You Don’t Have to Be an Enterprise to Have an Enterprise System

Satish Thiagarajan is the founder of Brysa, a Salesforce and data consultancy based in the UK. His company advises media, industrial, and services clients on using Data Cloud and Agentforce to turn signals into action. His work focuses on closing the loop between insight and execution in sales, marketing, and service.

It goes without saying that enterprise and SME are two very different quantities. They operate differently and have different budgets. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they require different tech support and infrastructure. Despite popular opinion. And now, with the emergence and evolution of AI and SaaS, even the smallest companies have the potential to benefit from big business tech, and it’s changing everything.  

Why traditional enterprise systems failed modern businesses

The enterprise tech that most businesses recognise was designed for a different time. A time when internal IT teams could manage everything, and lengthy implementation cycles were acceptable. But businesses no longer operate that way. Agility is everything. There’s no room or time for the slow innovation of monolithic tech architectures. There’s no money – or need – to accommodate heavily customised systems that come with inherent technical debt. Businesses are no longer willing to deal with the inflexibility of locked-in contracts. And user experience has become paramount, rather than a barely considered afterthought. Today’s businesses need solutions that are lean, fast-moving, and can be managed without a huge IT department to oversee every decision, regardless of the size of the business. And it’s these changes in the needs of enterprise that have led to the development of contemporary systems that can also beautifully serve SMEs.

The modular approach

When it comes down to it, what all businesses need are tech platforms that support growth without slowing innovation. And that’s where the modular approach evolved. Cloud infrastructure has removed costs and boundaries while freeing businesses of all sizes to access the tech they need as and when they need it – without considerable upfront costs or intensive maintenance processes. It has given businesses the flexibility to build and adapt their tech stacks to their unique needs and circumstances, enabling them to combine modules that work together seamlessly rather than being tied to a complex monolithic system. And that has made advanced tech accessible to smaller businesses.

Subscription-based SaaS pricing models don’t just remove the pricing barrier to advanced tech, but allow you to adopt and change enterprise systems gradually as your needs grow. API-first platforms help that process by enabling the seamless integration of enterprise systems and your other software tools, without disrupting existing workflows. While low-code and no-code tools mean that even businesses that can’t afford or justify a dedicated in-house IT department can easily build and manage workflows and customise dashboards. And equally importantly, they can do so quickly. This combination is opening an entirely new way of working to SMEs and enterprise organisations alike

How do you know if it’s time to switch to a contemporary enterprise system?

There are several clear indicators that it may be time for your business to make the shift to a modern enterprise system:

Your current system is preventing growth.

If you’re ready to expand into new markets or explore new customer segments, but your legacy systems aren’t really up for the job, you need new tools to support your evolving operational needs.

Your maintenance costs are rising.

If you’re spending more on maintenance and infrastructure just to keep doing the same, something needs to change. Sometimes, upgrades simply aren’t enough to keep a business functioning fully. 

You’re struggling to get new SaaS tools to integrate with your existing systems.

There are so many reasons to adopt SaaS tools, from marketing and analytics to CRM and collaboration. But if you can’t integrate them into your existing systems, you end up creating siloes, which means that you never gain the full advantage of the new technology.

Real-time analytics are off-limits.

Data is now everything. So, delayed reports or manually compiled data can be a real handicap for any business, hampering vital decision-making.

Your compliance and security are compromised.

When you have outdated tech, it’s easy to fall behind. Not just because it lacks the built-in capabilities most businesses now expect. But because it’s really easy to lose track of what you are and aren’t using, and who has access to it. This opens the door to both data and security breaches.

How to adopt a new enterprise system

A large-scale tech upgrade will always be daunting, and the reality is that most companies will call in external experts to support them. Because it’s not just about selecting a new platform, but aligning your tech with the way your business operates. But if you do want to go it alone, you need to start by mapping the business requirements and matching them to the right enterprise platforms. Then, you can design your modular system architectures, with the aim of supporting long-term scalability.

Modern enterprise systems are for everyone. They support every size and style of business, leveling the technological playing field, and helping SMEs to fulfil their potential and ambitions practically and cost-effectively.