Be Digitally Ready or You Might Go Out of Business
Apologies if the title of this article sounds like a threat. Rest assured, it’s not a threat but simply a bit of friendly advice because we care for you.
Firstly, let’s understand what digitally ready means with a few examples.
Back in the day, passengers had to wave at a taxi, now they can use an app on their smartphone. University applications required a pen and paper before, but now, students can apply for multiple courses by clicking a few links and filling in information online. And how can we forget the food industry? Nowadays, you can choose what toppings and sauces you want on your pizza by pressing buttons.
Well, hopefully, these examples have made the concept of ‘digitally ready’ clear. A lot of industries have transformed their business models to keep up with changing times. And a lot of them that didn’t were left behind.
In this article, we will discuss how the digital transformation process can ensure that your business thrives and keeps up with the demands of modern-day customers - the ones who don’t like using pen and paper, the ones who want an app for everything, and the ones who would rather use their home Wi-Fi rather than visit a physical office.
What Is the Digital Transformation Process?
Simply put, the digital transformation process is the first step you need to take to make your business digitally ready. Now, the tasks that your digital transformation project includes depends on your end goal. Again, things are clearer when explained with an example, so here we go.
Here are some examples of what the objectives of your digital transformation projects could look like:
- Create an online portal to enable students to apply for different courses online and check their application status
- Leverage digitalization to help ex-patients keep track of their health
- Enable self-checkout to increase checkout speed at the counter and improve customer experience
- Create an e-commerce system to sell products in case another lockdown occurs
Every digital transformation project is different. However, the goal of all these projects is very similar: to use the latest technology in order to make the business digitally ready.
Why Is It Crucial
The pandemic has taught us how important digitalization is for the survival of a business. The businesses that already used digital systems to run daily operations had the capability to continue running smoothly, while traditional businesses suffered.
But that’s not it. There are some other reasons why digitalization is so important in this day and age:
Scalability:
Digitalized businesses are easier to scale and sustain. Only having physical locations for business can restrict your sales to that particular area. Leveraging digitalization helps you increase your reach and scale the business.Customer experience:
There’s a whole generation of new customers who prefer new methods of making a purchase. Whether it’s contactless cards, AI-based shopping, or M-Wallets, you should understand how your customers want to buy your products and empower them to do so using the necessary digitalization processes.Better data:
“Data is king.” You have probably heard this before, and it’s still true. Digitalization allows you to collect heaps of data and analyze it. This enables you to understand your customers as well as your business better. Don’t underestimate the power of data. You need to know exactly what the heck is going on in your business to make the right decisions. And data collection through digitalization helps you do that.Why Businesses Should Hire Digitalization Strategy Consultants
There’s no doubt that you understand your own business and customers better than an external consultant. However, that’s not enough to implement the right digital strategy. A digitalization strategy consultant can examine your business and recommend what digital transformation approach you need to take to achieve your business goals and keep up with the latest trends in your industry. And if you already know what digital steps you need to take, a consultant can validate your choice and help you implement your chosen digital transformation process, for example, allowing users to customize their product on the company’s e-commerce website or enabling two-factor authentication during login.
Now, it’s true that consultants come with a price. But it’s highly likely to be a one-time investment. The main idea here is to future-proof your business. That’s why investing in digitalization is not only useful, but it’s kind of a mandatory expense that will ensure that your business stays in business.
Where to Find
If you have decided to crank it up a notch and use digitalization to improve your business, the next step will be to find the right digitalization strategy consultant. But finding consultants is not as easy as finding full-time employees. You can either hire freelance consultants or go for big consultancies. Both are good options, however, if you’re going for big consulting firms, bear in mind that the expenditure could be way higher and your control over the situation might be slightly lower. This is the reason why many small to medium-sized businesses go for freelance consultants.
Digital Consultant Platforms
So, how to find freelance digital consultants then? Well, you cannot post an ad on a job search platform and expect a top freelance consultant to find your ad. Thanks to digital consultant platforms, businesses can now find ‘top’ freelance consultants by clicking a few links and making a couple of phone calls. Yes, they are ‘top’ consultants because a lot of consultants who have worked for blue-chip companies are now going freelance. And thanks to digital consultant platforms, companies can easily find these consultants now.
Here at Consultport, we have over 3,500 top consultants in our talent pool. We only accept the cream of the crop, and a lot of our consultants have experience working for big consultancies and/or Fortune 500 companies.
Our process is very straightforward as well. First, you can get in touch and state your business needs to us. Then, based on your answers, we’ll find you the best digital consultants for your business. You can then interview the ones you like and hire the one you prefer. We will handle all the admin work so that you can focus on running your business. How convenient!
If this sounds like a win-win to you, then let’s have a chat.
