In today’s highly competitive and fast-paced operating environment, running an efficient, cost-effective and productive digital business is essential. The name of the game now is managing not only finances (which is vastly different in this digital era of ours), but also business intelligence and big data, and leveraging your digital prowess and development to be pioneers of digital disruption in the industry that you are in.
You will find on this article:
- Digital business: Blurring the lines between binary and reality
- Delivering value through digital business
- Maximizing the potential of a digital business
Digital business: Blurring the lines between binary and reality
Digital business is at the forefront of enabling a better and smoother convergence of resources, people, and organizations both in the digital and real worlds. It’s important to make the distinction between the now-ancient term “e-business”, in the sense that digital business incorporates a lot of factors and creates a harmony of existence that affects, again, both the real and digital realms. This convergence is what essentially defines digital business.
On a macro scale, digital business is a boon to every industry, in the sense that it fosters more competitiveness, which in turn spurs creativity and development in terms of products and/or services; product and/or service providers get to step up their game and tap new opportunities, while customers and consumers enjoy the benefits of these new developments. On a smaller scale, the impact of digital business is more nuanced, but nonetheless still very much positive. Equipped with the right tools, the right mindset, and the right strategy, digital business is the key to every organization’s capability to remain relevant and ability to meet the challenges of the current market and operating environment. Moreover, digital business means that decisions are more informed, and operations utilize technology to become more efficient, leading to better management of resources — manpower included, enabling the latter to also live their own lives and obtain a good work-life balance. Digital business, done right, sets the stage for a win-win scenario the benefits all the parties involved.
Delivering value through digital business
Speaking of win-win, one of the primary beneficiaries of the value of digital business are customers. And that’s important. Customers today wield much more power and can (and do!) exert much more influence over the way companies develop products and services. The access to data and information have made customers much more discerning, and much more in-tune with what they like — and what they don’t like. Digital disruption has caused drastic changes in the way consumers and customers behave, making it an even bigger challenge for brands and companies to hold on to customers and generate brand loyalty and advocacy. Customers now want an “experience” when availing of products and services, and want brands to reflect their own personal ethos.
Through the years, customer reviews have trumped professional “opinions” in terms of swaying other potential consumers to go one direction or another. Savvy businesses utilize digital technologies to give customers what they want, so these customers in turn, make their might known through the revenue they bring in.
Digital business also means a drive towards innovation. Besides customer input, there is a lot of data and technology that makes operations more efficient. More efficient operations mean that the manpower has more time and energy to devote to innovation and creative problem solving. They will be able to take a closer look at the current state of affairs, and determine any points of improvement. Same thing with the customer journey — decision-makers and leaders will be able to see where enhancements can be made, increasing the value generation for both the consumers and the organization.
At this point, it’s important to note that companies need to have the right talent to make these changes and adjustments, but the good thing about running a digital business is that not only it does attract top talent, but it also ensures that talent is retained. In turn, retaining talent means that the knowledge and training within that organization is honed and utilized resulting in even further opportunities for innovation and the evolution of the business. In a digital business, help stakeholders have much better opportunities to cooperate, collaborate, and communicate. The testing phases for products and services will also be better and longer, which means that employees working on a particular task have much more tools at their disposal, thus enabling them to deliver the best possible output. All this results in a significant boost not only in productivity, product and service quality, and customer satisfaction, but also in employee morale. And morale is important — studies have shown that a significant percentage of the workforce would be more inclined to leave if the workplace had poor technology.
When it comes to cost management, digital businesses also have the edge. Research shows that digitizing processes that are information-intensive can reduce costs by as much as 90%, with the turnaround times also seeing a significant boost. That means investing in digital business tools and technologies have significant potential to reduce operating expenses and enhancing cost management initiatives in a meaningful way without compromising the quality of deliverables. Processes are shortened, simplified and more efficient with quality even having the potential to improve and become more standardized, while at the same time reducing the costs involved in making it happen. Even waste is lessened and various operations can also be done and completed much faster while utilizing less resources.
Take the application of artificial intelligence in the insurance industry. Certain providers utilize the technology in making insurance assessment automated, which means that providers can afford to offer lower rates to consumers because operations are much more cost-effective, making it a win-win scenario. The automation aspect also works to attract more customers and keeping them more satisfied, since the whole process is much faster and much more reliable and standardized (as opposed to the traditional insurance assessment process).
This kind of impact that a digital business model underscores the importance of technology in doing business. This is why a move to a digital business model means that the company is much more likely to not only survive, but remain profitable in the long run. Especially in a highly competitive market, the bigger the bottom line, the better.
It’s a recurring theme of the digital business to see things come to full circle. A digital business, done correctly is self-evolving and creates the means for that business to continue to grow and develop and be a significant presence in the industry and in the market it operates in. A digital business reduces unnecessary complexities in the way it operates, and lessens the time for the organization to create value for itself. This focus on increasing and improving business outcomes and customer successes help brands and organizations move forward from the traditional mindset and way of doing things, pushing them to continuously transform themselves.
Maximizing the potential of a digital business
The way a successful digital business is built means that the organization is in a much better position to utilize the best tools for the job, thus in turn maximizing its inherent potential. Managers and leaders in a digital business are more well-equipped to recognize already available tools to help everyone do their job better and more efficiently. One of these tools is Runrun.it’s Smart Time Tracking system, which goes well beyond the traditional timekeeping tool. It allows for better time management and time tracking, capable of providing data on things like how much time is being spent on a particular task, or how much time on average a certain kind of project takes. Used in tandem with Runrun.it’s Dashboard tool, which provides even more access to all sorts of operational data in real-time, managers and leaders are empowered to make more informed strategic decisions for their organizations and teams, prevent possible mistakes in the future, and know where and when to step in to make improvements. These tools and more are key to maximizing the potential of a digital business. To see how Runrun.it’s suite of innovative tools can help your workplace and operations, check out the free trial here.
