Comprehensive Guide On How to Digitize Your Business
Businesses across the world, big and small, have come to realize the benefits of going digital. Businesses in India are not far behind, especially due to favourable policies from the government in the form of programs like Digital India. Before you look for answers for how to digitize your business in 2022, you need to understand what it means to digitize businesses. Digitalization of businesses and the adoption of the latest innovations open the door to innumerable possibilities and opportunities for businesses. It not only helps them save time, money, and resources but also helps them execute their strategies to perfection. All of these factors contribute to the increase in productivity and profitability of businesses over time.
Digitization, Digitalization, and Digital Transformation
We often come across terms like "digitization" and "digitalization" being used interchangeably. Digitalization and digital transformation are also often confused for each other, as they are similar in meaning. However, although similar-sounding, these three terms bear different meanings.
Digitization refers to the conversion of non-digital data into digital data. This data can include all the information a business needs, depending on its nature. Hospitals need to digitize patient records, banks need to digitize the data about their customers and their respective finances, and so on. Digitization reduces or eliminates the need for manual handling or processing of data. Digitization of data is the first step towards the digitalization of various business processes and operations.
Digitalization is the process of using digitized data to automate different processes. Digitalization makes it easy for businesses to manage their resources smoothly. It is useful for streamlining all processes and ensuring uninterrupted workflow. Digitalization uses the available technological solutions to help businesses achieve certain goals, such as omnichannel customer service and business growth. Easy and more accessible digitization has caused many start-ups to erupt all across the globe.
Digital Transformation refers to the use of digitization, digitalization, and innovative solutions to transform and accelerate business activities for achieving the desired result. Unlike digitization and digitalization, which are the means to an end, digital transformation is the goal that businesses aspire to achieve.
The Benefits of Digitalization
Businesses are adopting digitalization for the large number of benefits it provides. Digitalization helps businesses unify, segregate, and process data. This is of utmost importance as the processed data lends the crucial analytical support that businesses need in order to come up with better strategies. Most software solutions are developed in such a way that they can be easily integrated into the existing setup and can be added to it as an upgrade. This easy integration of solutions goes a long way in streamlining the processes, thereby enhancing business productivity. The biggest advantage of digitalization, however, lies in the speed and effectiveness with which businesses can connect with their customers and deliver solutions.
Operational Advantages of Digitization
The biggest operational advantage of digitalization for businesses lies in streamlining. However, streamlining as a term implies a lot more than meets the eye. Streamlining is the result of a long, tedious process, which is made easier through digitalization.
Streamlining begins right from the initial digitization. Digitization of data ensures that there is scope for improvement in the long run.
Digitalization provides great flexibility to businesses as employees can work remotely. This freedom to access the data and operate from anywhere proves to be highly fruitful, especially in 2022, when people are forced to work from home because of the global pandemic.
Digitalization, along with smart software solutions, ensures broader and faster communication within an enterprise. Well-established communication channels and uninterrupted knowledge sharing among the different departments of an enterprise are required to operate at its productive best.
Transparency is an important determinant of the success or failure of a business. Digital solutions ensure maximum transparency and leave no room for discrepancies in the processes.
The analytics and detailed performance reports that are made possible with the help of digitalization are essential for data-driven decision-making. It helps businesses analyze the latest trends, performance, and responses of their customers and come up with strategies that are more likely to be fruitful.
Analytics also helps businesses assess the performance of individual members of their team and helps them improve.
Digitization for Enhanced Customer Service
The biggest benefit of digitalization for businesses lies in the improved services they are able to offer their customers. Digitalization, with the help of analytics and real-time reports, helps businesses understand their customers better. Moreover, several software solutions enable businesses and call centres to record, monitor, track, and route calls. The call-related data gathered through call management software solutions help businesses improve their services by a huge margin. Moreover, the digitization of data helps businesses gain a better understanding of their customers and come up with more effective plans to serve them.
The digitization of data and data analytics help businesses segment their customers on the basis of demographics. They can better understand how the behavior and demands of customers vary with gender, age, location, and so on. This data is crucial as it can be used to come up with customer service solutions that are more personalized and, in turn, more effective.
