Starting up a business from nothing is a daunting process. You go through so many stages from the planning and foundation side of things to the implementation and sales. Many people can find that as entrepreneurs they can be a little “old school” with their methods.

For many that involves keeping physical copies of things and using a good old fashioned notebook, diary, and pen. However, with technology advancing all of the time, you need to digitize many elements of your business. So which areas should you focus on? Here are some of the business methods that you can focus on digitizing to help your company and ideas thrive now and in the future.

Your website and online shop

A website is likely to be a standardized element of your business, and with people using the internet hourly for information, social aspects or for business, it is one of your biggest assets. Giving your website the option of a shop can also enhance your capability for business as this makes transactions within your business far easier for the consumer. In terms of how it benefits your business in other ways, a website and online shop will allow you to keep digitized records of sales strategies and stock levels. Allowing you to plan and be forward thinking for new campaigns. 

Using the cloud 

The cloud, in its basic terms, is a centralized location on the internet that stores data. For a business there is huge value in using it. Gone are the days where you have filing systems from floor to ceiling filled with paperwork. You can now easily transfer the data to a digital copy, and then store it in the cloud. There are many different cloud services options you can use.

However, the main benefit is a reduction in costs, it's easy to use and accessible for those that need it, while giving your business and employees flexibility. Last of all it helps to encourage automation within your business practices. 

Customer management and service

It is important to recognise that the way you handle and manage your customers can also be digitized. With the introduction of customer relationship management systems, allowing you to keep records of purchase history and notes to help add value to customer conversations, can help your business to thrive when it comes to the customer service side of things.

Email communication where G Suite for business productivity could help enhance this area might be the answer. Instead of letters, using email or even text messaging services for simple and up to date information regarding updates can help to improve the level of service you provide. 

Being present online and humanizing your social media

Finally, social media is such a big part of business these days and can be arguably one of the biggest contenders when it comes to your marketing campaigns. However, with every other business focusing on it, you need to ensure that your social media strategy and content plan stands out from the crowd.

This is when humanizing your business and social media can be a huge asset. You can offer up insights using other tools within the platform, play around with video and imagery. The old practice of people buying from people does still exist today, so it is important to add an element of that in an online world. 

Let’s hope this has helped you to consider what methods to change within your business.