Digitization is a concept that haunts us more and more. This is also a big trend of this century. She encourages companies in all sectors to rethink and accelerate their development. Who does not act, competition is guaranteed in the long run. Therefore, it is advisable to invest in the digitization of business processes, regardless of sector. In this article, you will learn which six important factors you must consider in order to be able to quickly and easily use the full potential of digital processes.
That’s why your processes must become digital
The process includes a coordinated set of interacting actions, the purpose of which is to achieve a given result – this is a definition. The scope of the company’s services consists of many different processes, which sometimes are more related to each other, and sometimes less. Common to them, however, is ensuring the successful operation and existence of the holding. For this to work in the long run, companies do not come to the digitization of business processes.
Almost all business processes begin with documents or with the exchange of documents. Similarly, documents are created in each process thread. Over time, they accumulate in a huge mountain that employees and managers of the company must process, sort, sort and archive. Anyone who does not rely on digital, but on analog and paper work here, will not be able to succeed in the long run. Since paper documents are sluggish, they need space and steal valuable time from company employees. Searching for a specific document in the archive may take several hours, and processing documents may take weeks, for example, if the responsible employee is ill. Digitization of business processes can prevent this and save the company valuable time, which, in turn, can be invested in other profitable projects.
New opportunities through digitization of business processes
In addition, digitization offers completely new possibilities for optimizing and automating all processes. This is important for all companies that do not want to lose touch with competitors and want to stay in shape for the future. The sooner a business begins to digitize business processes, the better it will be prepared for the requirements of the future. However, each company must consider several important factors in order to truly succeed in digitizing its processes. Therefore, you should know the following six points anyway.
1. Invest in professional change management
One thing is certain, you should not wait too long with the start of digitization. However, rash actions do not lead to the goal, but only create confusion or disappointment, because new, indecisive methods introduced do not work smoothly. Therefore, a proper strategy for digitizing business processes is an absolute must. Together with other managers and department heads, as well as with your IT department, determine which processes in which areas should be digitized. Keep in mind that long established workflows will change. This can cause various reactions in your employees.
If you informed your employees that your company is approaching the digitization of business processes, you will have to expect a different level of development of emerging emotions. Initial shock and commitment to old processes are usually accompanied by understanding and acceptance of change. The next step is to introduce the first new methods. You should be able to intercept and manage these situations as a leader. Therefore, devote enough time to professional change management. Only in this way can changes be made that accompany the digitization of business processes. This is important in order to harness the full potential of digital processes in the long run.
2. Set realistic goals
After you set up change management, assembled the initial project teams and consolidated the digitization of business processes in your corporate strategy, you need to define your first measurable goals. Here, the management, IT department and departments must work together. Set measurable medium- and long-term goals, and then work on their gradual implementation in the enterprise. A regular review of relevant achievement of the goals reveals the potential for improvement.
3. Design your processes transparently.
Without transparent processes, it is impossible to reliably assess the potential of digitizing your business processes. However, transparency is important for digitization. Get a comprehensive overview of all the processes in your company. Document current status and evaluate it honestly. Bring management, IT and departments to the boat. Thus, you can use a wide range of know-how and precisely indicate which areas have a particularly high digitization potential.
4. Be dynamic
Typical for digitization is its variability. New technologies are constantly developing, which in turn present new requirements. This is why your company must remain as flexible as possible in its digitization strategy. Do not try to digitize all areas of the operation at the same time. Identify priorities and use them to gradually transform the digitization of business processes. This will help you better respond to sudden market changes.
5. Optimize your business processes in advance
Digitization of business processes can be implemented especially well if your processes have as few weaknesses as possible. Therefore, before starting a digitization project, look for problem areas and eliminate them. Eliminate unnecessary process steps and optimize processes. This paves the way for process automation. It is only beneficial to implement your digitization strategy.
6. Choose the right software
If you primarily want to automate document-based processes in your company, it is recommended that you implement a digital document management system (DMS), such as PaperOffice, and integrate it into a commercial solution. This will make your work processes more efficient, and your business processes easier and faster thanks to automation. Especially your bookkeeping and human resources can greatly benefit from digital processes. The first gets significant benefits from automatic invoice processing. Here, all incoming invoices can be automatically recorded and sent directly for processing. Errors and exceptions are also quickly identified and transferred to the accounting program. This fast billing process saves you valuable time.
A similar situation with the digitization of business processes in the human resources department. Placed here for working with digital recordings of personnel, authorized employees store all important documents of employees in one place. This allows the person in charge to get access to the necessary documents at any time and in any place. Data is faster and staff issues can be processed much faster. This speeds up the workflow and makes work more flexible.
But not every software is suitable for any business. This is why it makes sense to outsource a competent consultant. He will take an inventory with you and evaluate the current status of your company. Based on this, he finds the right software for you and supports you in the first steps towards a digital future. This is optimal for digitizing business processes. In addition, a professional consultant can help you comply with all legal requirements and guidelines, such as document archiving, even when working with digital processes. In this way, you are safe from a regulatory perspective and can go your own way digitally with PaperOffice.
Visit us at www.paperoffice.com and download a free trial license.
