For some time now, the world has gone digital first. We work from our bedrooms, shop from our couches and play sports from our living rooms. Businesses and freelancers need to adapt to this ever-changing situation.
Digital transformation is a scary term. It's the process of making different aspects of your business more digital-friendly. This process seems complicated but in reality, it's never been easier! We'll go over the most important tools to be successful in our digital transformation.
But why is digital transformation important? What can it enable?
The primary goal is every business's reason for being: driving revenue. It's been proven that digital companies see twice the revenue growth compared to non-digital companies. This number speaks for itself. Businesses that spend the necessary resources saw a huge increase in revenue.
A common misconception is that going digital is only for remote-first companies. On-premise companies and freelancers can also improve.
Here are some simple examples of digital transformations:
- A brick-and-mortar business offering a new e-commerce option
- A real estate company offering an online booking system to visit properties
- Landscapers offering customers instant and automated quotes
- Freelancers offering their clients an online payment option
You get the point, digital transformation is not only for massive corporations. Companies of any size, including freelancers and single-person businesses can benefit from it.
Now that we've talked about the why, let's talk about the how. There are tools that every company, regardless of size or industry, needs. We'll break down these tools here. In the last section, I will give you some more advanced tools that aren't necessary for every business. Depending on the industry and resources available, it may be beneficial to look into.
Here is a list of 9 tools to help you with your digital transformation:
Table of contents:
1. Collaboration
Collaboration is the most important aspect of digitalization. How can you collaborate with your co-workers? At the time of writing this article, it boils down to 2 options: Google (with Workspace ) or Microsoft (with Office 365 ).
They both offer very similar services and features. Google is well-known for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Calendar. Microsoft offers Outlook, Word, Excel and OneDrive.
The core principle here is to help rapid and secure collaboration. These tools allow you to manage your data from anywhere, with anyone. You can create, edit and share information that is essential to your business.
I'm not going to compare these in detail as there are MANY comparisons online. This article was the best to offer a full breakdown and help you choose which one is right for you.
This is the building block of your company and needs to be carefully reviewed. Many of the following points will be based on which collaboration system you choose.
2. Communication
In businesses, communication is the glue that keeps everything together. We're now more connected than ever in so many ways. It can get difficult to figure out which communication system a company needs. I find it best to break it down into 3 categories: video calls, internal messaging and external messaging.
Video calls: This is more popular than ever! It helps remove the constraints of the physical office. If you chose a Google Workspace, Google Meet is included and is a great way to schedule calls. If you're a Microsoft Office 365 subscriber, you have access to Microsoft Teams. Another popular option is Zoom . Zoom saw a tremendous amount of new users in the past couple of years and is one of the key players. "to Zoom" is now a verb often used to refer to a Zoom call!
If you run remote teams, don't neglect on finding your video-call platform. It can help employees feel more involved and connected.
Internal communications How can your employees communicate with each other? With the rise of remote work, internal communications have become primordial. Since we can't just turn around and ask our desk neighbour a question, we need other ways to reach them as easily. While emails work, there are better ways to communicate nowadays. Instant messaging is a great tool for that.
If your company opted for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Teams is already included. Slack is another option worth considering. The idea is to use a system that is accessible from anywhere and on any device (not only mobile phones).
The big mistake that most companies make here is to use mobile text messaging. This method is very inefficient and should be avoided!
External communications How can you communicate with your suppliers and customers? Generally speaking, email is often regarded as the number one option. With inboxes filling up with spam and unwanted messages, emails are becoming problematic.
To help fix this, exchange with your suppliers and customers. Ask them which tools they use or prefer using. Slack and Zoom allow users from different organizations to share a workspace. This is a dedicated channel that is only being used for work-related items.
3. Online presence
There's a great chance your future customers are going to find you online. You need to meet them where they are and tell them who you are. This is done in 3 ways:
A strong website: Having a website is not even a question anymore. A company that doesn't have a website is making its life much more difficult. With the rise of no-code platforms like WordPress or Squarespace , having a website is easier and cheaper than ever. Even making an e-commerce store has become effortless with companies like Shopify . There's no alternative to this, your business needs a website!
