Automation key for business growth: Astro CEO
BUSINESSES should embrace automation to enhance increased output and efficiency of operations as a way of positioning themselves for global competition and mitigating against the disruptive impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Astro Technology Africa chief executive officer, Mr Munyaradzi Gwatidzo said this during a recent Young CEOs Business Forum.
“Automate your processes so that you can be faster on what you do. I love automation, and I have found that it can be one of the most crucial aspects when it comes to scaling up and growth,” he said.
“There are services and apps that can help you automate so many different parts of your business and its operations.
“From automated payment and billing notifications to on-boarding and feature emails, we have streamlined as much as possible and this frees up your team to focus on the most important tasks,” said Mr Gwatidzo.
He said businesses should be able to adapt and not get stuck in negative circumstances. This could be done if businesses operate in a data-driven ecosystem and make data-informed decisions in all aspects.
“Also, secure access service edge platforms as outdated network security architectures are not capable of securing remote work or the cloud. As such, cloud-based SASE platforms will continue to have a major impact in 2021,” said Mr Gwatidzo.
“They will replace several disjointed point products and extend consistent protections to all enterprise resources through a single control point, delivering cost savings in the process.”
Mr Gwatidzo highlighted that low-code/no-code tools were also essential as they put a lot of power into the hands of small businesses in terms of customer relationship management.
Among others, he said chatbots and smart assistants were already extremely popular prior to the pandemic, but as people were now working from home, utilising these innovations for both household tasks and business endeavours was key.
“Another thing HIPAA-Compliant Meeting Software has become a game-changer. The one tech that everyone needs to use amid the pandemic is something that is secure and hard to hack,” said Mr Gwatidzo.
Vakayi Capital chief executive officer, Mr Chai Musoni, weighed in saying entrepreneurs should be prepared to invest in those aspects that grow business. This includes having a comprehensive business proposal and up-to-date management accounts and historical financials, he said.
“You should also be able to provide other company secretarial documents such as certificate of incorporation, articles and memo and tax clearance among others,” said Mr Musoni. He said his company was already offering investment loans of between US$100 000 to US$1 million for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), excluding mining and primary agriculture.
The Young CEOs Business Forum ran under the theme: “Rethinking Entrepreneurship in a fast-changing world: New Approaches, Fresh Opportunities” and was hosted by the CEO Africa Roundtable, a high-level platform for corporate chief executive officers and senior executives from both private and public sector.-chrocie.cl.zw
