Technology is everywhere and it’s no secret that it’s revolutionising the way we work. In a world where technology is in every part of our lives, it’s hard to believe that so many businesses are not taking advantage of how it can help them.
Did you know that for a company that embraces digital transformation, each employee on average contributes to a 60% uplift in revenue? With numbers like that and so many trends to watch in 2022, we hope it’s enough to get you excited about going digital!
Gone are the days of spending endless hours on admin, it’s time for an exciting shift in developing strategies for business planning and growth. Embracing digital technologies will make your life easier, whether it’s implementing a new piece of software like Employment Hero, or creating more efficient marketing or inventory management processes.
Ready to learn why digital transformation is important?
If you’re reading this thinking, “where do I even start?”, we’ve listed a few below that can help you embrace digital transformation in your business:
- HR automation and payroll
- Customer relationship management
- Digital marketing
- Social media
- Inventory management system
- Website
- Analytics and reporting
According to Deloitte, 2019 was the first year that there were more small businesses with high or advanced levels of digital engagement than those with basic or intermediate levels of engagement. A great sign that every day many businesses are embracing technology and reaping the benefits.
As for reasons why small businesses aren’t using technology, 20% ‘haven’t thought about using technology in their day-to-day’ and 13% state that they are ‘unaware of how to use technology’ or ‘have a fear of technology.’ No matter where you sit with your feelings regarding digital transformation, digital is here and it is loud.
Read on as we share 10 reasons why small businesses need to embrace digital transformation. “There are large barriers for SMEs to adopt these new technologies, reflecting challenges such as relative difficulty accessing finance to make the necessary investments, or a lack of key capabilities, such as the requisite human resources and management expertise.” – OCED.org
1. Money savings
We all know that when it comes to business, time is money. This means it’s important to spend your time and money on things that will contribute to improved productivity and efficiency. Ironically, research conducted by Deloitte states that 31% of small businesses haven’t turned to digital transformation as they believe it will be too expensive. But failing to embrace technology can actually cost you more money in the long run.
Wanting to automate your HR processes with Employment Hero? Sign up for a FREE account and receive access to paperless onboarding, VEVO checks and employment contracts.
2. Saving time on manual tasks
If you find your team or yourself spending lots of time doing manual tasks every day, it’s time to get digital.
For example, take an inventory management system. If your company was to manually count every item currently in stock, write it down, input that data into a spreadsheet and then update the website, it would be an incredibly time-consuming and manual process. With an inventory management system, you could directly input the stock-on-hand into a device where it would automatically update the stock available on the website. A much easier and simpler process!
The same also applies for HR processes. If you spend time completing tasks such as manually onboarding an employee, you’ll be spending unnecessary time completing the admin that comes with it. When automation comes into the picture, you begin to realise that the free time you now have will allow you to work on other tasks that help you grow and be more strategic in your business. 
3. Helping you be compliant
With the recent pay scandals, it’s never been a more pressing time to ensure you are compliant in your business. The Australian payroll system is complex, making it something all small business owners need to be across or face the consequences. However, thanks to software like Employment Hero and our Payroll platform, we can help you achieve human resources and payroll compliance.
4. Easier and more effective communication
When you embrace technology, you allow for greater communication amongst your team. We all know that effective communication within the work environment boosts morale and employee engagement, but did you know it also improves profitability by up to 47%?
At Employment Hero, we use Slack to communicate with our team and have many channels to discuss different topics. Best of all, Slack is free to get started! If you’re looking to boost communication in your business, this is a great place to begin.
By embracing technology, you can also attract top talent even if they don’t work within your city. With 66% of companies now allowing remote working, it’s time to embrace tools that allow your team to effectively communicate online.
5. Improve productivity amongst your team
In most small to medium businesses, it’s common that employees wear multiple hats. When there are so many different tasks to complete, it can be easy to lose track of what needs to be done and when.
At Employment Hero, we use (and love) Asana because it helps us manage our tasks and time. In turn, this helps us be more productive whilst keeping everyone accountable for their work.
6. Allows you to prioritise growing your business
Following on from above, by automating manual tasks, you can spend your spare time working on ways to help you grow your business.
When you invest in technology, you can spend more time being strategic and working on tasks you love doing, instead of mindless admin. Sounds good, right? This is exactly what Dinner Twist did. Since making the switch to Employment Hero, Katri (HR at Dinner Twist) has been able to cut the time she previously invested in HR admin by half.
“Employment Hero can cut your HR admin by up to 80% with paperless onboarding, integration with most payroll software and employee self-service functionality.”
7. Improved customer experience and service
When growing a business, it’s important to place the experience of your customers and clients as your number one priority. Unresponded emails, contact details, order numbers or notifications can become frustrating for your customers if there’s no system in place to manage them, especially when the number of inquiries is increasing.
However, the customer experience doesn’t just include your customer relationship management, but also everything from your website user experience right through to your marketing efforts. Digital transformation allows you and your team to stay on top of everything customer experience related so they can feel comfortable putting their trust in you.
“Employment Hero is so quick and easy. Employees don’t have to go to multiple systems, they can swap shifts, see what’s available. We’ve started to really utilise Employment Hero a lot more – as much as possible can go through the platform. We just really love the system.” – Vikings Group
8. Overall better business results
When you invest in tech for your business, it will do you a world of good for business results! Just remember how many hours you and your team will have free when they’re not focused on manual tasks. Your focus can now shift to be more on the strategy behind increasing revenue!
Remember that statistic we spoke about at the start of this blog? Digital transformation can contribute to a 60% increase in annual revenue per employee.
9. Meet the expectations of your customers, clients and team
In today’s digital world, it’s now an expectation that every business has some form of digital presence – and that they’re using technology to help assist with business operations. But in fact, 13% of Australian small businesses haven’t looked at embracing the digital transformation because they are unsure how to use digital tools.
For example, if a new employee starts and sees that all of your processes are completely manual, they may get the impression that you’re not innovative. They could then see this as a red flag and decide it’s not the right fit for them. Not only does this waste everyone’s time, but is also expensive for the business! If you’re wanting to find out the hidden costs of recruitment, we’ve written a handy blog here.
10. Reduces paper and waste
In 2022, we will continue to see businesses become more environmentally conscious. According to The World Count Statistics, the average office worker uses on average 2 pieces of paper per hour. By going digital, you can reduce your footprint, whilst saving money on the reams of paper you use. Innovation and doing your bit for the planet? Win/win!
