A lot of money is flowing into Brentwood, Billericay and the wider Essex area in order to help businesses get themselves off the ground. That’s true whether it’s coming from parliament, or from schemes like the COVID adaptability grant featured by In Your Area. With this money coming in, businesses stand to gain a lot – but it’s only useful if it can be deployed properly. Arguably the best place to push new business funding into is online – the internet. Fine-tuning your digital presence for the modern market can help you to rise above the competition.

Staying secure

Before embarking on any expansion of your digital presence it’s important to build the capacity to protect yourself and your data. Data protection is a huge focus for regulators – one small business based in Grays was fined a huge £100,000 by the ICO for the storage and improper use of personal data. Before you expand your own operation, get comfortable with GDPR and data protection rules, and ensure you have the processes in place to make your own web archive and protect customer data.

Finding value

Lots of new high street shops are opening across Essex but, as Essex Live outlines, ecommerce is the true leader when it comes to modern retail. That should be a focus for your business, whether you’re dealing in services or physical goods. Make sure you have a proper ecommerce platform that’s robust enough to deal with your perceived increase in custom, and is expandable for future growth.

Planning ahead

It can be dangerous to rush ahead into digital expansion or transformation. A review by the London School of Economics outlines how 75% of businesses facing failure in their own digital expansion efforts can place that to leadership and managerial methods – not technology. What this shows is that the proof is in the planning when it comes to digital expansion. You need to produce a proper business plan and map out your digital growth. Consider every single stage you want to operate at, and where that’ll take you in the future.

It’s an exciting time for Essex businesses nonetheless. The country has opened up and that’s making huge room for growth – especially in online spaces. That’s an opportunity for any business owner, but a risk, too. Be aware, be diligent in managing your digital space and data, and make the most out of your enterprise.