It is now a cliché to underline the acceleration effect of the adoption of digital triggered by the pandemic. It is nonetheless real, as illustrated in particular by the France Num 2021 barometer.
79% of managers consider, for example, that digital facilitates communication with customers. This is 7 points more in one year. They are also 78% of respondents to consider the real benefit of digital (+ 10 points).
If the perception with regard to technologies has improved, it is in particular due to the rapid development of uses in VSEs/SMEs (less than 250 employees). 20% of them now have their own online store, compared to % before the crisis.
Website (66%), document exchange platform (43%) or collaborative tools (33%), companies have boosted their tools. And these trends observed by the General Directorate of Enterprise (DGE) are illustrated in the testimonies of three French SMEs, the youngest of which is 25 years old.
An evolution of internal skills
The HBF Group was historically a distributor of electrical equipment. It has begun to diversify its activities in order to develop new services based on technologies. The manufacturer, which has also introduced e-commerce in its historic business, thus offers services for the connected home as well as home care services for the elderly. HBF has designed an IoT (internet of things) platform for this, coupled with sensors.
The transformation also affects the internal organization, for example via an ERP migration in 2021 to Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations for the entire group. The company is now working on integrating a subsidiary into the ERP. Its objective is to “streamline and optimize internal processes, and also to increase productivity”, declared, during a round table organized by Microsoft, Sébastien Saffon, CDO and DSI of the HBF group.
The roadmap is also busy for the manufacturer in 2022 and 2023. It plans to transform its supply chain, which transports 30 million products each year. HBF plans to use artificial intelligence to optimize its supply management.
To this end, the SME had to accompany its transformation with an evolution of internal skills. In addition to training and recruitment, they integrate work-study trainees specialized in artificial intelligence, from the IA School, and in cloud development.
Digital transformation and internal culture
Also within Paredes, which distributes protection and hygiene products, digitalization has been accompanied by a change in internal culture, initiated in 2017 by the Challenge 2022 plan.
Result: the creation of an online sales channel and an equally digital customer relations channel. However, two challenges had to be met: “getting our customers used to it, and also our employees”, testifies Emilie Caplat, director of digital transformation and customer service for Paredes.
To this end, the distributor started with a pilot with a few customers, but at the same time opened the e-commerce site internally to its employees. This phase encouraged adoption, particularly by the sales force, for whom the store is now a daily commercial tool.
Two new areas of “progress” now await Paredes. “Digital on the services part. We have developed specialized services, for example establishing hygiene protocols. We are also working on chemical-free products,” says Emilie Caplat.
Immersive customer experiences
The Emosia group, a century-old specialist in home fragrances and scented candles, also accelerated its transformation before and during the health crisis. On e-commerce, Emosia has put a virtual perfume adviser online. The latter makes recommendations to visitors.
The service was designed thanks to a start-up: Perfumist. With a larger partner, Instagram, the SME experimented with live shopping in the metaverse and installed “connected POS” at its points of sale. The purpose: to develop immersive customer experiences via augmented reality, justifies Guillaume Rolland, the director of innovation.
On its B to B activity, in which the company produces under white label for third parties, Emosia offers remote visits of its production sites to its prospects. For this, the company has equipped itself with HoloLens mixed reality headsets.
Finally, in 2022, the perfumer designed a new digital assistant and a 3D configurator, this time for its B to B customers. The priorities now for the company lie in the transformation of the factory and the boutiques. “We can transform our points of sale into digital assets” thanks to in-store experiences, announces Guillaume Rolland. “Digital in-store is an essential issue for us. The industrial part is too. We are the winner of the Resolutions program of the Pays de la Loire region on the industry 4.0 part. The SME will therefore connect part of its candle manufacturing lines.