Challenge your business to do better! Five areas where tech will lead the way in 2020
2020 is already proving to be an interesting and challenging year. We started the year with bushfires ravaging many regional communities and have now been hit by the global Coronavirus pandemic.
For business, that means some challenging times ahead. We all need to remember that we will get through this, so we want to be in the best position possible both through the next few weeks or months and for the remainder of the year, when normality returns.
During one of our recent planning sessions at Inland Digital, we set the challenge for ourselves to think about more than just tomorrow. Where do we need our business to be twelve months from now…and beyond? Most of these discussions centred on technology and what we can do to improve the way we work. It’s something I’m now discussing with our clients: How can you challenge yourselves to think beyond tomorrow?
Here are five areas I think you can look at:
- Make data work for you
Data is something we all have in our businesses and it’s growing at an extraordinary rate. Information is now the lifeblood of business but the information itself isn’t the key part; it’s what you do with that information that will help you improve what you do for your clients, and, ultimately, win more business.
Challenge number one: Get control of your data and make it work for you. That starts with making sure you implement a system that allows you to create order around how you store information. Once it’s clear what you’re playing with, you can then look at how you maximise that information to improve your business.
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Automate everything
It amazes me how many businesses still rely on manual, inefficient processes. Technology gives you so many options that it’s almost ridiculous to think we still have manual processes!
So, challenge number two is: Automate everything. If you can find manual, step- heavy processes, particularly in back office areas like accounts, operations, or contracts, work on automating them now. We’re even looking at robotic automation; not for tomorrow, but for today.
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Digitise everything
For those of you who read our Inland Digital content regularly, you’ll know that we’re big fans of digital transformation. Storing information in paper is fast becoming not only inefficient, but incredibly costly too.
Challenge number three: Focus on digitising your business. Look at paper intensive areas and work on ways that you can digitise it. We have a particular focus on this ourselves, and I’d happily discuss our approach with anyone who is interested.
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Collaborate more
No one does well operating in a vacuum. In business, that means we create silos or work in a way that works best for us but not necessarily for the business or our clients.
Challenge number four: Focus on making collaboration between your team a priority. Use technology to make it easier to work together, whether you’re all in the same office or spread out over a range of locations. Remote working doesn’t mean you’re cut off from your teammates; you can use technology to hold remote meetings and work on the same documentation, all at once. We can even show you how.
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Future-thinking focus
My fifth point is more about you and I as business owners. Taking a longer-term view is up to us. We need to set the right platform to encourage our teams to think beyond tomorrow.
Challenge number five: Be the change leader yourself. If you’re not embracing technology and new ways of working, how can you expect your team to? If you’re not encouraging your leaders in the business to be open to change and looking for new and better ways to do things, you’re probably missing out on the wealth of knowledge and passion that your team has. If you lead the way, your people will find better ways of working that improve your bottom line.
Transforming business is more than just a tagline for us; it’s core to what we do every day. Keen to discuss how you’re looking to do better in 2020? Email me at lbreen@inlanddigital.com.au and we can arrange a time to discuss what’s happening in your business.