For businesses trying to stay afloat, digital tools are instrumental. While the onset of COVID-19 was full of unknowns, the CEO of Morgan Miller Plumbing in Grandview, Missouri, Stella Crewse says it gave her an opportunity to make her business stronger.
“This experience has given us the confidence that we will be able to continue operations seamlessly no matter what comes our way,” Stella says.
Stella’s company was already using digital tools when COVID-19 hit, but in recent months has realized how necessary they are. Her team uses G Suite to share documents and stay organized and video conferencing to stay connected. They’ve even used Google Maps to identify new sewer line paths without leaving the office in order to follow social distancing guidelines.
A new report, released today by the Connected Commerce Council in partnership with Google, shows how a “digital safety net” can serve as a support system for small businesses like Morgan Miller Plumbing, and helps to mitigate the negative business effects of COVID-19.
According to the report, practically all small businesses—93 percent—were disrupted by the pandemic, facing reduced customer demand and hours of operations as well as employee layoffs. Eighty-five percent of small businesses say COVID–19 made them rethink their approach to digital tools, allowing them to adapt.
The study also found that businesses that had a digital safety net in place and used a variety of digital tools—like digital ads, digital payments, data analytics and customer insights tools—not only felt better prepared, but also experienced dramatically better business outcomes, expecting less than a quarter of the revenue reduction compared to their digitally unprepared counterparts. And states with a higher share of digitally prepared businesses anticipate better revenue outcomes in 2020.
Via Google blog