A digital medium is a great place for businesses to increase sales. By understanding their digital customer base and analyzing their behavior, businesses are able to come up with improved predictive marketing strategies. It is easy for them to advertise, sell, and handle customer grievances on the same platform(s). Moreover, the digitization of data makes it easier for them to trace the journey of their customers. It is easy to maintain records of their purchase history, complaints, refunds, and concessions, among other things. This streamlines the entire customer service process and ensures a hassle-free experience for the customers.
Speaking of customer experience, the omnichannel presence of businesses has helped them gain more popularity. Omnichannel customer service ensures that businesses are available to their customers on all possible channels preferred by them in general. This includes SMS, e-mails, social media, mobile apps, websites, e-commerce sites, phone services, and the good old physical stores. Irrespective of the point of contact a customer chooses, businesses with an omnichannel presence can retrieve the customer records previously collected from different channels and are able to ensure customer satisfaction without much effort.
Lastly, one of the best ways of ensuring excellent customer service is by enabling customers to serve themselves whenever possible. IVR solutions are an ideal choice as they come up with customizable multilevel menus and submenus to help customers resolve their issues. In more complicated issues, IVRs route the phone call to the most appropriate agent using the skill-based routing feature. Similarly, IVR bots and chatbots assist customers whenever possible. All of these solutions not only help businesses serve their customers better but also enable them to be more productive. It is because they are no longer burdened with entertaining trivial problems and can direct their finite resources towards more pressing issues.
How to take your business online?
Now that we have covered the innumerable benefits of digitalizing business operations, we must learn about the things to keep in mind while embarking on the journey of digitalization of business. With a large number of resources, information, and opinions readily available, things can appear challenging to anyone looking for simple answers. However, there are certain crucial factors that need special attention as they determine how beneficial your digital journey is going to be. These include:
Set Realistic Goals
The first and foremost thing you should do before digitalizing your business is to assess your current circumstances and ask yourself what expectations you have from it. Before finding answers for how to digitize your business in 2022, you should ask yourself why you want to go digital in the first place. Just like any other activity, digitalization also comes with its own set of challenges and aiming to achieve unrealistic results within a short time usually turns out to be a recipe for disaster. While digitalizing your business sounds easy, it is not as easy as it sounds. It will take time before you see results. Therefore, it is crucial that you set realistic and achievable goals, at least for the first few months after going digital.
Build the Right Strategy
Building an online presence takes a good amount of strategizing. You will have to start by allocating resources to various channels. Making your business visible online is just as resource-intensive and challenging as building a physical store. You need to plan everything well in advance, allocate a budget, digitize all the data, and also decide on a timeline for doing the same. Start by allocating resources and making sure that your employees are able to adapt to these new changes. You may want to help them enhance their skills to make them more tech-savvy.
Build an Omnichannel Presence
Since you have decided to go online, you must zero in on the channels you want to build a presence on. A good starting point is to analyze the channels preferred by your customers and act accordingly. Some of the most preferred channels include telephony, emails, websites, mobile apps, e-commerce stores, and various social media platforms. An omnichannel presence is necessary as it not only helps you serve your customers by handling their grievances but also helps you with image building. It allows you to connect better with your customers and helps you ensure long-term profitability.
Focus on Visibility
The only way digitalization will make your business more productive is by making it more visible. However, you will find that the digital market is just as saturated with competition as the offline market. This means that you will have to take strategic measures to gain more visibility. For this, you will have to come up with a combination of advertisements, social media marketing, and unique ideas. You will also need to focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to rank higher in search engine results. All of these measures will help you strengthen brand visibility over a period of time, depending on how aggressive you are with your approach.
Invest in the right tools
Digitalization is not possible without the right software solutions. As businesses grow, business owners are required to scale up and increase the working staff as well as expand the infrastructure to accommodate the same. However, by automating certain processes and investing in smart software solutions, they can save time, money, and resources. Call center software solutions can be both on-premise and hosted and can help businesses work more efficiently. Software solutions such as IVR solutions, ticket management systems, billing software solutions, PBX systems, etc. can help businesses run their operations seamlessly. All of these solutions can be customized to meet business-specific requirements.
