Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age

We live in a digital era. With an abundance of digitization going on all around, it is high time that both the organizations as well as end-users adopt the digital transformation as soon as possible. We are living in a phase in which all businesses –whether small-scale or big-scale, need to make use of innovative digital platforms for gaining maximum success. Understanding the gaps in the market – whether you are looking at B2C (Business to Consumer) or B2B (Business to Business) opportunities, is the key to finding success in an overcrowded market.

Consumers are much more likely to latch onto an idea that revolutionises a stagnant market segment. This is the reason why modern business owners are looking forward to becoming successful digital entrepreneurs. With the overall trend of the “Digital World” going on all around, business enterprises are quickly adopting the digital revolution to remain competitive in the modern era. Today, people are spending more money online, which has shifted business emphasis to digital sources of revenue and digital channels. The growth of the digital economy has made people more familiar with digital products and services, which has driven companies to seek new competitive advantages in the digital space.

But digital business has evolved into more than selling online; according to Accenture, “Digital businesses create competitive edges based on unique combinations of digital and physical resources. They do things that others cannot and in ways that build comparative advantage.” Use existing technologies to cut costs, gather data and provide a better customer experience. Digital businesses focus on the competitive advantages that technology gains them, whether that’s reducing overhead or providing new value to their customers.

Embrace the concept of digital dynamics and the cultural shifts that requires. The implementation and management of digital services can necessitate organizational restructuring, especially as new roles are created and IT is given greater input into strategic decisions. Explore new business models that put customer experience at the center of digital strategy. People are often willing to spend more for an exceptional customer experience, making it a key differentiator in the digital economy. Business models that align with this hyper focus on customer satisfaction will eventually center on digital services, since digital is increasingly the experience that people prefer.

Since the mid-1990s, the steady development of digital technologies has enabled not only the creation but also the scaling of so-called digital ventures, whose business models are based on generating value through electronic information via data networks. Against this background, the field of digital entrepreneurship describes the dovetailing of digital technologies and entrepreneurship. Digital technologies comprise “products or services that are either embodied in information and communication technologies or enabled by them”. Today, the field of digital entrepreneurship has become increasingly important and is a topical issue in both practice and research using digital technologies as the core of their business models, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft (GAFAM), have become the most valuable firms in the world in terms of brand value and market capitalization. Inspired by practical developments, such as the increasing value of the GAFAM firms, the relevance of the field of digital entrepreneurship also continues to grow in research.

There is no denying the fact that all entrepreneurs out there are known to make use of digital technology. The implementation of digital technology in any business scenario is expected to build, introduce, and boost the respective businesses. Technically, digital entrepreneurs can be defined as entrepreneurs who are entirely focused on handling activities related to digital commerce. At the same time, digital commerce can be defined as a subset of the e-commerce platform. Digital commerce is used for recognizing companies or agencies delivering digital products as well as services.

In our modern world, where everyone strives to bring innovation, a good idea isn’t enough to create a startup.

Scalable startups: Companies in a tech niche often belong to this group. Since technology companies often have great potential, they can easily access the global market. Tech businesses can receive financial support from investors and grow into international companies. Examples of such startups include Google, Uber, Facebook, and Twitter. These startups hire the best workers and search for investors to boost the development of their ideas and scale.

Small business startups: These businesses are created by regular people and are self-funded. They grow at their own pace and usually have a good site but don’t have an app. Grocery stores, hairdressers, bakers, and travel agents are the perfect examples.

Lifestyle startups: People who have hobbies and are eager to work on their passion can create a lifestyle startup. They can make a living by doing what they love.

Buyable startups: In the technology and software industry, some people design a startup from scratch to sell it to a bigger company later. Giants like Amazon and Uber buy small startups to develop them over time and receive benefits.

Big business startups: Large companies have a finite lifespan since customers’ preferences, technologies, and competitors change over time. That’s why businesses should be ready to adapt to new conditions. As a result, they design innovative products that can satisfy the needs of modern customers.

Social startups: These startups exist despite the general belief that the main aim of all startups is to earn money. There are still companies designed to do good for other people, and they are called social startups. Examples include charities and non-profit organizations that exist thanks to donations.

Startups work like any other company. However, they hold a heavy emphasis on speed and growth. The goal for most startups is to build on their idea as quickly as possible, starting with a minimal viable product that they will test and revise until it is ready for market.

During their testing time, building a customer base becomes increasingly significant to increase market share. It’s a difficult process, no matter what industry you’re competing with, as indicated by the below:

Globally, there are around 305 million startups created in a year.1.35 million of these startups are tech-related.Virtually no startup business is profitable in the first year of business.

In their lifetime, only 40 per cent of the startups are actually profitable. 30 per cent of the startups will break and fail, and the rest will continue to lose money.

Companies that spend more on sales and marketing generally grow faster than those that spend less.It usually takes between 3 to 4 years for a startup business to be profitable.Most earnings in the first year of business are used for expenses and reinvestment. In the second year, a small draw may be taken after paying debts, but the rest should be invested back into the business. Due to the cutthroat nature of the startup industry, it’s common for many startups to fail. However, not all failures happen quickly. Many times, organizations can operate for many years without failing. However, the statistics around startup failure are not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking to start your own business, it’s important to know the facts. More than 9 out of 10 of all startups fail. By the end of their second year, 30 per cent of startups will fail. By the end of the 5th year, 50 per cent of all startups will fail. By the end of the 10th year, 70 per cent of startup businesses will fail.

34 per cent of startups fail due to lack of product-market fit, making this the main reason why these businesses fail. 22 per cent of startups fail due to marketing problems, 18 per cent fail due to team problems, while 16 per cent fail due to financial problems. The remaining reasons include tech problems, operations problems, or legal problems.

Across the globe, unemployment is a problem that people of all ages face. From young men and women recently out of university all the way to older people who were not able to keep up with the digital changes in the world. Although efforts have been made over the past few years to reduce the problem, we see that the number is not reducing. On the contrary, it is rising and in some countries, the problem is bigger than ever.One would expect that the countries with the biggest problem are those that were plagued the most by the financial crisis. And yes, although they are among them we notice that even more advanced countries with better economies are also not able to drop the unemployment rate.

Unemployment can be caused by many different factors. A financial crisis is only one of the many reasons. And depending on the “target group” the reasons may vary. However, some common factors can be used as a compass to create a map that will form a list of the most common reasons and potential solutions to them.

Due to the financial crisis, many companies had to let go of a large number of their employees. Many more closed down, not being able to cope with the expenses and mounts of debt. As a result, a lot of people lost their jobs. Moreover, job positions have been reduced.

The solution in this particular case for people, to start creating their ventures. The financial crisis may have reduced job opportunities but it also created needs that were not present before. And these needs could be the biggest job opportunity for people to escape unemployment.

Soft skills always have been and always will be important. Even after a financial crisis, the world will not stop. Eventually, jobs will re-open. However, priorities are now different. Unemployed people will need to build skills based on what the world needs right now.

An example is the EU’s new policy, driving companies towards a green state of mind. Everything now needs to be environmentally friendly. Building and promoting soft skills for green jobs is a great opportunity, especially for younger people to get out of the unemployment pool. Either as owners or employees, they need to know how to be green.

Digital transformation is an inevitable future for the world of business.  No matter what your business might be, retail, services, or anything else, you will need to have a strong digital footprint and you will need to know how to sustain it.Simultaneously, as an employee, it will be a necessary qualification to find work in every sector. From all the potential skills that you might need to develop, digital skills are on the top of the list.

The writer is MD and CEO of Community Bank. He can be contacted at masihul1811@gmail.com