Digital Tools are a Starting Point for Success

StartingPoint launched in 2020 with the mission to support small businesses in their digital transformation journey. CEO and founder Ray McKenzie has decades of experience working with digital tools and platforms to optimize companies’ workflows and streamline their operations, and he wanted to use this experience to help small businesses compete. Ray understands that bad customer experiences cost companies an average of $75 billion a year, but digital tools can increase customer engagement and improve the customer experience, thereby saving companies millions of dollars annually.

Ray helps clients understand that digital advertising on Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn provides teams with critical analytics and data to improve their services, and these platforms’ popularity helps small businesses reach more customers at a lower cost than ever before. Platforms like Amazon and Shopify offer small businesses capabilities like payment processing, shipping, and data security, while technology companies like Microsoft, StartingPoint, and Google provide affordable tools for small businesses, including communications and collaboration software that helps teams stay connected..  

“Small businesses love these platforms because they integrate several critical business functions for a reasonable price,” said McKenzie. “These efficiencies are what business experts encourage and consumers desire.”

Now, Congress is considering legislation that could inhibit small businesses’ access to these popular digital tools, and force small businesses to build their own integrated software. Ray and the team at StartingPoint implore lawmakers to consider the bad outcomes for small businesses that benefit from digital tools and rely on these platforms to stay afloat during difficult times.

“During the pandemic, free and low-cost digital tools and services from large technology companies helped millions of small businesses remain open. Now is not the time to enact new digital economy laws without considering the impacts on small businesses, like increased software costs and less effective ad targeting.”