Enterprise Resource Planning for Digitalization: Benefits of Digitalizing Business with ERP
Simply put, enterprise resource planning entails the dextrous planning of the available resources in order to get the maximum use out of them. It has several important components, namely, human resources, customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), inventory management, business intelligence, and financial management. ERP software solutions such as VedaERP find use in various industries such as advertising, media, retail, banking & insurance, education, consulting, healthcare, IT, manufacturing, hospitality, logistics, and many more. Are you are looking for an answer for how to take your business online? If yes, then VedaERP is the best software solution to help you in your digital journey.
ERP solutions are of great value to businesses that are looking forward to digitalization. ERP solutions act as a one-stop-shop for resource planning. They can handle a myriad of functions with an easy-to-use software solution. E-invoices, lead management, project management, accounting, and CRM are only some of the things that ERP software can handle effortlessly.
The VedaERP Advantage: What makes VedaERP the Best Software for Going Digital?
VedaERP is the perfect software solution for streamlining. Easy streamlining is one the biggest benefits of digitalizing business operations. You don't have to manage multiple software programs because you can perform all of your activities with just one. It also features an extensive integration portal that includes Facebook, IndiaMart, JustDial, TradeIndia, WhatsApp, SMS, and e-mail, making it the most reliable accounting, inventory management, lead management, and CRM solution available. It will help in the integration of your back-end accounting processes with a comprehensive inventory management system, improving operational efficiency and providing your company with a competitive advantage.
Lead Management
VedaERP is an ideal lead management software that can assist you in identifying quality leads from a large pool of leads. It will also assist you in calculating the return on investment from your digital campaign. With the help of the lead dashboard, users can assign and schedule leads, track teams, create new leads, and access call logs.
CTI Integration
VedaERP enables computer telephony integration and helps you manage your customers better. It helps you improve customer service, increases productivity, tracks results, saves time, and improves customer satisfaction, among other things.
Filing of GST Returns
VedaERP also allows you to file your GST return in a matter of minutes. It is the best accounting software in India that makes GST return filing a hassle-free process.
Project Management
Project planning, scheduling, resource allocation, and change management are all made easier with VedaERP. It can be used as an administration system that lets the project manager, stakeholders, and users regulate expenses and manage budgets, as well as quality management and documentation. Using the project management feature allows managers to create projects, assign tasks, add updates, track progress and time spent on the task, and much more. The dedicated dashboard for projects makes managing projects a breeze.
Telephony integration
Users can make calls with a simple click and also hide their phone number and e-mail ID at the same time.
Contract Management
The contract management feature allows users to create monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and annual contracts. Other features include contract reminders through SMS and email, upcoming contract reminders, and auto invoicing. A dedicated dashboard for expired contracts allows you to access any information about the old contracts if required.
Leave management
VedaERP makes managing your team an easy task with features such as week-off rosters, and leave approvals and rejections. Employees can also apply for leaves using mobile apps.
Reminders
With VedaERP, you can set reminders for payments, meetings, follow-ups, projects, and even birthdays! You can also create customized reminders.
User-friendly interface
Using VedaERP is easy, thanks to an interactive dashboard and mobile app support. It allows users to manage multiple accounts. It supports unlimited users and is the best one-stop solution for managing sales, purchases, voucher entries, exporting data for tally, creating challans, inventory management, ledger reports, group summary, P&L statements, trial balance, balance sheets, invoice reports, and more. Users can easily export all the data to Excel.
Benefits of Digitalizing Business with SAN Softwares
SAN Softwares, a leading software development company in India, has been providing the best software solutions to several industries. We provide customizable software solutions that are reliable and help make digitalization a pleasant experience for business owners. We provide customizable software solutions, depending upon the nature of your business and its requirements. VedaERP is a flexible and adaptable software solution that is easy to install and use, and can be integrated with the existing telephony setup via the CTI integration. It is a one-time investment that helps businesses digitalize themselves and exceed customer expectations. These are only some of the benefits of digitalizing business operations with VedaERP. Our multi-featured solutions are efficient and cost-effective and streamline business operations, thereby allowing businesses to be more productive and profitable.
