2022 has been anything but a quiet year for BaseKit. Our last twelve months have been all about laying foundations for future success – not just for us, but for our partners and the small business owners they support.

From building more of the tools small businesses need to thrive online, to strengthening our commitment to sustainability and tech democracy, take a trip with us back through a big year of change.

Renewing our focus on tech democracy

We started 2022 with some big changes in mind – not just in terms of what we had on offer, but also the purpose behind the tools we’ve made and how we get them to the small business owners who need them.

In the spring we created new Marketing Director and Digital Marketing Lead roles and embarked on a journey to refine what BaseKit stood for. We reanalysed our strengths and purpose, and dug deep into the digital strategy we wanted to carry forward.

What came out of that was a full rebrand for BaseKit, and a new mission to drive global tech democracy for small businesses.

Current estimates suggest that over two-thirds of startups will fail within their first ten years of operating. That’s something tech has the power to change, but only if the tools are simple enough for anyone to understand and use. That’s why we chose a new strap-line, ‘Easy does it’, to highlight our goal of making effortless tech tools for anyone with a business idea to take advantage of.

The importance of breaking down walls in tech was underlined to us again when we went to CloudFest earlier this year, and it was made clear that open ecosystems will be a crucial theme for all tech providers going forward.

Redefining our brand values was an important part of our rebrand, and we should mention they were all defined by the BaseKit team, not just the leadership. They wanted a renewed focus on prioritising people over tech, championing the success of small businesses, and driving positive change through tech.

In August we backed that mission up by working with YouGov to survey 529 UK small businesses about the way they use and view tech. The results – which we published in our 2022 micro business report, Crossing the Digital Divide –painted a very clear picture of the digital education gap at play, with 39% of small business owners saying they didn’t know who to trust to provide tech tools to improve their business.

Delivering more of what small business owners need

Although 2022 has been busy enough with our rebrand, we’ve also been hard at work this year on expanding BaseKit’s range of products and tools. With our vision of tech democracy and championing small businesses always at the forefront, we’re trying to offer even more of what those small business owners really need to thrive digitally.

Earlier this year we launched a new website migration service, offering our partners the opportunity to migrate their customers from legacy platforms onto BaseKit. Maintaining those legacy platforms would usually be a costly service – and one that’s reflected in the price small business owners end up paying. A simple, one-time migration means we can help our partners lower the barriers to tech for their small business customers. We also created a new Project Manager role to oversee the huge interest in this service.

We’ve also added to our core offering with BaseKit Bookings, an online booking system with built-in payments.. The ability to take bookings online means small businesses can be more accessible and attractive to customers who crave convenience. It also gives them back the time they’d usually spend taking bookings over the phone, so they can focus more on their business.

As well as introducing these new services, we’ve continued to update our website builder and online store software this year to put even more tools in the hands of small business owners. These have all been to give users more ways to shape their online presence:

• New product range display options 
• New content and image layouts 
• Responsive typography for different devices
• Simplified controls for users
• Improved UI, image loading, CSS and cookie management
• New and improved BaseKit Bookings

Putting our purpose into action

When we launched our rebrand, we knew it wouldn’t be enough just to say what our mission and values were. That’s why this year also saw us begin our journey towards becoming a B Corp.

The environmental, ethical and sustainable targets that B Corp promotes have been in our agenda for a while now, and achieving that status will be a huge marker in our mission to be a force for good. We submitted our application in September, and already the process has helped us to raise our game by thinking critically about issues right across the business.

Among seven new partners this year, in September we partnered with DigiTeams, who are working to get people out of poverty in Africa using cutting-edge tech. By offering our mobile-first tools, DigiTeams and BaseKit are helping prospective entrepreneurs in Africa set up their own businesses online and thrive in the e-commerce world.

As part of our sustainability goals we partnered with environmental organisation Ecologi with a pledge to plant 10,000 trees by the end of the year. We’re on course to meet that pledge by the end of December 2022!

To underpin our commitment to making tech more accessible for all, we’re partnering with Dffrnt to sponsor five women as they establish their coding career. We’ve also donated £850 to support Unicef’s humanitarian work in Ukraine this year, as well as £1,000 to the young persons’ mental health charity The Wave Project, which was doubled in December via the Big Give.

We’re on a mission for tech democracy for small businesses – are you in? Get in touch to see how we could collaborate.