Digital transformation has to be the buzzword of 2022, but there’s more than just hype behind this tech concept. Many companies have had digital transformation forced upon them in the last few years, but those embracing this new way of working are noticing a real difference – in the quality of their insights, their client interaction and even economies of scale.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the integration of technology across all areas of the business. And there are plenty of benefits to be had from it. Digital transformation doesn’t have to mean multi-million pound spend and an entire overhaul of your production facilities. Any technology integration that you introduce to your business will start to deliver benefits almost instantly.

The benefits of digital transformation

Digital transformation has, in the past, had negative connotations, however, used correctly, it can improve the consistency and speed of your services, it can reduce the pressure on your staff, giving them the opportunity to be more strategic in their approach, and it can help you save money by giving you a clearer view of your business.

So, for those who don’t have millions of pounds to spend, how do you integrate digital transformation within your business and start reaping immediate benefits?

7 Ways to boost your business with digital transformation

  1. Switch to cloud storage. By storing your documents in the cloud, they can be managed more easily. They can be secured, access controlled, accessed when they’re needed, from wherever your staff are based. Permissions can be shared with the click of a button, with no regard for file sizes. If a member of staff moves on, files can be accessed by the organisation and shared with the correct people. You can employ an organisation to manage your cloud storage, keep your files secure, and manage your storage space, deleting redundant files when they’re no longer needed to keep down your data storage costs.
  1. Integrate digital workflows. Digital workflows mean that you can set up a process whereby, if an event takes place, it triggers the next event. So, for example, if someone makes a booking online, they could automatically receive a confirmation email. Then, a reminder before the booking, reducing the number of no-shows and optimising your staff’s time or your company resources. Then, after their visit, a further event could be triggered whereby the customer could be emailed with a feedback request. As it’s so close in time proximity to the event taking place, this is likely to increase the number of feedback responses received, increasing the reliability and response levels of the feedback. This feedback can then be analysed to improve your customer service levels.
  1. Choose a managed print service. By introducing a managed print service to your business, you can improve the efficiency of your printing, use your printing network more effectively and reduce downtime due to offline equipment or out-of-stock resources. These can all be managed centrally, enabling you to reduce the burden on your own admin staff and to benefit from economies of scale.
  1. Use digital communication suites to smooth the transition between working from home and from the office, enabling continuity in the event your staff cannot get into the office. With digital communication suites such as Skype, Zoom, and Google, your teams can collaborate wherever they are, even if they can’t get into the office. From working together on a document or sharing screens in a team meeting, distance no longer has to get in the way of delivering a team result.
  1. Enhance your office access and improve security with digital key cards. Digital key cards and digital access can not only help to improve your office security, but they can also give you valuable insights into the amount of time your employees are actually spending at work. If employees in a particular team are consistently working long hours, it could be that additional headcount is needed to support them to do the job in the time they have. Of course, the opposite is true too – if a team are consistently taking long lunch breaks and leaving work early, maybe there’s an opportunity to redeploy headcount to where it’s needed.
  1. Consider how you can improve your customer service in light of this new technological world – options could include the introduction of cashless payment, online booking systems, reminder notifications and more. These also have the added advantage of ‘securing’ an amount of custom in advance. If you really want to put yourself ‘out there’ and use digital transformation to make a buzz about your business, you can always look for the next step in digital transformation such as voice ordering.
  1. Capitalise on customer insights – there are no end of insights available online. From website analytics to customer metrics and customer behaviour patterns, insights can give you a massive amount of information as to how your customers are behaving, when they make their purchase decision, and what they’ve done beforehand, and after. Which can, in turn, help you to target your marketing more effectively and even change your customer sales process to boost your conversion rates. With more insights, the world is quite literally your oyster.

So, digital transformation doesn’t need to cost the earth and could help you do your bit in saving it, by reducing waste and energy use. For more information about how ASL can help you to introduce digital transformation to your business, chat with us here Contact Us: ASL-Group.