Digitizing your business means that you incorporate modern technologies in daily business processes to maximize opportunities and boost your business growth. Shifting your business into the technological edge improves the performance of your business by establishing consistency, improving quality, and redesigning better models.
Business consultants advise that failure to digitize your business has the potential of edging you out of the business. Digitization doesn’t only cover physical technologies such as gadgets and machines, but also good software and applications that can give you an advantage in the industry of your specialization. For example, if you’re operating an eCommerce site, you can allow your customers to create an account at will, save their billing data, payment data, and delivery address so that it can autofill during a repeat purchase. Because of online security threats, doing this should be optional.
For you to be up to date with the current trends of business operations, in this article you’ll learn some strategies for digitizing your business.
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Come Up With Digital Protocols
Every major change in business shouldn’t be done hastily but after careful planning. You need to take a feasibility study to know how the new digital measures are going to affect your business. The digital changes you’re about to bring into your business ought to be effective and help your customers and target audience to engage in a better way with your business. The rush by many businesses to become digital is real but that doesn’t mean that you should overlook how digital measures will affect your workers too.
Digitization should be aimed at making your business processes one seamless unit. For instance, if you sell mobile phones, you can plan on creating a website that operates as an eCommerce. Make it easy for customers to purchase online, order, pay, and have the gadget of their choice be delivered where they are. This process should be so simple such that your customers enjoy it rather than resenting it.
In case your business handles the bulk of documents, maybe you can use high-tech portable document capture solutions for the easy creation of business documents. Then, how can these documents be edited, stored, and transferred? To come up with the best protocols you may need to bring together a team from different departments so that all departments might be linked together for efficiency.
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Step-Up Security
Employing robust cybersecurity measures is key to succeeding in digitization. The threat of data breaches and hackers is real and you can’t afford any oversight. After all, the law requires you to keep the top-secret information of your clients.
One way to enhance security is by having multiple data centers such that perchance one is compromised, the business information remains unaffected.
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Leverage Mobile Technology
Mobile devices such as smartphones are the norm of life today. Consider launching mobile support for your customers, target audience, and employees to connect with your business from their smartphones. There’s no telling how much your business can grow, increase profits and productivity through mobile technology.
When you’re seeking mobile support for your business processes especially through apps, ensure that you procure cross-platform mobile apps to use in both Android and iOS operating systems. Design a simple user interface for a good user experience.
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Conduct Training
Once a new technology has been laid in place, you can’t assume that every involved party shall flow without challenges. You need to train your employees on how to use the new technology, and delegate tasks. Many systems are modularized such that different people handle different modules for accountability. For example, if an entire banking system is fully controlled by one person, it would be easy for an employee to send money to their account illegally. Your workers need training on how to use their respective modules.
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Accommodate Remote Work
In the current world, working remotely isn’t something to overlook. After COVID-19 hit the world, many businesses were forced to shift to remote work. Remote work will allow you to take advantage of the best talents from anywhere in the world which also reduces overhead costs related to office rent.
However, it’s impossible to accommodate remote employees unless you put in place necessary digital measures. Thus, ensure that your business can support video conferencing, cloud computing, digital task management systems, instant messaging, and online HR systems.
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Leverage Cloud-Based Technologies
A well-thought-out business digitization plan factors in technologies that are cloud-based such as Knowledge Management System (KMS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Cloud-based technologies such as these two, help you to have a centralized location for selected business processes.
Additional cloud-based technology will be determined by the nature of the business you’re running. For example, if you heavily use documents, you may need an eFax service for faxing clients’ digital documents. Ensure that your provider gives you the best Service Level Agreements (SLA) and quality customer support available 24/7. Another thing to consider is if this is accessible anytime and anywhere through wireless faxing to meet your deliverables with robust security and confidentiality.
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Digital Marketing Automation
Automating digital marketing processes ensures that your employees focus on other activities which improve operational efficiency and lead to increased productivity and revenues. Automation tools help you automate email campaigns, finding the right customers, and sending customized emails.
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Review Your Customers’ Feedback
Regardless of the kind of business you have, you ought to evaluate the responses of your customers. Be keen to note the reactions that your customers give as they can help you know new areas that you should tap into or areas of digitization that need improvement. You can also find out what your customers think by monitoring your brand mentions using tools such as Onclusive.
You may need to periodically survey your customers and employees to troubleshoot areas of concern and send the concerns to the right people for action. You need customer feedback because:
- Customers can’t tolerate poor services
- Customers need personalization.
Final Thoughts
In case you’re yet to digitize your business, you may need to consider this sooner than later. You need to take advantage of the good equipment and applications to make doing business simple and boost your revenues. Thus, take time to draft your digital protocols, how you’ll implement cybersecurity within your digital implementation, and train your employees on how to use the new technology. Implement measures such as cloud computing, remote working, marketing automation, and regular feedback that can help you improve your service delivery.
