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Understand the benefits of going digital

The first step to going digital is to understand how it can benefit your business.

Businesses that use digital tools are likely to create new jobs, export their products and introduce new products or services.

The benefits of digital mainly come from:

  • tools you access through the internet
  • systems that communicate
  • an online presence.

Before you go digital it's important to assess your business needs

The digital tools you choose, should support your business goals. Common business goals include:

  • increase your revenue
  • increase your profit
  • make better use of your assets
  • improve the skills of your staff

For example, you can:

  • increase your sales through an e-commerce platform
  • track and reduce your expenses through a financial management system
  • automate administration tasks through a project management system
  • train your staff through an e-learning platform

Deciding what to improve in your business can help you identify your unique needs.

Think about the work your team does every day. What could change to make it easier for your staff to do their jobs and your customers to buy from you?

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Are there new processes I want to put in place if I had the time?
  • Do I want to offer a new service to my customers that I cannot offer with my current set-up?
  • Are there tasks that take a long time to complete?
  • Do any of my systems communicate with each other?
  • Do my staff have the tools they need to work remotely?

Once you have identified improvements, you can prioritise them.

Do not plan to do too much at once. Digital transformation often creates a lot of change in a business. It is important to manage this change in stages for the best chance of success. Create a road map with your business goals and priorities in mind.

For example, you might plan to do the following:

  • Focus on ‘quick wins’ first. These are initiatives that deliver high value for your business and are fast and easy to put in place.
  • Prioritise your higher value initiatives over your lower value initiatives. This way you can achieve your business goals sooner.
  • Start with small changes. This may help you succeed with higher value initiatives down the track.

Be generous with how much time you give to each stage in your road map. Factor in all aspects of the work, including:

  • defining your requirements
  • setting your goals
  • coordinating the vendors
  • training your staff

You can talk to digital suppliers to help your refine your road map. Suppliers can give you practical advice about how to break your transformation into stages.

Tools you access through the internet

Tools you access through the internet are called cloud tool. To access cloud tools you usually use your own IT equipment, such as your computer or mobile device. This means you don't need to pay for:

  • extra IT equipment
  • licences for software that you install onto your device
  • staff or service providers to maintain your software.

As long as you have an internet connection you can access cloud tools from most places. You can collaborate online while remote working.

Often you can choose to only pay for the cloud tools you use. You do not pay up front for cloud tools that you do not use. You can also choose to increase or decrease your amount of cloud tools. This helps your business scale up or down to adapt to change.

Systems that communicate

When running your business, you may use several different systems. Such as ones to

  • pay your staff
  • update your customer's information
  • updating product inventory.

While you are able to run these systems separately, you may also be able to connect them together. This allows the systems to communicate with each other for greater efficiency. This is known as software integration.

One example of software integration could be:

  1. You process a sale through your point of sale system.
  2. The point of sale system updates the stock levels in your inventory management system.
  3. Your account system records the sale.
  4. Your customer relationship management system updates your customer's sale history.

Software integration could help you by:

  • preventing you and your team from updating incorrect information
  • saving time that on entering information by hand
  • producing analytics reports to help you monitor your business.

An online presence

Marketing your business online can help you reach a larger audience. You can do this through a website, blog, e-marketplace, or social media account.

Reviewing your brand could help you connect with your customers and support your marketing plan.

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