Customers are no longer just walking past your store – they are searching, comparing, and ordering from their phones.

This didn’t happen overnight; it’s the result of years of digitalisation, which has shifted norms and created increasingly seamless and convenient online shopping experiences

For Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs), this shift creates a massive opportunity, but also complexity. There are now countless tools for listing, advertising, delivery, payments, and customer engagement.

The challenge is no longer whether to go digital, but where to start and what actually drives results. What should you prioritise? What will actually serve your bottom line?

Many business owners end up signing up to multiple platforms without a clear plan – hoping something works. But not every tool will move your business forward. Building the right “digital stack” – the set of tools you use to run and grow your business, is now a strategic decision.

The most successful SMBs don’t treat digitalisation as an add-on; they build it into how they operate. They are also not trying to do everything – they focus on a few high-impact areas that directly improve sales, efficiency, and customer experience.

For the Nigerian consumer, time is the ultimate currency. Between long commutes, unpredictable traffic, and the demands of a busy lifestyle, every minute saved is a win.

Consumers are looking for convenience that actually works. The businesses that will lead the market are those that use digital tools to make discovery, ordering, delivery, and communication faster and more reliable.

This isn’t about turning every business into an e-commerce giant. It’s about making practical upgrades that help you run more effectively day to day.

Planning your stack of digital tools can be done in four simple steps:

1. Discoverability

If customers can’t find you, nothing else matters.

Focus on being visible on platforms where customers already search; maintain an active social presence and list on platforms that actively bring you demand (not just tools you have to manage yourself).

2. Conversion

Once customers find you, make it easy for them to buy. This means the purchase process must be as smooth as possible.

Think simple ordering experiences, clear menus or pricing, fast checkout, and reliable delivery options.

Tools that allow in-app promotions, ads, and marketplace visibility (such as platforms like Glovo) can also help convert demand at the point of purchase. The goal here is to turn visibility into actual orders.

3. Fulfilment

Customers have found you, been converted, and completed a purchase. It is now critical that they receive their product reliably and on time. This is where many businesses struggle, managing logistics internally is expensive and complex.

Platforms like Glovo help solve this by providing delivery infrastructure, access to riders, and operational support. The goal here is to deliver consistently without having to build everything yourself.

4. Relationship

Sustained growth doesn’t come from one-time customers – nurturing the relationship to build loyalty and drive repeat business is crucial.

Loyalty schemes, CRM tools, and automated marketing can help you retain customers and increase lifetime value.

Digitalisation doesn’t mean abandoning your physical presence. It means strengthening it. For example, a local restaurant can take pre-orders online to reduce wait times, while a neighbourhood store can expand reach through delivery.

These are practical changes that directly impact revenue.

The challenge for SMBs today isn’t lack of tools – it’s choosing the right ones.

You don’t need everything at once. You need a focused approach that improves how customers find you, buy from you, and come back.

Businesses that get this right will not just survive – they will grow faster, operate more efficiently, and stay competitive in an increasingly digital market.

Announced ahead of its flagship Dreamforce 2025 conference, set to begin on October 14, Agentforce 360 introduces new features designed to make AI agents more responsive, adaptable, and integrated into daily enterprise workflows. 

The update includes tools that allow users to build, test, and deploy AI agents with greater control and flexibility.

One of the features is Agent Script, a prompting tool that lets users instruct AI agents through conditional “if/then” logic. The tool, set for beta release in November, gives companies the ability to improve how agents respond in nuanced or unpredictable situations, such as complex customer queries. 

According to Salesforce, these agents will use “reasoning” models powered by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini, which “think before responding” rather than relying solely on pattern-based outputs.

Another addition is Agentforce Builder, a unified workspace where users can create, test, and launch AI agents from a single interface. The platform also includes Agentforce Vibes, a customisation framework for defining the tone and “personality” of enterprise applications. Both features are expected to enter beta testing in November.

Salesforce is also expanding its integration with Slack, placing the workplace platform as a hub for enterprise intelligence. Starting this month, Salesforce’s core applications, including Sales, IT, and HR, will become accessible directly within Slack, with further expansion planned through early 2026. 

A new version of Slackbot is being piloted as well, designed to act as a personal assistant that learns user preferences and offers proactive insights and suggestions.

The company’s long-term plan is to make Slack a full-scale enterprise search and collaboration tool, connecting it with external platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and Dropbox by 2026.

Salesforce says it currently serves 12,000 Agentforce customers, including early adopters such as Lennar, Adecco, and Pearson. 

Salesforce’s innovation could be a huge one for businesses still having issues with measurable returns from their AI investments. A recent MIT study found that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail before reaching production, emphasising the challenges companies face in scaling these technologies effectively.

Competitors are also moving quickly. Google recently launched Gemini Enterprise, with clients like Figma and Klarna, while Anthropic secured a major deal with Deloitte to roll out its Claude Enterprise chatbot to 500,000 employees and later announced a partnership with IBM. Unveiling Agentforce 360 just before Dreamforce, Salesforce aims to showcase incremental updates, but has a bigger vision for how enterprise AI should function, integrated, adaptable, and built for long-term scalability.