SMEs Digitalization Journey Needs to Start ASAP
Digitalization is a buzzword that's been on many initiatives by the government and government bodies of late. More and more businesses are exploring digitalization, but with all the hype, must the small and medium companies join the bandwagon and start the digitalization journey for their businesses as well? The answer is capital, YES, and there are no two ways about it.
When the Covid-19 hit the world, and when governments ordered everything to shut down, many businesses were left without access to data. Work from home means nothing if the crucial data is not available to the teams, and managing business becomes harder without vital information. If the pandemic didn't teach us anything, nothing would.
I might be biased on digitalization because I supply various digitalization solutions. But, knowing the impact of digitalization on the operation, I recommend all businesses, big and small, to initiate this process the soonest possible as to not to get left behind. In short, digitalization refers to improving processes by using digital technologies and digitized data to your benefits.
Now, the question is, why and how?
An organization needs to make informed decisions all the time, and nothing beats having the right data available at your disposal for that matter. Digitalization delivers data-driven insights to companies through the right solutions they adopt. For example, how do you know that you need to add more headcount to operation? A sharp and consistent increase in overtime work hours is an alarming occasion you should be aware of. How to manage workforce availability during festive periods? Figure out the leave pattern from the existing data and plan accordingly to ensure smooth operation and maintain employee engagement.
To err is human, digitalization is divine. Humans are prone to errors, but it doesn't mean that humans can't mitigate those errors with the right solutions. Automation reduces errors to the minimum and provides the much-needed accuracy that a business desires. Set your solution(s) to the settings your business needs, and let the system provide you with the outcome of expect. For example, workforce management is a tedious work involving multiple areas such as attendance, leave, payroll, claim, etc. It's only wise for a business to automate tedious processes like clocking time, clocking hours, leave accruals, leave calculations, and focus on more important matters such as staff engagement and development.
Providing all the right digital solutions will empower your staff to engage with the tasks at hand better and more effectively, and release them from the bore of doing manual tasks. However, while many are familiar to navigate with the latest technologies, companies need to pay attention to the older employees who might shy away from learning the new solutions.
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Digitalization is necessary to optimize processes. We can't continue running businesses today using the past decade's strategies. Connectivity and accessibility are the keys to running companies in this century. There are plenty of affordable cloud solutions out there that can assist business workflow, consolidation of applications, making data accessible by the right people, at the right price. Digitalization is no longer exclusive to those bigger players with a big budget and a legion of the IT team.
Businesses need to kick start digital transformation as soon as yesterday. It could be a gradual and slow process, unique for every business, but companies have to start somewhere. Eventually, all businesses should aim to operate digitally in the 21st century because that's the responsible thing to do to stay relevant in this digitized world.
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