We’re often told businesses that embrace new technology and adopt innovative ways of working benefit from more flexibility, efficiency — and ultimately increase profitability. So…simple decision, right? Not quite.

While the benefits of implementing new technology in your business are well known, there is still a reluctance to do so. In fact, when it comes to using digital technologies, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fall behind — jeopardising their productivity and growth.

A recent global landmark study revealed that only one in every five small businesses readily adopts new technology, while almost one in every three delays taking on new tech tools.

Although SMEs — or ‘Mittelstand’ in Germany are vital to the economy, with over 2 million micro-sized enterprises across the country as of 2021, as many of their global counterparts, they are not first in line to embrace digital technological tools.

Overwhelmed by choice and complex onboarding processes? Feel the risks outweigh the rewards? Or simply happy with the current way of working — so reluctant to change? If you feel like this, you’re definitely not alone. And of course, no one product will solve all your problems at once.‍

Why don’t SMEs adopt new tech? Lots of reasons.

Although change is enviable, it’s something some businesses still struggle with. Perhaps you feel:

Happy with your current business setup

If you’re comfortable with your current way of working, it’s understandable that you’re reluctant to dive into new tech territory. Why shake up a good thing, right?

But what’s good enough today, might not be tomorrow — and settling for the status quo carries a level of risk. As your business shifts and develops, that spreadsheet that you rely on today could become a complicated, unmanageable headache tomorrow. Additionally, manually collecting and storing information on hard drives is not always secure.

New tech is too risky

We understand that in our rapidly-evolving digital world, security is a valid concern for businesses.

But secure, smart solutions prioritize your data protection. Enhanced security and GDPR compliant software ensures the highest standards of data security at every level. It would be too expensive to leak your data somewhere — everyone is now taking care not to get a very expensive lawsuit.

New tech is too complex and time-consuming

Entrusting your account data to an unknown system is enough to send some businesses into a tailspin. Сomplex onboarding processes stop companies from signing up.

Sure, not every digital solution is simple. Though teams of experts can support you in signing up and using these platforms it can be really tiring to spend many hours in touch with the support team.

Therefore, it is important to choose platforms in which you immediately get into the product and no special product settings are required for you. In a very short time, you can understand this is what you were looking for and not.

New tech is too expensive

When considering upgrading how you do business, it’s natural to weigh up costs and rewards whether the product will add value to your operation.

Sure, every company has a different budget, but being able to use the product for an unlimited amount of time for free increases the chances that you will want to upgrade the plan later. Even if the functionality is limited on the free plan, you are not in a hurry to figure out if the product is right for you during the trial period (sometimes it’s only a week!) and the probability is much higher than you will use the next purchased software.

When we developed Puls we thought like the users who will use it, so we have no complicated registration and onboarding — in two clicks (registration and bank account connection) you can see all the functionality and get and take credit the same day. You can also use everything for free with 1 connected bank account — only if you want to connect more accounts we offer a paid plan. Since Puls is fully autonomous and issues loans from a fund and not from a bank, it is realistic to get a loan in 1 working day just after connecting your bank account.

A lot of resources and time are always expended to make products easy to understand and easy to use. After all, the best design is when there seems to be no design at all. We have spent a lot of resources to make the system secure and user-friendly, inside our system, there is complex and knowledge-intensive ML. Our goal was to create a handy notebook and source of cash flow management for the businessman. Also, we are supervised by BaFin.

However, in offering our solution we understand that no new technology is a magic wand and a healthy fear of the unknown is understandable. When you do not understand in advance the value it will bring to your company it is crucial to see the whole product from the inside. Perhaps you are more likely to warm up to new technology when it has an easy entry point and you will find fast enough how this product can make life easier and take away unnecessary headaches.

So can technology help businesses grow? Well, only the businessman can grow his company. Technology is only there to help.