7 Ways to Start Your Business Digitization Process in 2022

There are many businesses now that exist online and within the digital age we live in, it’s necessary for most organizations to look into digitalization and bring their company to the modern age. 

Outdated companies that are sticking to their traditions are likely to get left in the dust of newer businesses that can utilize the digital world to their advantage in order to get ahead. Despite this, bricks-and-mortar shops are closing down all over the place, and in-person interactions and experiences will always be needed.

What are the benefits of going digital as a business? How do you do it in the most efficient way possible? In this guide, you’ll understand how to start the digitising process and how it benefits your business to do so in 2022.

What are the benefits of going digital?

Digital transformation has been something that has always been beneficial to have but since the pandemic, it has become critical and pretty much mandatory to do in order to succeed and grow in this modern day.

With the internet and social media dominating the market right now, it's important to look at approaching digitalization as a strategic move for the business. As of 2019, PTC found that at the time 70% of organizations had a digital transformation strategy or were working on one. Here are some of the benefits of going digital.

It’s cost-efficient

Going digital can save your business a lot of money. There’s no need to have certain individuals in place where tasks can be automated and operated digitally. As a result, it can reduce a lot of your operating expenses and builds up a better cash flow as a result.

Even physical business resources can be saved and instead, created digitally.

Provides further expansion

When operating online, your business has an unlimited amount of expansion that perhaps was limited prior to digitalization. It means the potential expansion gained could go beyond the geolocation of the business and could reach those in other places around the world.

Being able to expand your market geographically is a great opportunity for your business.

Great for operations and customer services

Customer experiences are key for a lot of businesses to get right and it’s reliant on the running of your operations. With a digitized business, a lot of roles you can fill remotely and you can even put in place 24/7 customer service support. 

This can be in the form of chatbots and AI technology, which is growing in popularity with businesses. The chatbot eCommerce world, for example, is projected to amount to a staggering $112 billion by 2023.

7 ways to start your business digitization process in 2022

If you’re looking to digitize your business this year, then these tips will surely help you get the ball rolling in the right direction. Here are several ways that you can help successfully digitize your business in 2022.

1. Do your research with this OCR guide by Klippa

A lot of digitalization is achieved through automation. There are a lot of industries that are using a variety of automation technologies to streamline business processes and make them easier. 

OCR for example, is a technology that is being picked up by many industries from banking, to retail and healthcare in order to reduce manual processes with automation. This OCR guide by Klippa is a great starting point for those that are looking to kickstart the digitalization process.

Consider the scope of digitalization that’s needed for your business and do the research in order to get your business off on the right footing.

2. Collect analysis and decide on key areas of focus.

Next, you’ll want to gather up an analysis of what your organization needs when it comes to your company in particular. What key points of focus would the business benefit from when it comes to transitioning to a digital process?

The areas of focus may differ depending on the type of organization it is, the sector you operate in, and the environment. All of this data can help you figure out what parts of your business model needs digitalizing.

This is all helpful so that the money spent on your digital transformation is well spent and not going to waste.

There are plenty of ways that you can gather analysis, whether that’s through focus groups or utilizing the existing data that you have on your customers already through sales, etc.

3. Understand your customers and their needs.

When you understand your customers completely, everything you put out on the market, should, in theory, be embraced fully. It should make converting leads to paying customers a lot more effortless.

For an efficient digitalization process, it’s important to understand who your customers are. In fact, customer-centric companies benefit with 60% more profit than companies that don’t pay attention to their customer’s needs.

Big data can be a great way of understanding the potential pinch points within your business operations and how they could be improved with digitalization. For example, there may be certain processes for onboarding customers, that can be done with more digital efficiency which is perhaps currently being done manually.

Speak to your customers directly. Utilize the forms of communication you have with them whether it’s through email marketing or their own personal social media channels.

4. Look at what your competition is doing.

It’s an overused comment that’s often made when it comes to running a business - look at what your competition is doing.

Observing your competition too much can often be detrimental to your own business because you can become distracted and lose the brand’s identity at the same time. However, if you’re paying attention to what your competitors are doing to digitalize the business, then you can make similar changes that benefit your business too.

Knowing what strengths and weaknesses your competition has in relation to digitalization is great for utilizing it to your own advantage as a company.

Look at who you have as competition and take note of what they’re doing - or not doing - to digitalize their business and further improve their business operations in general. All of which, are beneficial to enhancing your customer’s experience

5. Develop a digital strategy.

Once you’ve got all the information you need when it comes to digitalizing your business, you can then start to develop a digital strategy. This strategy will be made up of all your intentions when it comes to your business model and what relevant changes need to be made in order to achieve further success.

It’s essential that as part of your strategy, you’re creating a digital culture. Not everyone is willing to embrace a new digital working environment so it’s important to help those transition to digital with this in mind.

Having a digital culture is going to help you improve the results of your digital transformation efforts as a business.

6. Use the right software and channels for communication.

In order to achieve the best results, the type of software and tools you use for communication is key. This is to ensure that your organization as a whole is fluid when it comes to communication. This is not just internally with your employees but also externally with your customers.

There are plenty of channels that you can utilize, Zoom being a perfect example. You’ve also got some great platforms used by many businesses for daily communication, including Slack and Trello to name but a few.

The benefits of these platforms are that they’re affordable and accessible to all businesses, making digital transformation a universally achievable goal. Some are the price of a cup of coffee, so certainly worth taking advantage of.

7. Recruit and train up digital talent for future success.

As a business, your digital transformation is only as good as your team. That’s why it’s highly important that you’re looking at your current workforce and figuring out what talent you need to acquire.

There will be current members of your workforce that can be trained up and given their own digital transformation. However, you may find that you need to recruit some new staff members in order to achieve the results you want for your business’ digitalization.

Just like anything in business, investment is important to do and recruitment of new employees is part of that.

Take the first steps to digitize your business in 2022

As a business, it’s important that you’re looking towards the future with digitalization in mind. It’s the future of society as a whole and isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s an integral part of the customer’s experience and it’s something that you certainly need to embrace as you progress through 2022 and beyond.

Author Bio: Natalie Redman (LinkedIn)

Freelance writer for many clients across multiple industries. Natalie has two years of copywriting experience. Natalie has a wide range of experience copywriting for web pages for businesses across many industries. She’s also an owner of two blog websites and a Youtube content creator.