Digitalising Business Processes With Our BPS Consultants

Vanesha Peach

The words “digitising”, “digitalisation” and “digital transformation” have been used interchangeably for years in businesses. For most people they imply change and innovation to bring forward better productivity and profitability. Digitisation is a conversion of data into a digital format. Digitalisation is a transformation of data and processes and is more holistic.

Digitalisation is all about establishing trends and making better business decisions. Business processes need to be redefined first before any digital transformation can occur. The way to do it differs from business to business but the core decisions in every business need to be the same. It’s all about three main concepts:

  • Benefits against costs
  • The ultimate vision for the business
  • Market positioning

Benefits Against Costs

Digitalisation in businesses revolve mainly around automation, scheduling, centralised information, collaboration and a paperless environment. Manual or repetitive and mundane tasks are eliminated.

  • Admin tasks can be automated
  • Reports, emailing or social media marketing can be scheduled
  • Information can be shared centrally on (e.g. OneDrive)
  • Collaboration tools such as SharePoint can be deployed to facilitate team-building and sharing

The questions to be asked are: Does the value-added benefits of automation outweigh the costs? Are there other implications and negative effects that need to be considered?

In cases of employee redundancy, low quality customer interaction or customer service, the value of automation should be re-evaluated. Some examples of bad automation are automated attendant systems and self-service checkouts in supermarkets. Staff redundancy and bad feelings and negative customer experiences due to a lack of human touch are the outcomes of such a decision.

The bigger picture needs to be seen in terms of company image, productivity and employee and customer satisfaction.

The Long-Term Vision For The Business

Management needs to understand what business processes to automate, digitise or digitalise. A brainstorming session on what needs continual improvement is recommended.

Digitalisation will have an effect on the core processes and systems of any business, from logistics and supply chain processes to customer insights, sales, management and finance. Staff use digital tools, technology and ecosystems to bring greater value overall to the business, save time and money and bring about efficient task management.

Managers and directors need to consider every business process in the organisation to decide what can and should be digitalised. Power BI is a good application for interactive sales, accounting or financial reports with real-time data and is perfect for some forms of business process automation and scheduling.

Sometimes processes need to be re-conceived entirely so that a more customer-orientated digital-first approach is embraced.

Some examples of company benefits are:

  • Faster decision-making
  • Seamless performance tracking
  • Enhanced customer insights
  • Enriched customer experiences
  • Automated manual tasks
  • The rapid innovation of customer-orientated new products, services or business models

Management needs to assess the long-term vision for the business and decide on the best way to reach this.

Market Positioning

Close monitoring of outcomes and benchmarking the business against its rivals and peers are key considerations too. The decision whether to digitise/digitalise or not rests on the target market positioning for the business. Does it want to be ahead of the game and first among equals? Or is it happy to be a slow adapter and follow the crowd? Digital transformation can take place over time and can be staged, with a close monitoring of metrics and KPIs which the business believes in.

A Successful Transition With The Help Of Our Business Process Digitalisation Consultants

Business process reorientation takes time and careful planning. Company objectives, mission statement, vision and image have to be re-assessed and revitalised. A careful evaluation of the company’s market positioning and its competitive advantage needs to be made. We won’t recommend you to digitise or digitalise for the sake of it. However too much hesitation can cause a serious disruption in productivity and have a negative impact on employee and customer satisfaction. We advocate a rapid application delivery.

Here, at Dolphin IT Solutions, we have 20+ years’ experience and are eager to help you with the whole change management process. We will be able to help you launch a truly intelligent workplace with powerful digital transformation. We can help you find the right business process solutions. Reach out to us for an informal chat to learn more.

Liked the article? Leave us a comment!

Your email address will not be published.

Sending...