GRIT - Ed.04 - Flipbook - Page 21
HOW WE WORK
HOW HOMEGROWN TECH
FROM THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES
IS HELPING GLOBAL BUSINESSES
SURVIVE AND THRIVE
By Jacqueline Cook, Chief Operating Officer,
Vendasta; Next 36, 2012
start of the pandemic was unsettling on its best
T he
days and terrifying on its worst. Not just because
experts were scrambling to understand the scope and
breadth of the disease, but for what it did—and continues to do—to the global economy. It changed the
way we work, shop, and connect with others, and
small businesses slow to adopt technology have been
disproportionately affected as a result.
Many were making the shift to digital, but the pandemic turned a ripple of adoption into a tsunami. These
businesses needed to transact with customers online.
They required websites, cyber security, remote communication tools, and online productivity software.
Overwhelmed with options, they also needed the help of local experts, like marketing
agencies and ISVs—Vendasta’s customers.
Driving local economies with digital
has always been the fuel for our fire. Our
team’s agility and passion for helping
local experts and their small business
clients meant we could respond to the
pandemic in meaningful ways. When
this world-shifting event started to
take hold, we transitioned into wartime
mode with three objectives: Protect,
pivot and position.
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PROTECTING OUR EMPLOYEES AND OUR
CUSTOMERS
In March 2020, we were in the
midst of a three-year accelerated
growth plan backed by $40M in
VC funding—the largest ICT investment in Canadian prairie history. At the onset of the pandemic,
we paused the acceleration to evaluate the impact on our business and
try to anticipate what lay ahead.
The majority of our then 385 team
members shifted to remote work
virtually overnight.
In the uncertain early days,
retaining our customers was key.
They weren’t operating normally,
and we offered credits and relief
as they felt the impact of the first
wave. In surveying what would
come next, it was clear they too
needed new tools and processes to
adjust how they collaborate, learn,
and conduct commerce.
PIVOT ECOMMERCE , COLLABORATION,
LEARNING & COMMUNITY
We pivoted all roadmaps to
help drive digital transformation
for our customers and their local
business clients. Early data was
staggering: COVID-19 had accelerated ecommerce adoption by four
to six years (Forbes).
We produced a free toolkit that
included digital marketing solutions
and websites with ecommerce to
help local businesses rise above the
noise and uncertainty. In tandem,
we created remote collaboration
tools, and helped our customers
learn, connect, and support each
other through the Conquer Local
Academy and Community.
We stuck to the plan through
a stomach twisting 8.8% dip in
April, but that was followed by a
sharp V-shaped recovery in the
months following. Demand more
than doubled. Our customers
adjusted with our help, and were
helping SMBs survive. We could
reaccelerate.
tizers and laughs, people will continue enjoying the convenience of
buying from a local business online,
or scheduling a service call from
their phones. We will want things
faster, with greater convenience
and transparency.
POSITION OURSELVES AND PREPARE FOR
(CONTINUED) EXPANSION
Just like ‘artificial intelligence’
has grown in meaning as technology evolves and expands, so too
has ‘ecommerce’. The definition is
expanding beyond an e-cart. The
entire customer experience will be
optimized for a transaction. The
front-facing consumer journey will
be transformed, and the back office
systems will be revolutionized to
support that shift.
Vendasta was able to help our
customers navigate the storm and
find safe harbour with new products and tools local businesses
need. We grew to 500 employees
through the pandemic, while maintaining a Net Promoter score of 70
among the SMBs we serve.
The past year reminded us how
important it is to act fast and solve
customer problems. It also served
as a stark reminder that small businesses buoy much of the Canadian
and U.S. economies and serve as
the heartbeat of our communities.
The growth rate of U.S. ecommerce sales in the first weeks of the
pandemic was greater than it was in
the full decade prior, and Canadian
retail ecommerce sales saw a 110.8%
increase compared to the same period last year (Statistics Canada).
Goliaths like Amazon and Walmart
are enjoying most of the profits,
but SMBs are working to cross the
chasm and take back market share.
THE FUTURE OF LOCAL BUSINESSES
Local businesses aren’t just building ecommerce websites; they’re
fundamentally redefining the way
customers discover, interact, and
transact with their businesses. But
what happens when the pandemic forcing function ends? While we
may relish the day we can meet in a
crowded restaurant to share appe-
As more digital tools become
necessary to conduct business,
consolidation will be key. Local businesses will look for ways
to make software experiences
streamlined and simplified. They
will lean on experts to help, and
these local experts will be able to
deliver productivity, security, digital
marketing, and ecommerce products under one business app with a
single login and bill. It’s in this way
that we’ll deliver power back to our
local economies.
At the end of this chapter in our
history, we want to walk a vibrant
and lively main street of businesses. My hope is that those businesses
will be operating, and they will be
doing it with greater resilience and
agility than ever before. I’m proud
to know our team and our customers have played an important part
in ensuring it can happen.
Vendasta provides an end-to-end
ecommerce platform to companies who sell digital solutions and
services to SMBs. Learn more
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