Every penny counts: small business owners turning to tech

New research shows that small business owners are turning to practical tech and greener solutions to help ease the growing pressures of running a business day to day, with over four fifths (84%) owners polled saying they feel confident navigating new technology or digital tools.

Many are looking for tools that reduce admin or manual tasks and save time, with delivering a better customer experience and cutting costs also being an area of focus. The processes small businesses say they would most like to automate include accounting and invoicing, customer communications and marketing, and tracking energy costs, which all emerge as top priorities.  From those polled, 22% highlighted energy costs as one of the biggest financial pressures they are facing, with only 24% saying they feel fully in control of their business’s cashflow and day to day financial planning.

Victoria Bacon, a Director at Smart Energy GB, said: "With so many responsibilities, it’s understandable that business owners are looking to tech solutions. One quick and easy thing they can do is get a smart meter installed.  Smart meters measure energy usage in near real-time, so you don’t have to send meter readings to your supplier, which helps save some time, as well as giving business owners more control over their energy usage and costs.”

There is also a growing awareness that sustainable practices can offer both reputational benefits and financial efficiency, particularly when it comes to managing energy use, with 84% saying sustainability is important to them when making decisions about how their businesses operate.

When it comes to reducing their businesses environmental impact, three quarters (73%) said they would be more likely to adopt a sustainable tech solution if it supported a cost benefit, with three in ten (31%) saying they felt customer expectations to operate more sustainably.  The steps business owners say they are currently taking to reduce their business’s environmental impact includes minimising waste (30%), reducing their energy use (25%) and replacing old equipment with more energy efficient tech (22%).

Gianluca Capilungo, co-owner, Capilungo Café, London, says: “As a restaurant, we rely so heavily on the natural world - whether it’s the ingredients we cook with or the energy that powers our kitchen,so we feel a strong responsibility to do things thoughtfully. That means reducing food waste, working with local suppliers wherever we can, and using energy more efficiently. It’s not just better for the planet - it’s better for the long-term health of the business too.

“The smart meter has been a useful tool. It gives us clear, online information we can use to track our energy use. That means we can see patterns over time, spot when usage is unusually high and make adjustments quickly. Having that level of visibility might seem like a small thing, but in a business like ours, small things add up. It’s helped us feel more in control of an area that can otherwise feel unpredictable.  Any technology that can help us to run our business more efficiently is a good thing.”

Victoria Bacon, Smart Energy GB added: “The data from smart meters can help business owners be more efficient with their energy use.  This can be good for a business’s carbon footprint, as well as helping them to make cost savings, which is good for their bottom line.”