in the UK alone, close to half-a-million (447,000 to be precise) new businesses were set up. And in the same year, cyber attacks against small businesses doubled.
That's pretty darn alarming. That's why I wanted to take a look at both the technical challenges and opportunities facing these business owners. Last month, I invited three savvy folks - all successful self-starters - to ask about their big concerns when it comes to protecting their brand, IP, employee productivity... really their entire business.
This is the era for small business and startups founders to really triumph. Go for it.