Social media: The sad reality of today's world is this: almost everyone is on social media. You need to be there too! Remember that all your competitors are probably already there. You don't need to be on all the platforms but you need to be where your customers are. In the next point, we'll talk more about how to better understand who your customers are.
Google My Business: This is an underrated way to have your business discovered organically on Google. If your business runs locally (i.e. you're location dependent and not just online/remote), you need to create a Google My Business . It has limited features so you need to focus on:
- Great customer reviews.
- A polished website for more information.
4. Data
There is it, the scary word! It turns out, even that has become much easier to approach. But why do we need data so much to run our businesses? Data is going to be the backbone of every decision you make. It's the best way to make sure we make decisions based on factual and quantifiable results.
So where do we even start collecting data? Well, the answer is: that depends! It depends on what actual data points are important for your business:
- If you need to know who your website visitors are: tools like Google Analytics , Mixpanel , Kissmetrics or Adobe Analytics are some options.
- If you need to know how your social media posts are doing: tools like HootSuite or Sprout Social can give you detailed insights.
- If you run a brick-and-mortar business: tools like Testimonial.to can help you gather reviews and testimonials.
There's a caveat behind all of this... It's that you probably need all these tools, together! Your customers are online and on different platforms. They might discover you on social media and then visit your website to buy. You need to be able to collect data everywhere to better understand their purchase cycle.
I get it, collecting data is intimidating and we don't know where to even start. This section could require a separate article. If you have specific questions about this, feel free to contact me and I will help you get started.
5. Customer experience
You need to give customers quick access to you! It's as simple as that. Customers have a very short attention span. You need to address their questions as fast as possible or they will leave.
90% of customers rate an "immediate" response as essential or very important when they have a customer service question. 60% of customers define "immediate" as 10 minutes or less.
— HubSpot Research
Customer experience is a vast topic. At the end of the day, it all relates to sales. Give your customers the attention they want and they will spend more money with you. Help Scout put together this great list of Customer Service Statistics.
But how can we implement that in our businesses? First of all, this is not something that only large businesses need to be aware of. Any business needs impeccable customer experience. The way to improve customer experience is to go meet your customers wherever they are:
- Most of your customers are on social media? Interact with them using comments and respond to their DMs.
- You run an e-commerce store? Use a tool like DelightChat or Gorgias to answer questions live via chatbot or texts.
- You want more leads from your website? Add a contact form and make sure to handle submissions quickly. You can jump to the last section of this article on automation to read more about this.
The principle is clear: customers don't have much time. They want answers and support FAST. If you're able to address their questions and concerns, you have better chances of making the sale.
6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
This is another big topic that could get its separate article.
Why do we need a CRM? In short, businesses need to be able to answer their customers' requests. A CRM allows you to better assess those requests. It helps shorten sales cycles, increase retention, and maximize opportunities.
It will be the tool salespeople use the most and must be chosen carefully. Popular options include Salesforce , Hubspot or Pipedrive . Business News Daily made a comprehensive article comparing multiple solutions.
My advice is to take the time to define your needs upfront. Once you know what you need, then you can go out shopping for the best platform. It might take a little time to find it but it will be the key to your sales success.
7. Cloud storage
Depending on your industry, you may need to be able to save files online to be accessed anywhere. If you're a Microsoft Office 365 subscriber, OneDrive and Sharepoint are already there. If you are a Google Workspace user, Google Drive does the same thing.
Files stored on computers and smartphones are a mess! They get lost, deleted or become unusable on old hard drives. Cloud storage solutions offer fast, reliable, secure and cheap alternatives. It allows you to gather every single important document in one place.
The best part is, cloud storage is included Microsoft Office 365 or Google Workspace. Why not use it? If you're already paying for the subscriptions, everything is already in place. Nowadays, these options have become affordable and are a no-brainer. Another popular option is Dropbox .
8. Project management
This is a very important aspect of every business. How do you track progress and plan upcoming tasks and projects? Having a place shared with your co-workers or clients is essential to keep projects on track.
