An Introduction to Grow Your Business Digitally

Reading Time : 5  Minutes 

“Does having a website mean that my business is already going digital? Why does it not generate money for me then?”

I have always strive in bringing light towards digital transformation for the past couple of years. However, businesses or even MNC’s in Malaysia always have difficulty in bringing a digital product into fruition. 

This is related to many misconceptions or mismanagement that I have uncovered during my talks across Malaysia and the various consultancy services that I have given for my clients. 

Digital Transformation Talk with CIMB to SME owners earning more than RM10 Million a Year

Before we start, let us all first have some basic understanding again on What is Digital Transformation?

To put it simply without the complications, digital transformation is when your business goes through a digital platform or process that can lead to either new revenue streams, or to streamline and improve operation flow for productivity enhancement. 

Let’s look at the first few metrics on understanding the digital transformation better.

Why Do I Need to Digitally Transform My Business?

Digital Transformation Key metrics

To put it very simply, there are only 3 main reasons why a business should go digital or to enhance their digital infrastructure.

Earn More Revenue! (Create new revenue streams)

At this day of age, you can earn money through practically ANYTHING in the digital space. Retailer? Start selling your products online!

Service industry? Have a booking system ready through emails or a calendar plug-in  that enables easy consultation booking.

Trying to coach or teach? Start your own webinar. 

Almost any imaginable activity out there can be capitalized through the usage of the world wide web. All it matters is to do more research online on what your competitors or someone from another country is doing, and you will be well on your way in brainstorming a new digital business idea!

Save Costs by Speeding Up Operations (Not by firing people!)

There are literally thousands of digital solutions out there in the world that enables a certain process to be automated one way or another.

Need a way to manage your customer loyalty program without manually going through each data via excel? Get a CRM system to produce automotive engagement flows for you.

Still using  a manual upload feature to update your various e-commerce websites? Plenty of marketplace software syncs out there right now. 

In all actuality, most manual or labor intensive activities can be replaced with more efficient workflows via readily available software that are easily accessible online. 

Only the most demanding or complicated process flow will require a huge customization that can then incur lots of costs for your company. 

Always start small and solve each operational flow 1 step at the time. Upon success by measuring relevant metrics too, then only I would suggest going a step further with various enhancements.

With better workflow support from digital platforms, your employees or team can therefore be more productive in their work, thus focusing on core issues like KPI’s and results rather than pushing off their time on labour intensive activities. 

Afterthoughts

The 1st step to digital transformation, is definitely a mindset shift. Any founder or business owner must have that mindset that if they want to be successful digitally, they MUST treat this project as a long term investment that will require alot of hardwork too. 

To read more in the Digital Transformation Series (Stay Tuned for More!)

1. Digital Transformation : An Introduction
2. Digital Transformation : How Much Should I Spend?

This will be a series of 5 articles in regards to “Digital Transformation”  with BFM! Thanks to Jeff from BFM for this. We believe that businesses in Malaysia is still at it’s trial and error period, and hopefully with this series, we are able to bring more light towards pushing your business ahead in this digital era!

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