At the B2SMB Conference in Chicago, small business movers and shakers joined together to network, learn, and grow. While the conference was intended to bring small businesses together, some large businesses were represented in the crowd.
Solutions for small businesses
One of those was SAP Concur. While many large businesses are just too big to care about the success of their smaller counterparts, SAP Concur thinks differently. This company creates solutions for small businesses to take control of their expenses. SAP Concur provides automated invoicing for expenses and accounts payable. It also helps small businesses manage their travel expenses. All of this is done with innovative technology.
Growing relationships between small and large businesses
The senior vice president and general manager of SAP Concur, Christal Bemont, took time to talk to Ramon Ray about the growing relationships between small businesses and large ones like hers. Concur was once an independent business that was purchased by SAP. The organization continues to do this, but with the full resources of SAP behind it.
Bemont was ecstatic about the growing relationships between small, medium, and large businesses. Large businesses like SAP envy what she called “agility” in the small business world. According to Bemont, that agility makes small businesses “Nimble and scrappy … easier to be innovative and athletic.”
Becoming innovative and agile
Large businesses often have too much bureaucracy to be innovative. But, small businesses do not have to answer to anyone. This is what larger businesses envy.
Along with figurative agility and athleticism, small businesses are also turning heads for literal reasons. The makeup of small businesses is changing as more minorities, women, and millennials are becoming entrepreneurs. Hopefully, large businesses will take notice and include these dynamic populations in their mix, too.
It is easier for small businesses to compete in the local, national, and global marketplace because of technology. With Business Agility Consulting and technology, small businesses are filling in the holes that large businesses overlook.
The keys to business success
Bemont believes that large businesses will begin acting like small businesses to develop agility and to innovate in ways they never have been able to do. Since small businesses do not have access to a large workforce and the sheer amount of information that large businesses have, large businesses still have an advantage. The key is how that workforce and the information is delegated.
There are several keys to success for both small and large businesses. Interestingly, they are similar, other than in their scope:
- Passion
- Leadership
- Innovation
- Delegation
- Teamwork
As with all organizations, the people that are in any business will help it succeed or drive it to failure. When businesses hire the best people, innovation is easy. With great people, leaders are able to step away from day-to-day procedures and work on new ideas because of trust. SAP Concur helps those leaders and their great people set visions, be disruptive, and get results.
Check out more of Ramon Ray’s interviews from the B2SMB Conference.
