How Digital Is Your Business?

(Photo credit: thms.nl)

We hear a lot about digitising your business, but have you checked to see how ‘digital’ yours is? Does it even really matter for your industry? And what does digital even mean? We have a look at what makes a business digital, including everything from email and using social media to web design.

What being digital means

In a nutshell, the definition of digital is using technology to replace something physical. That can be everything from replacing ‘snail mail’ with email and bank cheques with electronic banking. Different businesses will have different digital needs as well. A plumber is not going to have the digital needs of someone who runs an online shopping site, but that’s not to say that plumber shouldn’t have some form of digitisation to make the running of his business easier in the modern world.

How digital do you need to be?

The answer to this depends on your occupation or the business you are in. The idea of being digital is to make your business more efficient. Choosing the right digital solution can be a key to how it affects your efficiency as well. There are often many options when it comes to choosing something such as a web hosting company, your Internet provider or the financial software your company uses.

It is important not to overdo the digitisation as well. You need to know how to use it and how it can benefit your business. If you have embarked on a digitisation program in a certain aspect of your business because it seems like the right thing to do, then you could end up spending more time than you have making it work. This will then cut into the time you actually spend doing the work that pays the bills and earns you money.

Work out how digital you are

There is a difference to being digital and appearing digital. As mentioned, to be truly digital you need to have replaced something physical with a digital process. These are common ways that digital has replaced physical:

• Email replaces snail mail
• Banking is done online rather than balancing a cheque book
• Facebook is used for marketing rather than more traditional strategies such as letterbox drops
• You have a website that appears very high in Google rankings
• Payroll, accounting and other processes are all done using computer programs
• Logistics and ordering is done via computer programs or online
• Job hiring is done online rather than in newspapers
• You hold conferences via video or have a VoIP telephone system

These are just some of the ways businesses are embracing digital. There are other ways that are unique to different businesses as well, so one digital solution may not work for others.

Social media, the ultimate digital solution

You know you are really getting good at all things digital when social media starts to have a major influence of how you conduct your business – and most importantly how it attracts clients to you. With Facebook being used by more than 550 million people worldwide, businesses are unlocking the potential it offers in terms of attracting sales, conducting marketing and raising awareness of your products or services. Social media simply can’t be ignored as it now constitutes a major part of all major business thinking because the results are speaking for themselves.