Document digitization, accounting digitization, company digitization. What's next - digitising passenger transport?! Jokes about teleportation aside - although we hear about digitisation and digital transformation from all sides today and every day, this does not mean that these are just mindless trends. Let's think about what their potential is for your business.
Are you a so-called techno-optimist, or are you more of a skeptic, and do new technologies inspire resistance in you? In every human epoch we can find supporters of both approaches - however, it is true that we cannot stop progress, and whoever wants to be with the wolves must howl with them. What do we mean by that? Either you jump on the digital express while you still have time, or you miss it once and for all. Although in this context, it may well be that "you'll be run over" would be more apt.
After all - think back to the early 1990s and the first advent of computers with T602 word processors and analogue VGA monitors that made your eyes water after a minute of watching them. Think back to a decade later, when company computers began to connect to the Internet and amateur Wi-Fi networks were being built in regional towns with antennas made from Kostelec sausage cans. It's not that long ago, and yet we can hardly imagine how we would function today without digital technology and the Internet - in our professional and personal lives.
Now, on the other hand, try to imagine something - perhaps ten or fifteen years from now. How will we look back to the past, to our current present? Paper invoices? Laughable - we might as well use slate spreadsheets for writing. Live customer support operators? Survival - who would pay them for that? Offline apps? Blasphemy, everything runs in the cloud! Of course, we're exaggerating - this ultra-digital age may not come in fifteen years, but in five. Who knows? But what is certain is that it will come sooner or later. How do we get in?
→ Tip: You might be interested to know where business automation can help you.
Digitization and digital transformation are buzz words that we seem to trip over at every virtual turn. But in many texts, their meaning is misinterpreted or confused - as is the case with words and expressions that people don't understand, but talk about a lot. So what is it and what does what mean?
We assume that you have completed the first phase of digitisation, i.e. you are using computers, email and the internet (otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this). The next step is to start using technology in a way that saves you time, expense and effort. What do we mean by that? For a company's digitalisation to be all-round beneficial, it should be comprehensive and well thought out. This seems obvious, but it's not. Take a look at an intimidating example:
Digitising public administration and e-government sound great in themselves. Who wouldn't want to conveniently handle all communication with authorities and state institutions via mobile phone or computer. Unfortunately, we are a long way from such a time - look at such things as submitting tax returns via a data box. From the user's point of view, this does not work completely correctly, but paradoxically it has made even more work for the authorities themselves. Why?
Government systems are still unable to read tax returns submitted in this way, so officials have had to resort to digitising documents or in most cases just manually transcribing them - so the change is not comprehensive. In addition, many people were unable to submit their returns in the correct format or experienced technical problems. This again added extra work for the officials who had to explain everything, wasting a lot of time. So the change was not even thought through (let alone thoroughly). The intention was good, the implementation was poor - don't digitise a company like that.
→ Tip: Read how digitizing your company can cut costs by up to a third.
As we've already hinted - first think carefully about what to digitize and what form of company digitization makes sense for you. And above all, whether the result of the digitisation process will add work rather than save you work. Of course, you need to look at the whole process in terms of return on investment and consider whether it makes economic sense.
What areas can you focus on?
As we explained above, this is all about digital upgrades from a business perspective. Adapting new digital technologies and implementing innovative tools can bring you many benefits, from improved efficiency to increased competitiveness. According to research by McKinsey & Co., companies implementing digital transformation are 2.5 times more likely to achieve their goals and improve financial results.
But let's not just look at the world through rose-tinted glasses, digital transformation also involves risks:
Digital transformation is a comprehensive investment in your company's future. As much as the last paragraph above may have seduced you, risks are there to be managed and minimized. When it comes to cybersecurity and potential data misuse, we will be happy to analyze your security posture, suggest security measures, provide the necessary products and monitor the security of your computer networks and your data. Contact us - we are partners of Sophos and ESET, providing service and implementation of their products.
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