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Top 7 Digital Tools To Boost Your Business In 2022

Written by Thomas Salvatori on March 04, 2022

 In 2022, we can say with some certainty that the future passes through digitization. It is necessary to focus our structure and activities on digital tools and software responsible for facilitating daily tasks.

It can be through the automation of processes or the simple transfer of documents from analog format to digital.

Launching into the digital world without minimum knowledge on the subject is risky since there is a lot at stake, and it can go wrong.

To help those businesses that have doubts or do not have enough knowledge, we have made a compilation of digital tools that can be found on the market and can be very useful for managing a company.

The 7 Digital Technologies to Boost Your Business

Accounting software

Accounting is generally one of the most tedious steps in running a business and the most necessary.

Neglecting to account can lead to surprises or imbalances, leading to red numbers or fines that put the business at risk.

That is why the use of accounting software can be of great help. These programs are responsible for accounting for and maintaining all invoices issued and received in an orderly manner.

By keeping everything organized in one place, when presenting our accounts, we will only have to download one file.

The system prepares all the invoices to download them in a single file and directly attach it to the tax office. Once done, we only have to consult the status of the income statement and wait for the resolution.

In addition, they usually include automatic bank reconciliation, which saves us a lot of time in controlling our account and verifying that the income corresponds.

The program analyzes the pending invoices and income and recognizes which corresponds to each one. In this way, the pending invoices automatically change their status to "collected."

Optical character recognition

Optical character recognition – or OCR for its acronym in English – is one of the most valuable technologies of recent years.

As we mentioned before, in the 21st century, everything goes digital. Apart from not being environmentally responsible, the paper format is fragile, takes up a lot of space, and is susceptible to loss.

We may be 100% digitized, but other businesses we work with are not yet- Because of this, we have to deal with physical and digital documents simultaneously, hindering, among other things, billing or human resources.

Optical character recognition technology is becoming one of the most widely used tools. It is responsible for digitizing a document but in a much more complete way.

It is not limited to scanning the image but analyzes each character and transforms it into digital. We can attach an image file, and the system will export a 100% digital document. Same as those created directly from the software.

In this way, we can digitally manage and store all the important documents of our business. We can get a better index and add all the necessary metadata to facilitate your search.

Document management

Following the thread of the previous point, we continue talking about tools that facilitate the storage and management of documents.

A document management program is responsible for automatically storing, organizing, capturing, and even digitizing all relevant and necessary documents to operate a given activity.

Document management tools focus on digital, but they also serve physical documents. They can tell us exactly which shelf, hallway, room, etc. find what we are looking for.

However, its potential is more significant with digital documents. In addition to indicating where it is, we can link directly to them so that with a single click, we can open them.

The same software can be in charge of creating and digitizing the documents. So we can move everything that previously occupied an entire room onto a single computer. Organized, in addition, by folders and indexed optimally for its search.

This type of tool increases efficiency exponentially since it saves a lot of time searching for documents.

The application of automatic classification systems means that we save time when saving them and storing them.

The system recognizes the unique characteristics of the document and automatically classifies them so that we can easily find them, regardless of the department to which they belong.

Enterprise content management

Enterprise content managers are often confused with the document management tools we discussed earlier.

Although they are related, as we will see later, they are different concepts.
While a content manager does not necessarily have to apply to a company, the enterprise content manager ― ECM for its acronym in English ― focuses specifically on a company's content. Although they can also be used by NGOs or any other type of organization.

In a few words, an ECM is in charge of the content, understood not only as files or documents but also as unstructured information. They can be documents and text files and images, web pages, videos, audios, etc.

This content is captured and stored, and the ERMs are the set of activities responsible for capturing and managing these documents in a simple, organized, and easy to find a way.

At the same time, it allows the delivery and sharing of files to be accessible to users external or internal to the company safely.

Therefore, we can say that although they are different, generally within any self-respecting ERM, we will find document management systems such as those previously mentioned.

CRM

We have talked about document management and accounting, but we have not yet mentioned another critical aspect of any business: customers.

Customers are the ones who ultimately define the success or failure of our business. That is why it is essential to offer them the attention they deserve and try to retain them and not lose them.

The use of a customer relationship manager ― CRM for its acronym in English ― takes care of this and much more.

A CRM is responsible for storing customer information, regardless of the channel through which they reach our business.

Information and data today are very valuable, so if we know how to use them well, they can help the success of our business.

Having the data of our clients available, we can create personalized marketing strategies tailored to the clients' tastes.

Offering specific offers on their favorite products or those that we think may interest them is an excellent way to increase sales.

The same can be applied to customer support. If we have a file with all the information and history of our client from the first moment, we can provide a first-class service that the client will surely appreciate.

Cloud storage

We already know how to manage the documents and information that we have. But if we want to leap to the digital world, we must divest ourselves of physical format storage.

Cloud data storage is now a reality. It is used by all kinds of devices, software, and companies since its benefits over physical format make it an obvious choice.

First, because it is ubiquitous, you can easily access all your documents no matter where or when you are. You need a browser and internet access.

Second, all documents are encrypted and can only be accessed with authorized credentials for your safety. In addition, automatic backups are generated so that, whatever happens, you will not lose your files.

Third, they make the transfer and exchange of documents much more accessible. It is only necessary to send a link, and anyone can access the document, regardless of the type of device they have

Fourth, but not least, its price. You only pay for the space you use. In addition, it is easily customizable. If you need more storage space, you have to expand it, and it is just as easy to reduce it.

Conclusion

Although digitizing your business seems like an arduous task, the use of tools like the ones mentioned above will make this process more enjoyable.

Not only that, in a short time, you will begin to see the results of automating processes and procedures through digital tools.

Study the structure and activities of your company well and define a strategy to see which elements can benefit from digitization.

Some of the tools on this list may not apply to your business, but they may inspire you to look for alternatives that are a better fit.

The essential thing is to decide and launch your business into the digital world.

Author's bio: Thomas Salvatori. Content creator translator and writer. With around ten years of experience in sales, purchasing, warehouse management, group management and human resources, communication, and entrepreneurship in B2B and B2C. He is currently dedicating his knowledge to help implement technology, digitalization, and SaaS for local companies.