Latin American companies struggle to turn technology into business value
Nearly all Latin American companies use technology, but only a minority manage to turn that investment into business results.
Although adoption of digital tools is approaching 100%, just 15% of companies manage to generate returns from them through a formal strategy.
Nearly 100% of Latin American companies use technology tools, but only 15% manage to generate returns from them through a formal strategy, according to data from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
The gap is also reflected in growth: companies that follow a formal digital strategy can increase their customer base by up to 20%, while those that maintain analog processes report marginal annual growth of 8%, according to data attributed to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
These figures show that adopting technology does not necessarily translate into value. For many companies, particularly smaller businesses, the cost of technology tools continues to be perceived as a barrier to advancing their digital transformation.
A lack of digitalization also carries an operational cost. An MSME that keeps its inventory records on paper, schedules appointments manually or forgoes data analytics can accumulate wasted work hours, errors and problems in customer service.
Technology as a progressive investment.
The evolution of the technology solutions market has also created more flexible access models for MSMEs, with options that allow them to begin digitizing processes without taking on the cost of a comprehensive platform from the outset.
These include modular catalogs and free versions of some business tools.
Per-user subscription models have also become more widespread, allowing companies to gradually adopt different business tools. In Zoho’s case, its platforms integrate more than 45 interconnected applications, enabling businesses to expand digitalization across different areas without having to acquire separate solutions for each process.
Digitalization can advance in stages.
This approach allows an MSME to start with a single area, such as accounting or sales, and gradually expand its use of technology to inventory, human resources or data analytics as the business grows and generates higher revenues.
The challenge, therefore, is not only to adopt digital tools, but to ensure that their use is linked to specific processes and measurable results for the business.
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