Digital tools that MSMEs need to survive any crisis

Abstract

Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have radically transformed the way businesses operate around the world. Particularly MSMEs, as they were severely affected by this crisis. In Mexico, 1.6 million of these establishments closed, and the rest were forced to adapt quickly to the sanitary restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. Some of the measures implemented by MSMEs to survive the pandemic were homeoffice and online sales, for which the use of digital tools was indispensable. The objective of this research was to identify which digital tools were used by MSMEs to survive the pandemic so that they are prepared to face future crises. The research was quantitative and descriptive, a questionnaire was applied to 100 MSMEs on digital tools used in business operations. Regarding the results, it was found that the most used digital tools are social networking platforms, among which WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram stand out in areas such as sales, marketing, and internal communication. In addition, the most used digital tools for payments are electronic transfers, Clip, and Mercado Pago.