Lending a digital hand to small businesses in Prague during the pandemic

The economic fallout of the pandemic in the modern Czech state is unprecedented ⁠–⁠ according to the Czech Statistical Office, 2020 saw the largest economic decline since the creation of the independent Czech Republic, with GDP tumbling by more than 5%.

While agile businesses which easily pivoted to online sales or offer a delivery service have enjoyed a swell in sales, brick-and-mortar shops have been severely affected by restrictions or complete closures, and it's about to dramatically change the business landscape, says Martin Campoverde owner of EverlastIT.

"In the current atmosphere, we believe it's really imperative for small business to adopt the necessary tools to future-proof their business, whether that be via automation or system integration," he says.

One client who can vouch for EverlastIT's services is Zuzana Johanovská of Piccola Cucina, a pizza takeaway stand in Most, who says that aside from the physical shuttering of stores, Covid has had unexpected consequences on the way that businesses operate and accepted business practices, many of which remained unchanged for decades, have suddenly been upended overnight. 

“Instead of dealing with paper orders and invoices like we were used to, all of our suppliers required that everything be done digitally to minimize in-person contact,” said Johanovská. “This was a huge inconvenience for a small operation such as ours, as we were used to handling our back-office accounting in the traditional way. Covid made us completely rethink the way we operated.” 

In an effort to future-proof her business Johanovská enlisted EverlastIT, which performed a careful audit of her business’ systems. 

Everlast IT, founded by Prague-based expats, is a new arrival to the local IT industry. The company offers tech solutions to small businesses who wish to modernize their workflows to best adapt to this challenging new environment.

"Our mission is really to provide clients with the solutions required to enact a digital transformation," said Campoverde who has found that roughly 75 percent of people using digital channels for the first time indicate that they will continue to use them when things return to “normal.” 

He said this means companies will need to ensure that their digital channels are on par with or better than those of their competition to succeed in this new environment.

Over the past months EverlastIT has seen a large number of clients, especially small and medium businesses like Johanovská’s looking for the kind of affordable digital guidance their company provides. "We are capable of handling any volume of clients and our designers and developers are always ready to add their creative value," said Campoverde.

In Johanovská’s case orders, financial reports, and inventory management were all coming in on different channels, but with the help of Campoverde's firm she was able to automate these systems, and present the information in a structured and organised way. The effect of the change has been remarkable.

“With our new digital inventory and integration system, we have seen our food costs go down by over 43%. We are running more efficiently than ever,” Johanovská said, “and during these tough times, margins are tight, so saving wherever we can is crucial.” 

Campoverde has some other advice for businesses who find themselves in need of creating a successful digital footprint in a post-Covid world:

Johanovská said she has learned from the mistakes of small businesses that don't digitalize and advises fellow entrepreneurs to set up the right IT framework so that they can focus on keeping customers coming back for more. "Now, we can return our focus to our production and make sure that we are delivering the highest quality food possible.”