13.12.23

BaseKit’s top 5 most popular articles in 2023

2023 has been an exciting year in the BaseKit world. We’ve launched new features and solutions for the BaseKit platform, integrated innovative new partners and dug deep into the challenges facing the companies who support small business owners.

From creating more sustainable tech products through open partnerships to finding new ways for super-apps and digital agencies to become small business champions, here are our top stories from 2023.

1. BaseKit reduces image delivery bandwidth by 95% with ImageEngine

While there’s many strides we can make in-house, a lot also depends on the partnerships we make. And at the start of this year we announced we were integrating with ImageEngine, one of the highest-performing Image Content Delivery Networks.

ImageEngine optimises how a website delivers images to users. It does this by automatically looking at the device they’re using and serving the most efficient image size and format.

That doesn’t just make BaseKit sites load faster across all devices. It also lowers their server energy and bandwidth demands by reducing average image payload by 95% – which equated to roughly seven tonnes of data centre carbon emissions saved per month when we first rolled this out with three of our partners.

2. Super apps: a one-stop-shop for empowering small businesses

With roughly a third of the world’s population using some form of super-app, the idea of an app that can do everything has changed the way that billions of people access online services.

One of the defining features of small business owner life is having to juggle a dozen different tasks – from setting up and managing your online presence to keeping up with accounting and marketing – and bouncing between a dozen different tools to do so.

By partnering with vendors and white label providers, super-apps can offer all of those tools tied up in one digital ecosystem. This creates a more effortless route to market for entrepreneurs looking to launch their own small business.

3. #AgencyLife: Three trends impacting digital agencies

The last few years have been a rollercoaster for digital agencies. 2023 was no different.

From retaining talent to finding ways of scaling with less risk and ramp up time, agencies faced several key challenging trends this year – but also opportunities within them.

One of those trends is the issue of scalability. Digital agencies want to better protect themselves against the pitfalls of unpredictable project work, both to secure more recurring revenue and also to offer their key talent more variety and certainty of work. The difficulty is that building new websites from scratch is costly to offer, leaving out many of the potential clients that agencies want to attract.

But there is a possible answer to that: white label software. By offering a white label website builder, digital agencies have a way of reaching small business clients who are otherwise priced out of their services, and start making reliable recurring revenue without the risks of developing their own SaaS-style product from scratch.

4. How can open ecosystems pave a greener path for telcos?

Sustainability is a high priority for any business these days, but especially for telcos that are under pressure to modernise infrastructure and reduce emissions.

At the start of the year we looked at how new regulations like the European Green Deal as well as consumer interest in greener products have made the environment a key focus for major telcos. But as well as making major elements of their networks more efficient, telcos are also looking for ways to reduce their Scope 3 emissions like the energy costs of servers and broadband routers.

To meet those targets, collaboration is going to be key. Like our own partnership with ImageEngine, adopting open ecosystem relationships with tech companies can help telcos find new solutions to sustainability problems that they can’t achieve alone, while ensuring their entire ecosystem shares the burden of reducing their carbon footprint.

5. The consumer trust shift: Does the future belong to small businesses?

You might think that large corporations have an easy time winning consumer trust, owing to the vast resources they can spend on brand building, promotional marketing and customer support. Yet the last few years have shown a considerable swing in consumer trust, away from large, national companies and towards small, local businesses.

In February, we dug into the reasons behind that shift – from the effect of dealing with an individual person rather than a logo, to the nimble nature of small businesses when it comes to carrying out personal, bespoke work.

With that rise in trust comes a strong outlook for today’s small business owners – as well as an opportunity for larger companies to ask how they can support them. Whether it’s offering new digital tools to help reach new customers and manage their business, or education to unleash their full business potential, there’s plenty we can do together to help small businesses thrive into the future.

We’re on a mission for tech democracy for small businesses – are you in? Request a demo of our software, or get in touch to discuss what a BaseKit partnership could look like.