Digitalization: The Way To Go!

The Saga

Some few weeks back, a senior colleague shared with me the frustration he encountered during the processing session at a government facility. “It took about 45 minutes to search for and retrieve a file they processed just yesterday!” he lamented. Well, you’d say that is relatively fair in our society when it has to do with government parastatals?

Wait for the shocker. He could not get the document processed that day and the attendant said “you should not expect speed around here. We are not machines!”

Truth be told, that type of analogue approach toward business processing is not peculiar to the government parastatals alone.

You can almost remember the last time you needed to subscribe for a utility service and you had to travel far to the headquarters of the service provider to get that done, or when a customer care agent told you in a phone conversation “you will have to appear physically for us to attend to that.”

These and more are the instances of archaic business process systems that have bedeviled our nation’s entrepreneurial outlooks.

Embrace Digitalization; make your business Digital in this New Age, don’t be left behind in The Dark | CC:- Software AG

However, we need to give it to our financial institutions; they are fast harnessing the digital for more swift service delivery. Although, some can still do better giving the pace set by the advanced ones.

Now, what is the way around this ‘wide-spread no-longer-popular’ method of doing business? That is where technology comes to the rescue! Well…. It has long been at the fingertip of entrepreneurs in advanced nations, at-least.We are just getting up to speed on that.

What is Business Digitalization?

This technological aid to business processing has been termed Business Digitalization. Many however misconstrue this for being digital. For clarification of concepts, I must submit here that Digital is the turning from analogue, i.e. creating a soft-copy of a hard-copy file etc. Digitization, on the other hand, is the process of the conversion.

Business Digitalization is the harnessing of such facilities as social media, mobile, and cloud for reaching more customers and rendering top-notch services across a wide range of digital platforms.

Discussing strategies of going Digital in your business is the Right Way to Go! | CC:- Tibco

In a nut-shell, it is Business Process Digitalization that we are preaching here. The opportunities accruable from embracing this are by far unlimited. Just as the vast continuum of digitalization itself is limitless.

All said and done, all these are a derivative of the word digital. So let’s #goDigital.

The way to go!

First things first, what are the tools that are in place for entrepreneurs to win in their businesses i.e. in the digitalization race?

• Social Media utility for quality engagement
• Website integration for harnessing online prospects
• Optimizing brand search to reach seekers
• Cloud
• Mobile apps
• Big data

Websites

Many are those who think that websites are not so necessary. This is a popular outlook among start-ups and medium scale firms in Nigeria. The fact (and truth) is that websites are just as beneficial to their owners as the physical sites or offices are.

Matter-of-fact, it could be better than the physical presence since the online community is getting bigger by the day. The more visible and engaging your business appears online, the more chances of getting prospects to feel your presence and ultimately do business with you!

This gets better when you have an interactive website that can direct leads to your physical presence or to do business with you right there, online!

You see, a website actually promotes your physical and online presence. Now, that is dual-band efficiency from one source!

Also Read: I’m Witnessing the ‘Death of Physical Formats’ – Long Live Digital!

Social Media

Don’t you think that is a platform for fun and not-so-serious conversations? Well, I am not careful to let you know that your thought is very far from the truth.

The transformation of the social media platforms into opportunity hub for businesses is chiefly because of the open-minded nature of people; when using them. What better place can there be to pass a subliminal message across than where our minds are like a child’s: open and merry!

The teeming crowds that are available on the social media platforms are growing by the day and they give out vital information that your business seriously needs.

The kind of post shared, pictures liked, post commented on etc. all these are prized information that businesses can harness for direct marketing.

Now, the next time you see a business executive tweeting, you won’t cast aspersions on them for being unserious. Not with the info you now know about the power of the social media.

Also Read: 7 Social Media Strategies to Maximize your Brand’s Awareness

Cloud

Remember the story I shared in the opening paragraph? Ok. Cloud is where the rescue is for such scenarios.

The cloud is a technological enhancement for backing up all files and data that your company runs on. One more thing, aside from saying goodbye to a paper-clogged work environment, you get the security of retrieval.

Make It Digital! – Put everything that’s “VERY MUCH IMPORTANT’ to you in the cloud for your own safety | CC:- CH2

What could be better? You are rest assured of the safety of your documents. And one more thing, they can be retrieved promptly when needed. Unlike the case shared above.

Now, won’t you love to put your business in the cloud?

Big Data

This may sound like an ambiguous term to lay men. Not to worry, it is just the reality of which the social media discussed above is a player.

The huge crowds that throng the social media and other digital platforms by the seconds are what we call the big data, at-least in the simplest definitive way. These data is what your business needs to channel itself to specific and direct audiences.

The processes of business digitization | CC:- PaynetDirect

Remember the patterns I talked about in the social media segment? Yes. That pattern is tweaked to form the data which will be used for your business to reach audiences that can be turned to leads.

Mobile app

Not to say much about this, I’ll rather paint it for you with a picture. You know how the web is now filled with millions of user across the globe?

Ok, good. It will amaze you to know that the Terragon research on Nigeria’s state of digital media revealed that mobile internet users in the country are currently at 60.69% and still growing. That is way more than the 30.31% of desktop computer internet users.

Now, do you see the massive opportunity? Imagine your business having a mobile app that people can carry about? That means putting your office, outlet, store or shop right in the pockets of your prospects! I need to say no more. Grab the opportunity and #goDigital!

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Josephine Osifowokan

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