The boom in online activity over the past few years has seen the digital business model become increasingly viable. Nowadays, vast amounts of market data is generated through social media an search engines, making it easy for businesses to target customers more effectively. At the same time, more and more consumers are spending increasing amounts of time online – they are spending their free time shopping online, reading the news online, seeking information online, seeking entertainment online.
All of this is to say that running a successful digital business can be done by anyone. We reached out to a few companies who primarily conduct business digitally. One company we spoke to, a provider of outsourced IT support London business have been using for years, described some important considerations for any digital business.
- Stay Connected At All Times
First thing’s first is you should always ensure that you are connected during hours of operation. This means having a strong and reliable internet connection. You should take into consideration how you will be doing business when arranging internet for your organisation.
- Are a sole trader working out of your home?
- Will you be travelling for your business?
- Do you have an office and/or employees?
Based on your answers, there are a variety of options. Firstly, if you are in a fixed location, do some research into the best internet in that area. If you can afford fibre-optic broadband, that is the best way to go. If you anticipate moving premises, and don’t want to be tied down, consider a mobile broadband service. If you have employees working remotely, you’ll need to ensure their internet is sufficient, and you may need to subsidize their service. If you anticipate moving around for work, ensure your mobile data package is sufficient.
- Manage Your Online Presence
Your online presence encompasses any platform on which you are active. Undoubtedly, if you are a digital business you will have a website; it is also highly recommended that businesses nowadays use social media; and even your activity on sites like YouTube need to be curated. A digital business should take stock of every online platform they use, and assess how consistent their branding is across all those platforms. It may be useful to hire someone to manage your online activity – particularly with social media, as the algorithms in place on social media platforms often penalise low engagement.
- Invest in E-Commerce Tools
E-commerce goes hand-in-hand with digital business. There are a range of tools that a business can use to optimize the customer journey, and maximise sales. A great example is with chat bots on your website. These tools are designed to pop-up whenever someone visits your site. A site visitor can use the chatbot to ask questions about your product and service. Chatbots can even be used to connect leads with business representatives. Another useful e-commerce tool is a scheduling bot, which site visitors can use to quickly schedule a meeting with a sales rep. These methods of automating customer interactions can help streamline the journey customers take from brand discovery to making a sale.
- Consider Adopting Cloud Services
The IT company we spoke to strongly recommended the use of cloud services for any digital business. They said that many of the top IT support companies London businesses choose are ones that utilize cloud computing and platforms. There are a number of ways businesses can adopt the cloud. For instance, cloud applications (also known as software as a service) are an efficient way to equip an entire organisation with the necessary software to complete work. Platform as a service can empower small businesses to develop their own software, whether for internal use, or as part of their service to customers. There are a range of fundamental aspects of business that can be enhanced with the cloud as well, such as communications, project management, and file management.
