Digital transformation – a tool to help businesses grow

Digital transformation can help you reach your customers and save costs

This statistic suggests that businesses may still need to do more to improve a range of business metrics. While the coronavirus pandemic has been a threat for many businesses, others have created opportunities by moving fast and adopting a new business model through digital transformation.

“Digital transformation is the process to adopt and integrate digital technology, and thus transform your business to the next level.”

In fact, digital transformation is not just about technology, but a key part of your business strategy for both external and internal purposes.

During 2020, there have been some great examples of businesses transforming their business model not just to survive but thrive. The hospitality sector, while one of the hardest hit, has also had some great examples of digital transformation to meet customer needs.

With customers staying at home, 2020 has seen a boom in takeaway sales and also producing ‘fine dining’ meals at home, with help from premium restaurants that have transformed their businesses to provide food for ‘at home’ consumption. These restaurants have achieved this by either setting up their own ordering platform on their webpage, or by joining one of the food delivery mobile apps.

In terms of internal operations, successful businesses are exploring options to empower their teams to work remotely anytime and anywhere. At the same time, they need to maintain productivity and be connected in real-time. As such, many businesses are changing their traditional office-based settings through the adoption of cloud computing. One of the best examples is that many businesses have moved their books to a cloud-based accounting system. With this cloud-accounting conversion, businesses can enjoy numerous benefits including:

• Cost savings – the new accounting system allows you to record the bank transactions automatically and therefore the data entry time and its associated administrative costs are drastically reduced.
• Better decision making – books are always up to date; business owners are always on top of the current financial position to make decisions.
• Easy access – allows multiple users to access the file remotely, and the accounting division is not affected in the event of lock down restrictions.
• Peace of mind – all your data is encrypted, with automatic compliance updates and file backups.
• Extra features – there are numerous add-on software that can be integrated with the new accounting system to provide additional value to specific areas such as point-of-sale, project management, inventory, payroll HR, debtor tracking, etc.

Digital transformation is essential to businesses across all industries. With the right digital transformation program in place, you can deliver better value to your customers, gain market share and increase revenue. It can also assist you to streamline your operating processes and your employees become more effective.

To explore digital transformation for your business, contact your local Bentleys advisor.

Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and should not be relied on as advice. It does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. You need to consider your financial situation and needs and seek professional advice before making any decisions based on this information.