Spenda 1 December - 6 min read
Digital transformation has been key a focus for businesses in recent years, but particularly in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether you run a brick and mortar business or sell online, digitising your business will make operations more efficient, while providing the foundations you need to continue growing. Here are five ways you can digitise your business.
1. Buy and sell onlineThis year has highlighted how important it is for businesses to have a strong online presence and the capability for people to buy and sell online. With an online store, your business can accept orders 24/7. Set up an intuitive online store where your customers can book and pay for your goods and services. It should include live updates on product and service availability and easy ways for customers to pay.
2. Digitise your inventory management systemOne of the most time-consuming and risky parts of a product-based business is ensuring you have optimum stock levels. Digitising your inventory management system will allow you to track and control stock across your warehouse, and online and physical stores. Not only does this ensure you don’t sell out of stock items, but it also helps your business maintain adequate stock levels at all times. Maintaining just the right amount of stock also ensures businesses don’t have cash tied up in aged stock that isn’t selling — you only order what you need.
3. Make payments more efficientEnsuring the payment experience for you and your customers is efficient and seamless is a critical part of digitising your business. Customers should be able to pay for goods and services using multiple payment options, including the ability to pay in instalments or with Buy Now, Pay Later services. Integrating the right technology into your business makes these payment options a reality. Further, if you run a company where people work on the go, giving staff and customers the ability to complete payments as soon as the work is completed (i.e. workflow payments) will strengthen your cash flow.
4. Digitise your operationsIf your business needs to track and communicate on jobs, it needs a cloud-based field service management system. Digitise the end-to-end service management process from booking, dispatching, tracking work orders, collecting payments and job management in the field. As a result, your operations management will be more streamlined with an electronic record of jobs from start to finish.
5. Simplify your procurement processHaving an efficient procurement process is an important part of proactive ordering. With a digitised procurement tool, you can order directly from suppliers using an application that allows people to not only scan the barcodes of products but also benefit from product suggestions and proactive order prompts. This eliminates manual processes, saves time and reduces errors in the ordering process — what was once a reactive part of your business operations becomes a proactive and automated function which makes procurement more strategic. Further, when these tools are integrated with a digital inventory management system, you’ll know exactly what to order and when.
Integrate digital transformation across your businessDigitising various parts of your business may help you realise efficiencies; but, it’s the integration of one complete system that shares data across all aspects of a company that drives long-term improvements. Spenda’s suite of products provides business owners and leaders with the tools they need to improve their cash flow and make strong data-driven decisions.
Chasing late invoice payments is a burden for any business, and still, more than half of B2B payments in Australia continue to be processed late, costing businesses, on average, $115 billion every year.
When you’re running a large operation with hundreds of invoices processed each month, the resources required to manage your payments grow quickly, especially when ageing receivables become a problem. While customers may not pay their invoices for various reasons, it happens too often, causing a range of challenges and increased risk.
Digital payments helped businesses get paid safely and efficiently throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns and associated restrictions. But as economies reopen many challenges still face businesses including supply chain disruptions, the ‘great resignation’, rising inputs such as fuel, and the expense of reopening. These business challenges make now an opportune time to build on the processes optimised throughout the pandemic, especially across B2B trade.
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