Data and digital technology play an ever increasingly important role in our lives. With so many options across such a wide field, it can easily become daunting.
The importance of digital technology for business growth can’t be ignored, but the process of implementing it – digital transformation – is often put off by those without much IT experience. It can be hard to know which of the incredibly wide range of tools available are best suited to your business, and many business leaders are left with choice paralysis.
One thing that puts many people off is the perceived cost of going digital. You see all the different softwares and all of their prices and worry about how much it will cost. But you’re already sitting on a wealth of untapped opportunities as your business is.
What is digital transformation?
Most businesses will already involve some level of IT, even if it’s just a computer and emails for admin. Digital transformation is looking at how you can implement tech across your entire business to grow across the board.
It focuses on three key areas of change that can be made:
- Operational efficiency
- Customer experience
- Growth
Each of these has subcategories that you can delve into further both internally and externally. The core aim, however, is the same as any change to a business: improve growth through reduced costs and increased income.
Three ways you can digitally transform your business without buying in anything new are listed below.
1. Cutting wasted spending
Boosting your business growth isn’t just about finding ways to make more money. The money you’re currently spending may be put to better use elsewhere. It can always help to sit down and assess your current operations for any wasted money, and tech is no different.
As businesses grow, they tend to pick up tech solutions organically. When a problem arises, leaders will look for the best option to solve that particular issue, but often don’t consider overlap with what they already have.
Over time, these legacy softwares build up and could be wasting money. One of the first steps of any digital transformation is creating a list of everything you use, how you use it, and what functions it has that you don’t use.
When you go over these lists and compare, you may find that actually there is overlap between two softwares where one has additional functions that cover the other. In that case, the license you are paying for to get the redundant one is money that you don’t need to spend.
Some softwares may also need updating or upgrading. Sometimes, a solution works well for your business at the start, but you outgrow it. It can be hard to let go of a software you’re comfortable with, but it may just not function anymore.
This list will give you a pretty good idea of what could be cut out of your budget. Removing those redundant and legacy systems will free up time and cash, making your business more efficient. It is worth remembering though, that if you aren’t using the software yourself, get the opinions of the people who do before making any decisions.
On paper it could seem like a waste to use one design software when you’re already paying for something else that can do it. But if you ask the designers, they would tell you that the unused one is poorly built and far harder to use. In this case there is an actual benefit to keeping the one they do use.
2. Improving communications
This can be applied to both internal and external communications. The former will likely help reduce wasted time and prevent mistakes due to lack of information. The latter will inform your marketing growth strategies.
Internal communication
Many businesses only use emails to communicate internally, maybe a messenger service too. There are more options available, however, that allow important information to be passed on automatically.
Again, it may be that solutions you already use come with features that can ease communication. This could be as simple as changing the format that data is communicated. Using a single database or the right type of file could save time on reentering data into different systems.
This could also be as a feature that automatically sends notifications on the completion of certain tasks, so that supervisors don’t have to hunt down information. As an example, an automated system could link finance to sales so that they know when to stop extending credit as soon as a limit is reached, rather than when someone checks and sends an email.
External communication
Customers like to be able to get hold of businesses quickly. Few people want to spend time on hold waiting for a phone operator when they could be getting on with their day. Likewise, no one likes being inundated with marketing emails for a product they’ve already bought.
If you have a website, see if you can add a chat function or even a chat bot to ease communication and filter the lower level requests. Are there any channels you could be using that you aren’t? It may be that a multimedia guide or tutorial could clear up common questions you receive and free up your customer service team for more important issues.
It’s also worth asking if your marketing process could be better optimised. If you have an automated mailing list, can you set different frequencies for customers in different stages? Is it possible to link sales to marketing to build a dynamic marketing process that adapts to an individual’s purchase history?
Marketing is something that has loads of potential for automation. There are plenty of tools for social media marketing out there. There’s even AI writer bots that can produce a usable quality of content for posts or press releases.
3. Using data for business growth
Every business builds up data automatically. If you’re not really using it, you may be sitting on a wealth of growth potential. The process of using data for direct financial benefit is called data monetisation, but this isn’t the only use.
As mentioned earlier, using sales data can help tailor an individual customer’s digital marketing profile, but it can do much more than that. Combining your customer data can help make more accurate consumer profiles for future marketing and can be used to make models. For example, personalised shopping recommendations can be powerful tools for your marketing.
Running a business involves looking to the future and making best guess decisions as to what will change. No one can really predict what’s going to happen, but the Board’s job is to try and take the business forward anyway.
A well built statistical model can take a lot of the guesswork out of the planning. Using all your existing data, you can predict trends and patterns with a high degree of reliability. Using the analysis of your model when planning strategy can reduce risk and highlight opportunities for diversification.
Examples include modelling how your market evolves overtime as your customers get older to see what changes will keep them engaged. Statistical modelling can identify key overlaps or gaps in your market that you could expand into. It can also be used to test how they might react to a change or crisis so you aren’t going in blind.
Another option is to see what partnerships your data can open up. If it’s common for your customers to combine your products with those of another business – such as your accessories for their bikes – then your sales data could reveal a manufacturer that you could make an official partnership with.
Many businesses operate solely off of data too. A search engine’s key asset is its immense database of user data. Not only can it use this to give the best recommendations, but it can work with other businesses. Delivery services are heavily reliant on map data, while advertising firms need data for effective targeting.
If you aren’t currently gathering much data, consider what more information you could keep. Even if you want to keep the data in house, are there ways you can understand your market better? Markets evolve over time, and it’s quite possible that you no longer truly know who you’re selling to.
Worth comes from two things: more efficient spending and making more money. Sitting down and considering the role of digital technology in your business can unlock routes to take for both of these.
Digital transformation doesn’t need you to buy loads of new tech. It can be as simple as being critical about your current operations. Chances are, there are ways you could be using your current tech and data better.
If you want to be more digital, without spending too much, there are plenty of ways to cut down waste and make use of your data right away. All you need to do is understand where you stand and where you want to go.
Author’s Bio: John Courtney is Founder and Chief Executive of Boardroom Advisors which provides part-time Executive Directors (Commercial/Operations/Managing Directors), Non-Executive Directors and paid Mentors to SMEs without either a recruitment fee or a long term contract. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded 7 different businesses over a 40 year period, including a digital marketing agency, corporate finance and management consultancy. He has trained and worked as a strategy consultant, raised funding through Angels, VCs and crowd funding, and exited businesses via MBO, MBI and trade sale. He has been ranked #30 in CityAM’s list of UK Entrepreneurs.
