How to improve your business processes

Many businesses are struggling with how to tackle the never-ending challenge of increasing efficiency in the way that they do things, and therefore reducing costs. Whether it is capturing customer information, scheduling resources, or passing data from one business department to another, businesses are stuck in a rut doing things the way they have always been doing them.

Though we are living in a digital age, many businesses have not yet taken action to plan their “digital transformation”. Many business owners may even wonder why it is necessary, since Excel has been working for them for decades.

What are the possible benefits of a digital transformation?

The digital transformation of your business processes could offer a great detail of benefits, particularly in increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

Here are some examples:

Improved Customer Relationship Management

Capturing the data about your customer is vital to all touchpoints you have with that customer. This is not just about their contact details but also their engagement with your business. Knowing how a customer engages with you provides insight into what is important to this customer so that you can use that knowledge in your outreach to encourage ongoing engagement.

Increased Productivity

Data management is vital to all businesses, small and large. Whether you use Google Apps or SAP to manage the storage and sharing of your information, the approach must be well thought out and maintained. Having a good data model and digital tools (custom web applications or softwares)  in place ensures that your team has what they need to do their work at any given time. Their jobs are made easier and they are able to do more with their time.

Reduced Costs

The time spent on operational processes and the costs that result from human errors are greatly reduced by the automation of tasks and the appropriate management of information. Your business can run on cruise control, saving costs on unnecessary resources or redundant tools. You can now divert your investments from day-to-day tasks and putting out fires, to strategies to grow your business further.

Increased Customer Loyalty

Maintaining digitized information makes it possible for clients to have real-time information available to them. Whether it is via your customer-facing team, or whether it is direct access online, this is a valuable advantage you offer your clients. With this clear differentiator in your market, you promote loyalty from your customers.

Why Digital Transformation is Important

“Digital transformation” is the trending term to describe the upgrading of your business processes to use technology to increase efficiency and reduce longer-term costs. This means that you would no longer capture information about your customers or resources in an Excel spreadsheet, and then send it to various other business departments to use for their operations or payroll. All departments will rather have access to a centralized database of this information, presented to them in a manner that is useful for their specific needs.

The investment needed for your digital transformation is an investment for immediate return in efficiency, and longer term return in cost reduction.

Where to Start in Assessing Your Processes

This may seem like a daunting task, but it does not need to be. In most cases, there are simple, practical and logical steps that can be identified and digitized.

Start by asking yourself and your team a few questions:

How do you capture information?

• How is information currently captured? Do you have a lot of paper forms that are used?
• If paper is used, is that information then made digital somehow, by entering it into a spreadsheet or software?
• Do you have multiple spreadsheets or softwares that store information?
• If so, does any of the information overlap? Should some of the information be combined to give you a better understanding of what it means from a higher business level?

If you have answered “yes” to any of the questions above, it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

How many people need access to that information?

• Do you have information captured by one department for a purpose and then transferred to one or more other departments for other purposes?
• How is this information passed on? Are there separate files, physical or digital, that are passed on?
• Do you find that there are mistakes or gaps in information as it is shared amongst the departments?
• Is time wasted on information being passed back and forth between departments?

If in asking these questions you discover that there is time wasted or mistakes occurring, it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

How do you manage which people see/access which information?

• Do you have information that should be shared with departments or particular team members?
• Do you have information that is available to team members but you prefer that it would not be?
• How do you manage what is shared and what is not? 
• How do you manage what is editable and what is not?

If answers to the above do not come easily,  it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

Find Out Why Your Data Model Is Important to a Digital Agency

How to Get Started

The review of your business processes and current technological ecosystem is referred to as a “Technical Discovery”. If you are interested in finding out where your business has opportunities to reduce operational costs or increase efficiencies, find out more about starting your Technical Discovery.

Start focusing on your business strategies rather than spending your time in your business.