How do SMEs and Large Companies differ in the services required to aid their Transformation Process?

SMEs and Large Companies very often have different assistance needs for their transformation process, primarily because of the different resources that they have at their disposal, and the different scale at which the transformation is carried out.

Differences in the Financial Resources Available

Transformation has cost. Large companies have deeper pockets and greater financial resources and can afford to hire expensive consultants and invest in expensive technology infrastructure.

SMEs have more limited financial resources and have to be more disciplined and focused in their transformation exercise, spending only on what they need at every step of the process and getting the highest Return on Investment possible.

Differences in the Management Resources Available

Transformation requires management resources. Large companies often have deeper management benches with more people that can be assigned to lead and assist in the transformation. If they require additional people with specialized skill sets, they can often hire these people.

SMEs often have smaller management teams. There are usually fewer people on the team are the range of transformation-related skillsets possessed are often significantly narrower. SMEs often have limited budget for headcount and cannot simply go out to hire full-time specialists as required.

Consequently, SMEs often require a significant amount of external advice and assistance in managing the transformation process (compared to Large Companies.)

Differences in the Scale of Transformation

The Transformation Implementation Process has to be tailored to the scale of transformation. The transformation of Large Companies is often carried out at a large scale, possibly impacting multiple business units in multiple geographies. By contrast, the transformation of SMEs is often much smaller in scale, affecting one or two business units in one or two geographies.

The scale of transformation is an important determinant on the tools required for the transformation and the new processes put in place by the transformation.

If you use the tools and processes used by Large Companies in the transformation of an SME, you might find the cost to be too high, the implementation too cumbersome, the result too rigid or difficult to use. If you use the tools and processes used by SMEs in the transformation of Large Companies, you might find that the Large Company cannot scale its business and is unable to efficiently handle the larger volume of business that it has to deal with.

Differences in the Flexibility-Standardization Tradeoff

Automation and Data Analytics requires the creation of standardized work pipelines. Large Companies focus a lot more on standardization and efficiency because the task separation is finer and more detailed.

SMEs focus a lot more on flexibility within the standardization process because tasks are often not finely separated and many SMEs have to deal with other SME suppliers and customers who themselves often do not have standardized processes. Therefore, the automation and data analytics pipelines for SMEs must often contain a lot more flexibility and robustness than those for Large Companies.

Differences in the Technical Resources Available

After the Transformation is complete, the daily operations must still be handled by existing staff. Large Companies have more employees and the technical skillsets available within the staff is often more complete than for SMEs.

SMEs often lack staff with a high level of specialized technical competency due to staffing limitations. Therefore, we must take into account the resources available to the SME in employing the new automation and data analytics toolkits when planning the transformation objectives and path. It is a waste to develop complicated solutions and processes when the SME lacks the staff with the ability to fully utilize these solutions and processes.

Issues to Consider	SMEs	Large Companies
Technical Resources Available	Limited technical resources	More technical resources
Flexibility vs Standaridzation	Requires more flexibility	Focus on standardization and efficiency
Scale of Transformation	Limited in scale	Wide range, from small to large
Management Resources Available	Limited management bench, Fewer people Narrower range of skill sets	Deeper management bench, More people Wider range of skill sets
Financial Resources Available	Limited financial resources	Abundant financial resources.