These tools allow us to collaborate and make sure deadlines or budgets are on track. Gone are the days when Microsoft Excel was used to make planning! There are much more efficient and user-friendly ways to keep track of projects.
Project management tools have evolved in complete ecosystems. They allow you to completely manage your business from one single tool. Tools like Notion , monday.com , Asana or ClickUp are popular options.
I recommend giving each of them a try (they often offer free trials). These tools are built on different concepts and you need to find the one that best suits your needs. Forbes made this list comparing solutions for different kinds of users.
9. Accounting and payment processing
A business only survives when generating cash flow. In other words, businesses need to get paid! If you give your customers an easy way to pay you, you won't need to chase them for payments. This frees up your valuable time to do things that can help generate revenue.
Accounting tools like QuickBooks , Xero , or Wave Financials are great options for all kinds of businesses. They all offer an online payment option. How many times have you had a contractor come to your house for a service and then ask for cash or a cheque as payment? This is the old way of doing things and it's far from optimized. Imagine this same contractor sending you an invoice via email. It can even be hours after finishing the job. The email has a "pay invoice" button and you can pay using your credit card. Isn't that much more convenient for you?
This helps reduce the friction between you and your customers. It makes collecting payments effortless for both parties. Traditional systems waste so much time going through unpaid invoices.
Your business is also eligible for business expenses when tax season comes around. All these expenses you incurred during the year are now deductible. Having an accounting tool allows you to gather invoices and receipts all in one place. No need to go through loads of documents to file your taxes.
Good additions but not mandatory
The following items are great additions to your digital strategy, but not mandatory. These might be more industry-specific and you may already know if you need these or not. I would caution you to not try to implement every single item on this list. If you already have the 9 tools described above, your company is in a good place.
That being said, here are additional tools you might want to consider:
Recruiting
If you are in the recruiting industry or hire many employees, you need a recruitment tool. Interviewing, hiring, onboarding and measuring performance is a long process. It can be very costly if not done right.
You can then easily share candidates' profiles with co-workers and hiring managers. You can also schedule your hiring process, send feedback and make better decisions. This tool is meant to help you save time while going through piles of resumes.
Notable recruiting tools include BambooHR , ProofHub or Zoho . Here again, there are many options available that serve different purposes. It's important to define your needs, pick a few to try out and then make a decision.
Content Management System (CMS)
Do you produce a lot of content coming from different collaborators? You may want to start using a Content Management System (known as CMS). A CMS streamlines how this content is being utilized online. In short, CMSs allow you to create and use your content digitally, on your website or mobile apps.
CMS options are widely different. Some can have a very high learning curve with powerful features, others are easy to set up but limited. If you're not sure which option is best for your business, bringing in an agency or a consultant can help.
Some popular CMS options include Wordpress , Squarespace , Drupal Contentful and Shopify .
Automation
A lot of people would argue that automation should be a key part of your business. While I agree with that, your business may need a high level of maturity to fully utilize it.
That being said, there are some automation tools that any business can put in place today. Tools like scheduling meetings, sending invoices or posting on social media can help,
Notable automation tools include:
- Zapier (task automation)
- Calendly (meeting and appointment scheduling)
- HubSpot or SproutSocial (social media scheduling)
Automation has tremendous positive impacts when done correctly and has virtually no limit. However, some tools might be complicated to set up depending on the complexity of the project. Tools like Calendly, are quick and easy to set up with no technical background required.
How do you know if you need to start automating your business? If there are recurring or time-consuming tasks, it might be worth looking into them.
The bottom line
If you made it here, congratulations! That was a long article but it shows how many different options are available to you.
The benefits of becoming a digital-first company have been proven many times. Productivity, engagement, satisfaction, revenue, every single aspect of your business can improve. The ultimate goal of going digital is to meet your customers' ever-growing expectations. If our customers are changing, our business needs to adapt and respond to this change.
What's next?
Now that you are convinced of the benefits, you need to start somewhere. It may be overwhelming to know what the first step should be. This is where I can help you. I have many years of experience helping businesses increase revenue while reducing costs. If you're interested in a free 30-minute consultation, contact me and I will help you get started.