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Many of the world’s businesses now emerging from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are looking to improve their efficiency and resilience as they serve a new generation of consumers.

Alex So, managing director of Hong Kong accounting consultancy FastLane Group, believes digital transformation – the use of digital technologies to help modify, or create new, more profitable and effective working practices and customer experiences – could be the answer to tackling rapidly changing global business and market challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

“I think in the last two or three years, the pandemic actually accelerated the pace of digital transformation,” says So, adding that such transformation includes things such as improving the process efficiency, customer experience and data security of companies. From the automation of transactions to the use of chatbots for customer services, So says that adopting digital services can help to streamline business operations for entrepreneurs.

One of the key tools So uses to help his business clients to digitally transform is real-time data. This is particularly useful for resources management – something that proved crucial for Dedicare Medical Centre in Hong Kong, which provided vaccination services to help tackle the spread of the coronavirus disease during the pandemic.

The huge demand for vaccinations meant that the clinic needed to stock up on a large supply of vaccines, which all had specific expiration dates, So says. But the clinic was able to use real-time data on stock levels so that it knew precisely how many vaccines it had left at any time to plan exactly when it needed to order a new batch to minimise wastage.

So says the clinic’s use of real-time data was made possible thanks to the cloud-based accounting software, Xero, which can be used anywhere with internet access. By setting up the software for the clinic, he says the stock level of vaccines was automatically logged, which helped it to safeguard manpower and resources for other areas of its business.

Xero offers easy access to real-time data for entrepreneurs, So says. “Your accountant is not necessarily right next to you during some of the sleepless nights, but you can just log in to the software and you can check the data.”

He says digital transformation is not only about coping with unexpected business environments but also staying relevant and preparing for challenges in the future. Companies will need to digitally transform to help them cater to a new generation of increasingly tech-savvy consumers – Generation Alpha, which refers to the growing demographic of people who have been born since 2010.

By 2025, Gen Alpha will be the largest generation, totalling more than 2 billion people globally, Australian social research firm McCrindle Research predicted in its 2020 report, “Understanding Generation Alpha”. For these people, a world without the everyday use of technology such as smartphones is almost impossible to imagine, and they are already wielding great consumption power through the influence of their parents.

“They’re growing up in the digital world, so that’s how they’ll interact with businesses,” says So, whose 12-year-old Gen Alpha daughter was born in October 2010. “It’s about expectation: how you personalise offerings, how you can very efficiently reply to, or meet their requirements. So with digital or technology-enabled solutions, that’s how you can stay relevant.”

So warns that businesses must have the right expectations when carrying out digital transformation as most affordable, off-the-shelf technological solutions will have some limitations in the customisation of specific features. They are not built for the needs of one specific company so they may not be able to address all the different business issues, he says.

Having used Xero for a decade, So says that instead of spending the bulk of his time compiling the data needed for auditing, he can use that time discussing and planning his clients’ futures now that accessing such data is only a few clicks away.

“This is all about planning: you need data to plan, you need the information to plan. So now you’re not meeting just to talk about tax returns. You can really spend the time so you have a good picture about your business, not only today, but also over the past two, three, four or five years.

“It’s very important that you have this financial data to run the business, to stay healthy and be resilient.”