Everybody is looking to get their business ready for the next generation of trade. Whether it’s a service, a solid product, or reselling, what people have on their minds is: “how can I optimize this business for the future?” Well, the obvious answer is to add some technology in the mix. If you’re not quite sure how, or what exactly you need to do, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s how you can digitally transform your business and prepare for whatever the 21st century has to offer.
When we talk about technology, people tend to have varying degrees of tolerance. This is especially true of the older generation that learned to keep the books on the actual books. The first thing you need to do is assess how much automation and tech business is willing to put in. If you’re the owner, have a sit down with the major players in your business. Have them fill out a questionnaire and gauge how much they’re willing to entrust in the digital world. This way, you’re not stepping on anyone’s toes.
Make A Website
A website is generally the first thing that people go to when they start digitally adapting. Find yourself a good web designer and have them fill in all the information you want to put out of your potential customers. Be sure to hire a local. If you’re based in England, hire an English company. Better yet, hire as local as you can. There’s no use in hiring someone out in The Philippines to create a website based in Sussex. You find the best web design Sussex has to offer. It just makes sense. They’ll know the landscape, the language, and the attitudes of the region. They’ll be able to apply it directly to the design of the website.
Digital Accountancy
Automate the books. If you’re used to keeping a physical ledger and hiring an accountancy service to transmute the results digitally, jump ahead of that and find an affordable accountancy software you can implement. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to financing programs, but there are often free training videos and worksheets with the purchase of said software. This makes tracking and finding internal discrepancies a lot easier.
Automate Inventory
If you carry inventory, you’re probably getting questions left and right about availability, volume, logistics, etc. Have all that info on a mobile platform and accessible through mobile. We still live in a world that thrives on phone sales. The digital sales funnel may work for digital products, but if you’re selling something like forklift tires, you’ll be on the phone with much more traditional business owners. Having the numbers in front of you at any time puts you at a major advantage.
Transforming your business to adapt to the digital world is not that difficult. You just have to pay attention to the needs of your operation and find a way to automate it, relative to the tolerances of your company. Once you can do that, it will set off a trend that will, at its endpoint, make your business faster, more efficient, and highly adaptable for the years to come.