Digital-first strategies for growing your business, without the growing pains

The world is hyper-connected, so being ‘out of date’ in terms of your digital prowess is essentially a death sentence.

From startups to established businesses, having the ability to adapt and remain at the crest of the tech wave is not optional, it’s a requirement. 

So, if you’re struggling to find your feet and get a business off the ground, then wrapping your head around the technological aspect can be a real nightmare.  

Here we’re going to run through some business strategies that are focused on seamlessly integrating the digital world into your business. Allowing you to grow in tandem with the technology you choose to use, from the get-go. 

Let’s take a look at how technology can not only improve your business but also make your work life a whole lot easier. 

Make Payments Painless

Gone are the days of cash; actually, gone are the days of people carrying their physical bank cards around with them. 

So, what has replaced this form of payment processing? Well, luckily for us it is the one thing we have with us at all times. 

The era of tap to pay payments has dawned upon us.

Having the ability to accept card payments on the phone will change the face of small businesses forever. Now, our customers don’t need physical money or even a physical card, and we don’t need expensive machines or special systems in place. 

Simply hold out your own phone, or your business phone, and let them use contactless in any way they choose. 

This kind of flexibility will save you hassle, time, money, and plenty of equipment, but it will also mean your customer’s experience with you is efficient, secure, quick and above all, easy. 

To scale a business today is to do more than just grow; scaling means expanding your operations while keeping your resources, time and money working efficiently, and taking payments with your iPhone is the ultimate example of how technology can help with this. 

Spot the Symptoms of ‘Growth Gone Wrong’ Early

Scaling a business can be a tricky thing, and spotting the growing pains in business is not at all easy. 

It happens to small businesses all over the world; the business starts to grow, the money begins to get better, more staff are required and before you know it, you’re no longer a small business. Success seems to be just around the corner; until things suddenly get a lot harder. 

Miscommunication, slow customer response, duplicated tasks and over flowing workloads can mean the destruction of a small enterprise as you transition from a small to a medium sized business. 

Spotting these signs early is much easier with technology by your side, and fixing them before they affect the day to day running of your business is crucial when looking to scale your operations up. 

Customer service management software, marketing technology, CRMs and workflow platforms can all help your business to efficiently manage tasks, improve communications and allow your business to grow in a controlled way. 

There really is no alternative to a platform that allows your whole team to communicate, coalesce and share information.    

Make the most of the incredible software that exists and make scaling a breeze. 

Don’t Just Grow: Optimise

In the light of what we just spoke about, growth is great, but if you're operating in a sub-optimal way getting bigger won’t mean much. 

Before you start hiring en masse, or adding more products than you can handle, take a minute and assess your current standings. Now is the time to ask yourself if your current operations are digitally optimized.

One of the key reasons businesses fail as they expand is due to them not having a good enough answer to this question. 

Can your CRM scale with your pipeline? Are your payment systems up to date, mobile friendly and easy to use? Do you have adequate accounting capabilities? Do you have a way to handle onboarding? 

If the answer to any of these is “No” or “I don’t know”, then you need to stop and address these issues while you still can, and if you need help, be sure to seek it out. 

Many companies don’t fully understand that they need the assistance of technology as they grow, they might need improved security, more server space, better project management tools, or even proper payment systems without realising until it’s too late.

Using technology will help you shape the kind of business scale up strategy you need, in order to go from small to mighty without any costly hiccoughs.   

Build a Stack That Scales With You

The right digital stack should evolve with your company, you don’t need every tool on the market, just the ones that are right for you. But, before going into more detail, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page.

The word ‘stack’ is a bit jargon-ish, but bear with us. 

A digital stack refers to the collection of digital tools that you use to enact your digital strategy. It simply refers to the online marketing tools you use, the accountancy applications you trust and the software that allows you to operate day to day, just as a few examples. 

Your stack does not need to be extensive, you simply need the things that work for you. Here are a few great places to start.

Customer Relationship Management

A CRM, or Customer Relationship Management tool, essentially allows you to efficiently manage your customers’ information, interaction and overall experience with your company. 

Contact details, marketing preferences and feedback are all contained under one roof for simple access. So, if you’ve got a huge client base, you’ll certainly benefit from a solid CRM.   

eCommerce

If you’re an online business then having a scalable ecommerce store is an absolute must. 

Imagine a physical shop going from 5 customers per day to, 5,000 customers per day; things would be terribly inefficient, crowded and slow. 

An online store is just the same and will struggle under heavy usage without the correct servers or technical support in place. Payments will be slower, website navigation will be affected and the overall experience will be greatly reduced if your store can’t cope with the traffic you receive.  

Trusted online stores from the likes of SumUp, Square and Shopify offer a range of tools and functionalities designed to help brands establish a presence and grow online.

Cloud Storage

In this digital age, we rely more and more on cloud storage, and it’s nothing to be intimidated by; in fact, it’s an incredibly useful tool. If your amount of staff increases, or you continually find you need more storage space then start searching for the right cloud storage for your business. 

It will boost collaboration, streamline administrative tasks and allow every member of your team access to all the important information they need to efficiently do their jobs.   

Website Platform

In much the same way as your ecommerce platform, having a powerful, intuitive and aesthetically pleasing website is crucial to success in the digital age. 

There are plenty of platforms out there so make sure your traffic needs are matched, and that you can use the platform to create and manage a beautiful website without any hassle. 

There are many tools out there, so start off by making a list of your needs and trying to match them to the right digital tools for you; this will help you to pick the software that will serve your wider vision for how you plan to grow and scale your business.

Final Thoughts: Growth Without Pain

Change can be a big deal. It can be scary, and things can go wrong, such is the way of the world. 

But scaling up a business does not have to be scary. 

With the right tech on your side it could actually be a lot easier than you might think. Growth can, and should, be exciting. With data driven insights, maximum efficiency, streamlined operations, easy payment systems and customer focussed tools, your business could reach heights you never expected. 

With these strategies in mind, you’ll be able to grow and scale your business without the painful mistakes, the expensive mishaps and huge learning curve; you’ll be bigger, better, smarter and more profitable before you know it.