It is an undeniable fact that technology has changed the way that we live, work, and play. If you run a business, you know firsthand how important technology is to your customers, vendors, and employees. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to develop a digital transformation strategy for your business.
Developing a digital transformation strategy may sound overwhelming but working with a trusted business adviser can help you design and implement processes that work for you. Implementing automated business strategies can also help free up your time so you can focus on what’s important—helping your customers.
Get started with three easy steps.
Assess your processes
The first step in implementing a digital transformation strategy is to assess your processes. For example, how do you manage your business finances? Are they managed in-house, outsourced, or DIY? Do you use an accounting system? If so, which one? Determine if your accounting system meets your current needs and is scalable. Does it integrate with other functions such as payroll, tax planning, and business planning platforms?
Another major area to assess is your customer relationship management system. Are you using a manual process or your email provider to capture the data? If so, it may be time to upgrade to a cloud-based platform such as Hubspot or Salesforce. These solutions allow you to not only capture customer contact data but incorporate email marketing and sales solutions. By developing a fully integrated customer contact system, you’ll streamline your CRM and stay in front of your most promising prospects and customers.
Measure your growth
Business owners can become easily distracted due to the many demands for your attention. However, the importance of measuring your growth cannot be overlooked or overstated since it increases the probability of business success.
Cloud-based solutions like QuickBooks online help you stay on top of your financial metrics. Are sales trending up or down? Why are my expenses increasing and what can I do to streamline or reduce them? This information will appear on your dashboard. From there you can do a deep dive to find answers to these questions.A comprehensive CRM solution will enable you to run reports on ad spending, website traffic, prospect emails opened, and deals in your pipeline. These analytics will empower you to make informed decisions on where to deploy valuable marketing dollars to obtain the best return on investment.
Monitor your progress
As a business owner, the buck stops with you. Once you’ve incorporated new tech-enabled processes into your business, it’s critical that you monitor their performance. How much time and money are these new processes saving you? How do these increases in productivity lead to new revenue? And how can you continue to scale? What other processes can you transform? There are several business planning solutions, such as LivePlan and Adaptive Insights, that can deliver metrics and key performance indicators to keep you on top of your growth.