The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about many changes to our society, including the increase in health controls and a greater awareness of good hygiene.
It has also pushed digital acceleration in our everyday lives and brought many technological advancements in a short period of time. Quoting from Steve Hasker, President & CEO of Thomson Reuters Corp.: "I think we've seen three to four years of progress in just three to four months, in terms of acceptance of what the new world needs to look like."
For example, in Singapore, the quick implementation of TraceTogether made good use of the Bluetooth functionality on mobile phones and allowed health authorities to monitor the spread of Covid-19 infections instantaneously. This allowed individuals to be notified immediately when exposed to COVID-19 through close contact, allowing them to take measures to protect those around them and isolate themselves, reducing the spread of COVID-19.
The pandemic has also driven consumers’ usage of food delivery applications. According to Adjust, global installations of food delivery apps increased by 25% in 2020 compared to 2019, and are up by a further 21% so far in 2021. Looking at APAC, installations were even more impressive, increasing by 37%, topped off by an additional 6% this year. In North America, the 2020 boost hit 30% and is up another 10% in 2021.
What does this mean for businesses?
This means that consumers are now more familiar with technological tools and with this trend in mind, businesses need to keep up with this digital acceleration. This way, they would be able to keep up with changing consumer preferences and at the same time, increase the efficiency of their services through online means.
It has become vital for businesses to keep up with technological changes to stay afloat in the competitive business scene. According to a new McKinsey Global Survey of executives, their companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years. And the share of digital or digitally enabled products in their portfolios has accelerated by a shocking seven years. When asked about the impact of the crisis on a range of measures, respondents said that funding for digital initiatives has increased more than anything else - more than increases in costs, the number of people in technology roles, and the number of customers.
Clearly, digital acceleration has brought about great changes such as allowing businesses to have more digital interactions with customers. Thus, digital acceleration has resulted in many benefits, such as innovation, financial savings, reduced labour costs, and improved decision-making.
So how exactly can businesses safeguard themselves through digital acceleration? Here are some simple ways that Tessaract can help your business accelerate today!
1. Digitalise administrative tasks with customisable forms
In every onboarding process, getting information through the use of form-filling is inevitable. Often, these forms are in the format of PDFs which require manual typing or handwriting to fill up, together with keying in of repeated information.
Yet, by using digital forms with customisable fields, you can speed up the process by customising your forms according to your needs. The information which has been entered before can be quickly auto-filled to similar fields, making the form-filling process pain-free and efficient. Furthermore, these forms can be duplicated for similar needs in future, meaning you do not have to build a form from scratch, which saves you valuable time.
Thus, the need for tedious administrative tasks is eliminated completely, allowing you to achieve a streamlined process to attain and process information quickly.
2. Restructure workflows to run with just one click
Avoid having to respond individually to query emails or sending out email reminders manually to clients. With a step-by-step workflow which runs with just one click, send out personalised emails to your clients according to the type of case.
For example, for a law firm handling a client’s divorce case, there will be many steps such as getting required documents from the client and sending them email reminders for respective deadlines. To ensure that no document or deadline is missed, a structured workflow can be created for each type of case and these workflows can be triggered at the click of a button. This workflow could also be shared with the client in a client portal, where they can view their case status and check that they have submitted all documents in a checklist-type format.
This makes for smooth communication on both ends and prevents any misunderstandings from occurring during the case, allowing you to provide your clients with a clear and speedy transaction.
3. Secure e-signing to speed up contracts, robust database
In any client transaction, the use of contracts is necessary. Make the contract signing process secure and effective by using e-signing to seal your deals. There are many advantages, such as being able to sign anywhere, anytime; reducing the need for paper contracts, which can be lost in the mail or face transportation issues; and freeing up more manpower hours so that the finished contracts can be processed even more efficiently.
Additionally, these contracts and all information from clients will be safely stored on Tessaract’s integrated database for easy future reference and quick access. This eradicates the problem of lost or misplaced documents, and even protects against security threats by ensuring that only those with authorisation can access these files. Such security controls can even be personalised so that only certain individuals have access permissions to these important documents.
Having an integrated database would also come in handy for your company when conducting stakeholder management. Instead of having to manually keep a list of clients and their relationships, the integrated database would provide you with the functionalities to perform conflict checks and search functions within seconds, making it a useful tool for your business.
Digital acceleration is happening every day, even now
The latest technological trends will continue to be updated every second, and firms would be able to grow their business by taking advantage of these trends. Additionally, making use of digital acceleration would help firms to become more efficient and effective, which could even result in big cost savings, reduced lead time in processes, and the ability to future-proof against the unknown.
After all, as Automation Anywhere discusses, it is clear that Covid-19 will not be the last drastic change in the digital world or the business one. Consumer behaviour can also drastically change the business ecosystem with the arrival of new technologies and societal trends. Companies that want not just to survive but thrive in their new environment must learn to adapt quickly during periods of uncertainty.
With Tessaract, you can grow your business to a more agile and powerful level, and make use of the digital acceleration taking place today. Additionally, learn more tips and tricks with Tessaract by browsing our other posts on building an effective weekly work plan template through 7 essential steps, 6 repetitive tasks that can be replaced by workflow automation, and the secret ways to increase your workplace productivity. You can even learn how to stay ahead with the cloud and power your business with Tessaract’s business management software. Find out more by requesting a demo with us today!
