Flow’s new business line helps SMEs evolve

AS FAR as public health is concerned, TT has dealt with covid19 with relative success, but economically, it has been an apocalypse.

The rapid shift in policies, coupled with an array of restrictions imposed on the country to curb the virus’ spread led to a wave of shutdowns and closures in all sectors from which several businesses would never recover. Small to medium enterprises (SME) – those businesses which employ six to 25 workers and make between $500,000 and $2.9 million in sales – were no exception, as many “mom and pop” stores which depended on leaving their doors open to garner revenue closed for good.

Covid19 showed small businesses – a sector which has over 16,000, employs half the nation and provides about 40 per cent of this country’s GDP – that if they were to survive 2020 they needed to evolve.

After consultation with their customers in the SME sector, Flow Business, formerly known as CW Business, came up with a suite of products that would not only change the way small businesses do business but help them grow in the coming years.

Before covid19, small businesses operated in pretty much the way one would think. They would open their doors and welcome people to take a look at their products and work toward getting a sale. Denisha Hamilton-Bailey, Flow SME sales manager, told Business Day that the needs of SMEs were pretty basic.

“Before, SMEs just needed connectivity. They just needed to be up and running when their businesses were open.”

She said from conversations with customers, the company discovered that TT’s SMEs pride themselves on doing business face-to-face – providing service personally.

But times have changed and the old ways wo no longer work. Even though there has been good news recently, with a reduction in cases and limited reopening in many sectors, because of physical distancing rules, the number of people who can occupy a space is reduced, plus, customers are more concerned about going out in crowds.

“Now, SMEs don’t just need connectivity and support, they need to go digital,” Hamilton-Bailey said.

“The pandemic was an eye-opener. It showed that we need to evolve as businesses and make the adjustments in order to survive. It is extremely disappointing that many SMEs had to close down but digital is the way that we need to go from here on out.”

Having a digital store means that a business can be open 24 hours a day, interact with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders in a virtual space and conduct sales in the same manner.

For example, in the peak of TT’s experience with covid19, hardwares were packed. Because of restrictions in the opening hours there was a constant rush for the few contractors who still worked to get supplies.

“A lot of people were saying they were frustrated and asked for a facebook page. The problem was meeting the customers’ requests without breaking the law. Had they had an online presence they would have been able to order their supplies online and simply collect at the door. With a digital store, the customer does not have to go there to buy.”

That is where Flow comes in, with the launch of Flow Business on October 26. The telecommunications company offers a one-stop shop to empower small businesses with new solutions so they could provide dedicated support, business class service and value added service to their customers and drive revenue and brand-awareness.

The packages promise to provide internet service, fixed voice calls, TV, website and online store services and management, a dedicated IT Help Desk, professional email accounts, digital marketing support, cloud storage and cloud security.

“Not everyone can create or maintain their website. Many businesses put up a facebook page and the last time they did anything on it was two years ago, or more. Some small business operators are not website savvy. We can take care of that for them. We can also merge our social media sites with pages by putting hotlinks on facebook sites,” said Hamilton-Bailey.

“We can provide email accounts with domain names if they want to look professional and have an email with its own domain. Give us a call and we can send a promo blast. We will send the email to their people.

“If they have a problem, call us and we can fix it. We have IT personnel working specifically for small businesses. If, for example, you are having an online meeting and you are having problems with Zoom, they can either walk business operators through it or they could go in remotely and fix it for them.

“Internet security is something that people bother with until something happens. Store payment information and other private information is not something small businesses want hackers to access. We can protect that information so they won’t be held to ransom.

“We will also get feedback in case we need to do something differently for their businesses the next time. We want to give real time resolutions to real time problems so you can focus on the most important thing – generating revenue.”

Flow Business provides these services in three packages – starter, essential, advanced and premium – to meet not only the needs of businesses but their bottomline.

Fully aware that businesses are under serious strain and need time to recover, Flow has also worked with those that are currently behind on payments to see how best each can stay afloat.

“The most important part is dialogue. Once the customer works with us we will work with them. We have been able to work with customers and devise payment plans or adjust their payments.”

Flow also took the time during the past few months to improve their infrastructure to provide better service, not only to businesses, but to customers on the whole. Hamilton-Bailey told Business Day that during a quarterly meeting it was announced that the company was currently repairing and upgrading its infrastructure.

“So there will definitely be an improvement,” she said.

Flow Business’ main goal is to help small businesses change with the times, to continue as one of the major stakeholders in TT’s economy, she added.

“TT needs SMEs to stay open and continue to be successful. We can be that ally to keep businesses thriving.”