In today’s environment, relying on paper documents for business operations will restrict your company and prevent it from reaping the most substantial advantages of digitization.
There are various advantages to digitization including faster access to information, improved customer experience, increased productivity, lower operational costs, improved decision making, improved information security, higher mobility, automation of business processes, agility, and disaster recovery.
Companies are embracing the digital world in greater numbers than ever before. However, progress toward modernity and digitization must be carefully planned, and the use of technology systems must be carefully considered.
The purpose of digitization is to make information more easily accessible, storable, maintainable, and shareable through the use of digital technology. Coupled with digitalization, digital information can we make better informed decisions and get insights into business operations.
In this article, we will discuss the advantages of digitization for businesses.
What is Digitization?
The process of converting information from a physical format to a digital format is known as digitization. It is the process of converting anything non-digital into a digital representation that computer systems may use to automate processes or workflows.
Digitization is the first step that each organization should take to begin their journey toward digital transformation. Extracting information from paper documents has proven to be expensive, inefficient, and prone to mistake. When information gets digitized, we begin to realize its worth, let the data speak, and use it to better how we work.
I highly recommend checking the below article
Digitization vs Digitalization: What’s The Difference? (theecmconsultant.com)
10 Advantages Of Digitization
Why digitize your business? The most straightforward answer is – companies that do not digitize, fail. If you want to survive, you should be thinking about digitization.
To become a digital workspace, businesses must begin transforming their analog information to digital and making it available whenever it is required. The ability to deliver information to the appropriate person at the right time and place in order to make educated business decisions is the most essential benefit of digitization.
The advantages of digitization are:
1- Faster access to information
One of the most important advantages of digitization is the ability to access information when needed.
Digitizing an organization is an investment that quickly pays for itself. one in all the foremost benefits of digitization is that within the organization, information becomes more accessible.
If you store documents digitally rather than physically, anyone with right access can view the needed information. It doesn’t matter whether your employees are performing at the office or at their home workplace. This also makes it lots easier to collaborate effectively.
Data communication (internal and external) is also simplified. The speed and convenience with which information may be exchanged is a significant benefit of digitization.
2- Improved customer experience
Giving workers the capacity to rapidly discover relevant information and documents will help customers obtain the answers they need in a timely way, assisting in customer retention and conversion into loyal customers.
3- Increased productivity
One of the most important advantages of digitization is the increase of employees productivity that will help organizations operate faster.
Employees may simply search for information and identify the desired documents when they are digitized and appropriately organized. Using modern techniques and a strong system, it is possible to search for documents based on their metadata and the information contained inside them.
UK employees spend over one million hours a week searching for misplaced documents at a cost of £20 million a year to their businesses
Not only that, but these electronic documents may be shared, exchanged, or collaborated on, increasing corporate efficiency.
This significantly minimizes the amount of time required to work with information and allows staff to focus on more vital activities, which will have a favorable influence on your business’s operations.
THE TYPICAL ENTERPRISE WITH 1,000 WORKERS WASTES $2.5M TO $3.5M/YEAR searching for nonexistent information, failing to find existing information, or recreating information that can’t be found
Source: IDC
4- Lower operational costs
Printing, preserving, and keeping paper documents may be expensive for businesses. Worse, in the event of a natural disaster (fire, flood, etc.), the papers may be destroyed, resulting in the loss of your most valuable asset.
Going digital will significantly lower the cost of document maintenance while also reducing or eliminating the expense of printing and exchanging them. Digital storage is far less expensive than physical cabinets and provides a better and more cost-effective method of backup and recovery.
5- Improved decision making
When information is digitized, the pace at which it is exchanged and delivered to the proper individual is exceedingly quick. Giving senior management the capacity to get correct information when it is needed will allow them to make better educated business decisions, which will eventually help your company thrive.
Furthermore, by utilizing comprehensive reporting tools, these managers may monitor how the organization is operating at any given time and make modifications as needed.
Knowledge workers spend 30% of the workday searching for information.
Source: IDC
6- Improved security
Paper documents may easily fall into the wrong hands, putting sensitive information such as client information, financial reports, and so on at risk. How many times have you discovered a document that was printed and then left on the printer for some time before being collected? What would you do if the printed paper included sensitive data?
EACH DAY 1 BILLION PHOTOCOPIES ARE MADE
Source: Forrester
Different strategies and solutions, on the other hand, may be used to safeguard digital documents and ensure that only the suitable and authorized employees have access to information. I strongly advise you to read the article linked below for further details.
Boost Your DOCUMENT SECURITY With These Tips (theecmconsultant.com)
7- Higher mobility
If the COVID19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of having information available from everywhere, not just the workplace. Unfortunately, many organizations were unable to operate during the lockdown since they were still depending on paper and couldn’t access it from outside their companies’ borders.
Digital documents, when combined with the correct technology, will allow your staff to access business information from nearly any location in the globe, allowing them to work and finish business transactions in the event of future pandemics and lockdowns.
8- Automation of business processes
Any company that wishes to run more effectively and smoothly must automate its business processes. Information must be digitized before any digitalization endeavor can begin!
By far the most essential advantage of digitization is the opportunity to begin automating manual business processes, allowing businesses to achieve their goals in the most efficient manner possible.
9- Environmentally friendly
Go green is the most important benefits of digitization that will help us save our planet earth.
With each printed document, we contribute to deforestation, increasing the harm done to our mother planet.
In terms of sustainability and natural resources, each corporation owes a commitment to present and future generations.
Go green with digitization!
THE AVERAGE DOCUMENT GETS COPIED 19 times
Source: Coopers and Lybrand
10- Disaster Recovery
One of the most great benefits of digitization is the possibility to recover information and data that has been lost due to natural catastrophes or other events.
In the event of a disaster, digital information and documents may be readily backed up and restored. As a result, your most precious asset will always be available and ready to support your business operations.
Consider what would happen if you suddenly lost your ability to see any document due to a natural disaster. How will this affect your company?
What is the disadvantage of digitization?
Digitization has its disadvantages, but it also has its advantages. Some people think that digitization is a disadvantage because of the loss of human touch and instant feedback. But on the other hand, digitization provides an efficient way to communicate and share information.
The world has been transformed by the rise of technology and digital data, which has led to a new industrial revolution. This revolution is characterized by the shift from an economy based on manufacturing to one based on information.
