Ignorance Is Not Bliss

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Futuristic warehouse automation, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence are often cited as testimony that warehousing is progressing rapidly.

Whilst nothing is taking away the fact that tech advancements have indeed happened, the question is about its widespread adoption on the warehouse floor. 

Is a collective advancement being made? Or, in reality, are SME’s being left behind by the richer, larger organisations?

The SME Truth

Research shows that even today, SMEs are systemically utilising the same 100-year-old process despite other modern and value-generating alternatives, having existed for decades. 

A global survey recently revealed that the transport and storage industry is amongst the least active innovators - with only 33% of organisations actively innovating. In contrast, the electrical equipment industry operates at 63%. 

Also, a large business is 35% more likely to be adopting warehousing tech than an SME in the same sector. Sadly, the same survey shows that innovation rates have dropped by 34% in warehousing for SMEs since 2012.

Cost, Risk and Knowledge

For eons, studies pinpoint three perceived sets of barriers to tech adoption within the SME sector: cost, risk and knowledge. 

SMEs believe that costs will be steep, the process too challenging, and the risks too high. 

Also, SMEs perceive innovation and technology as being the forte of larger organisations alone. 

But since that's not true, the keyword here is perception. SME warehouse operations’ general lack of awareness of the reality of warehousing technology has fanned widespread misbeliefs, hampering innovation for decades.

Awareness Is The Issue

With the use of cheap and powerful computing power, and reducing business risk due to innovative processes, the only reason why SMEs are lagging is - the lack of awareness. 

If SMEs are made aware of a technology that can help them, then many tech startups are available to help bridge the knowledge gap. And those tech startups can then ROFL all the way to the bank. 

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