How to Digitize Your Business the Right Way: 6 Practical Strategies

Whether you're a Chief Information Officer (CIO) gunning for a promotion, to elevate your career and become recognized in the marketplace by providing unquestionable value to your company or a small business owner looking for effective strategies to grow your business while saving time and resources, this post is for you.

It's hard to imagine a period when companies didn't have internet-connected PCs and a variety of digital apps that they used on a regular basis. The corporate world evolved alongside the modern world due to technological advancements—paving the way for digitization.

When you hear “digitizing a business”, we’re simply talking about using modern technology to improve the already existing processes of running your business—nothing overly complicated.

Leading to better informational flow within the organization, reinventing profitable methods best suited for the company, enhancing the quality of project deliveries, the list goes on.

Why digitize your organization?

While there are many factors at play when companies decide to undergo a digital transformation, there are always a few underlying reasons they all have in common:

1. Minimise expenses: Contrary to popular beliefs that the more tools you invest in, the more capital-intensive your business becomes, companies can actually save a great deal of time and money by implementing certain digital apps, particularly those that leverage AI and machine learning to perform basic tasks automatically—no need for human hands.
2. Drive innovation and efficiency: Many businesses have come up with products that revolutionised their respective fields and offered their clients creative, effective solutions—helping save time, money and valuable resources.
3. Outperform competitors, and claim more market share: Businesses, especially older ones, are quite hesitant about digitization. That doesn’t inspire confidence in clients. But by demonstrating to prospects that you are more open to innovation than your rivals, you will attract more business from them.
4. Anticipate change: Knowing the future is impossible. However, through proper analysis of past events such as market behaviour, or simply exposing yourself to industry materials and experts, you can be able to predict certain upcoming changes, or at least be aware enough to catch certain trends early.

If you can manage to have some idea of upcoming changes, you will be much more prepared to handle them efficiently when they arrive.

Now that you have a general idea of what digitization is and why it’s important, let’s take a look at the different ways you can digitize your business.

In this post, you’ll discover 6 smart ways to digitize your business effectively;

6 Smart Ways to Digitize Your Business

1. Research and Plan

Imagine stumbling around in a dark cave without a flashlight. You wouldn’t be caught dead doing that, right? Same goes for digitizing your business. Before you start clicking and swiping, take a deep breath and figure out what needs fixing.

Are your customers playing hide-and-seek with your products? Are your processes slower than a snail on vacation? Jot down your pain points and how technology can be of help. Planning is key to avoid ending up with a digital disaster—piling up bills for tools, half of which you don’t need.

Check out this post on 10 ways InfoLobby can Transform Your Business in 2024 and Beyond

2. Focus on the User Experience from Start to End

Think of it this way: You wouldn't want to invite someone to your house if the lights were off, the furniture was upside down, and there were home bots roaming around, right?

Let’s take a step closer; If you had a brick-and-mortar store, you wouldn’t want your doors open to a single customer until everything is put in place.

The same goes for your digital space. You want your customers to have a smooth, easy, and enjoyable experience from the moment they land on your website to the moment they check out.

Here's the key: put yourself in their shoes. What kind of tech do they like using? How does it feel using them? What are their biggest pain points? What would make their lives easier? What don’t they like? By understanding their wants and needs, you can create a digital experience that feels more like a theme park than an obstacle course.

Now, you don't have to do this all on your own. Assemble a team of rockstars who understand how to make customers feel like royalty online, because that is what all your customers are looking for.

By prioritizing your customers' comfort and keeping things user-friendly, you're not just making their lives easier, you're building attachment and loyalty that's worth more than any digital treasure.

So, ditch the confusion and embrace the "wow" factor! Your customers will thank you for it (and probably keep coming back for more).

3. Incorporate Cloud-Based Technologies

Imagine all your important stuff – files, data, applications – safely tucked away, accessible from anywhere, anytime, on any device. No more bulky filing cabinets or IT headaches! It's super flexible, scaling up or down as your business needs change. And whenever you undergo such changes, you can easily move things around online and your business processes remain unaltered—perhaps even better.

Talk of cost-effectiveness: When you let go of expensive in-house servers and IT teams, you leave more cash in your pocket for other parts of the business—taking full control of your business.

And in case you’re concerned about security, most cloud databases come with built-in fortresses to keep your data safe from cyber-criminals. With encryptions more secure than if you trusted a human to secure your information.

Now, there are tons of cloud tools out there. Do your research, figure out what fits your needs best, and don't be afraid to ask for help!

InfoLobby is a Lego-like cloud database that helps you run your business processes and manage your company data with ease.

Remember, adopting cloud technologies isn't about being a “tech-oriented business”, it's about making your life easier and your business smoother.

4. Review Customer and Employee Feedback: Embrace Continuous Improvement

Diving into the digital world is exciting, but let's be practical for a second; it can feel like navigating a jungle gym blindfolded.  That's where feedback becomes your trusty sidearm.

Think of it this way: you wouldn't build a playground without asking the kids what they like, right? The same goes for digitizing your business. Both your customers and employees are your ultimate testers.

1. Ask your customers: What confuses them about your product and your business process (if applicable)? What features would make their lives easier? Use their feedback to identify improvements.
2. Ask your team: They're the ones using these new tools every day. Involve them from the start, gather their concerns, and address them head-on.
3. Feedback isn't a one-time thing: You will never be able to satisfy every need—because customers discover newer needs by the day. Create resources like FAQs and troubleshooting guides based on feedback, and keep asking questions along the way.

Remember, embracing feedback isn't just about patching leaky pipes, it's about building a better experience for your customers.

5. Embrace AI and Machine Learning

Think about all the repetitive tasks that bog you down - sorting emails, analyzing data, making recommendations. AI can breeze through them, freeing up your time and brainpower for the fun stuff, like strategizing and innovating.

Additionally, these AI aids can also learn and adapt, just like a good teammate. They can spot trends, predict customer needs, and even make smart decisions—all informed by data. If you do it right, you can almost never go wrong.

6. Stay Informed and Collaborate: Embrace a Culture of Continuous Learning

Digitizing your business is an ongoing process. To stay ahead, you have to:

• Be a knowledge sponge: Soak up trends, tech, and tips from industry experts and organizations.
• Teamwork makes the dream work: Share ideas and skills across departments—It's like having a built-in brain trust!
• Never stop learning: The digital world changes faster than your phone updates. Stay curious and adaptable.

By staying informed, collaborating, and learning proactively, your digitization journey will be a lot less bumpy than everyone else makes it out to be.

Conclusion

Whatever your motivation, be it keeping up with the competition, a desire to automate as much as possible so you can free up time for yourself and your team, diverting attention to more productive activities. Auditing and digitizing your business could be the turning point your business needs.

About InfoLobby

InfoLobby is a cloud-based platform that helps your business cut out information silos and build custom apps to manage your data.

Think of it like a central hub for all your business information, accessible from anywhere and easily transformed into user-friendly apps.

It also allows you to automate tasks, get real-time insights, and integrate with your email

Whether you're a small business owner, an IT Lead, a project manager, or need a CRM solution, InfoLobby helps you save thousands on software subscriptions over time, by enabling you to hit multiple birds with 1 stone—manage and utilize your data the way you want.