What does digitizing your business really mean? Digitizing your business is the process of using technology to Put your data into virtual forms (in a computer database). While that might sound simple enough, the end result provides a host of benefits, which only become more important as your business grows. These benefits include:
Automation of Calculations & Redundant Processes
Tedious redundant calculations are automated, along with redundant processes such as checking for expired documents and notifying customers or team members on expirations can all be done via your software, saving valuable team time.
Management Systems Automation
The management systems of your company, along with your audit processes can be automated towards a more standardized organization. These would include, but. aren’t limited to:
- Audit Trailing
- Data Backups
- Data Security
- Access Control
- Document Change Logs
- etc.
Reporting
Automated generation of reports. reports that usually take days or weeks to be created can be generated within seconds or minutes by your software system. Further to this, the dataset can be filtered, sorted, and adjusted by the click of a button.
Live Reporting. Along with the automatic generation of reports, all of your generated reports are usually updated live, providing quick data to make decisions.
Scalability & Framework
Having a software system that automates a large amount of the work of your company saves time and reduces the manpower needed to scale your business to serve more customers. Further, the processes and systems built into the software provide a framework that serves as guidance for new team members. Management Systems automation also further simplifies scalability and reduces the need for several roles such as internal auditor, QA manager, etc. in a growing business.
Access Control
Your software system can provide digitally controlled access control mechanisms allowing configuring which level of employees get access to what information and specifying what actions each employee level can perform. This system also generally provides granular access control allowing you to specify that an employee can view and create a certain type of record, but cannot update or delete the said record.
Remote Work
Cloud-based software systems can control access to your data, allow senior leaders and other team members to work, or provide approvals even when they’re out of the office for meetings, conferences, etc.
When team members are not well, they can also be provided access to work from home.
Personal Benefits
With all of the benefits above, they aggregate into what might be the most important benefit of a software system – personal benefits to senior management and business owners. There is peace of mind knowing that all of your management systems are structured in your software and that audit trails are all automatically captured. Having reports at your fingertips provide you with the information you need when you need it to get a full oversight of everything happening in your business. Through automation, your software can also save you time and energy, which you can redirect to other, more important areas of life. The time that software saves all team members, the scalability aspect, and the software taking up certain responsibilities, allow your team more time to provide higher quality customer support. These savings that software provides also saves your business money, and these savings would only increase in the long term as your business scales.
How to choose a Software Consultant/Consultancy to work with?
Software projects are generally challenging to execute correctly and to ensure your software project is successful, it requires a host of skills from your consultant or software agency. When considering a consultant, ensure that the consultant covers all of the areas highlighted in the article below.
Cost of a Bad Consultant
A bad software consultant may not necessarily be someone or a team that is looking for failed projects, but rather, a company that does not know or does not have the full skill set needed for a successful software project. One of the biggest points at which software projects fail is at adoptions of the software by your business – this might be caused by the User Interface of the software, the workflow of the software, the Trainers that are teaching your team to use the software, or even the method of training.
If any of the phases of software development is unsuccessful, this can result in software that is not useful to your company, one that is useful, but only partially adopted, or one not adopted at all. Ensure that all areas are covered in your contract and project deliverables document, and enjoy the massive benefits that custom software applications can provide to your company.
