Process digitization is the action of transferring operations to the virtual environment, sending physical or even digital documents to the cloud, making them accessible quickly and whenever necessary by anyone who is authorized and has a device with access to the Internet.
More and more human activities are part of the digital world — at least those that are possible. The whole world is connected, thanks to the digitization process.
There are jobs that are carried out 100% online, which has made the home office viable for many companies. The shopping? They are made by apps and delivered to your door. Contracts are signed through electronic signature and even interpersonal relationships begin and develop online.
With the technological advance visible on all sides, it remains for companies to adapt to the new possibilities, submitting to a digitalization process.
Just like analog products that marked history and are now remembered by a few people, companies that do not implement technology in their routines may also have their days numbered. After all, the automation and digitization of processes have become vital for their survival.
Want to know how the digitization process can impact your company's future? So keep reading this post, in which we explain what process digitization is, what is its difference from process automation, how to implement it, and what are the biggest challenges for it. Good reading!
What is process digitization?
Process digitization refers to sending physical documents or the entire informational heritage that a company has accumulated over the years to the cloud. In this way, you will be transferring your activities to the digital environment.
This action generates more dynamism for the business, allowing authorized people to have access to documents quickly and whenever necessary, either through authorized devices or remotely from anywhere in the world.
In other words, it is possible to say that the digitization process allows that, instead of occupying space with piles and piles of papers with limited information, everything can be stored in the cloud, in a practical and organized way.
The main objectives of process digitization are:
- reduce waste;
- increase profits;
- increase productivity;
- reduce errors and rework.
What is the difference between process digitization and process
automation?
The use of technology has expanded within companies, allowing them to improve their performance. Once included in the teams' routine, it allows increasing your productivity, organization, and even access, reducing costs and eliminating processes that do not fit into their business strategies.
In this sense, process automation is the use of technology to integrate all systems and data of a business, aiming to improve its productivity and increase the business' control over the progress of services, requests and projects. The aim is to eliminate manual activities, replacing them with automated processes.
It is important to note that performing many tasks manually takes time and is expensive. Therefore, process automation is a practice that is becoming increasingly common in large companies.
Process digitization, on the other hand, consists of transferring all the information of a business to the cloud, in addition to avoiding the use of paper for any type of activity. Everything must be online, which means more agility and the main thing: more savings for all sectors of the business, increasing the company's profit.
How to implement process digitization?
To implement process digitization and start saving on costs, the company needs a solution called Field Service Management, or, in free translation, Field Service System.
With this software, managers of large, medium, and even small companies can solve all the problems that negatively affect the productivity of their business, in addition to identifying which strategies are errors and what needs to be improved.
You take all the data that the company has accumulated into a system and you can compile the information that will help you see what needs to be adjusted. In this way, it becomes possible to digitize processes such as:
- monitor the location of technicians in real-time;
- track field service orders for the day;
- organize and send reports to clients;
- monitor activities and projects that are being carried out;
- synchronize schedules;
- collect customer reviews.
The most interesting thing is that, instead of wasting hours organizing an operation, in a few clicks, he has access to all the data he needs, and he can also generate monthly, fortnightly, or weekly reports on the performance of each technician or project.
3 challenges for process digitization
Although necessary and highly indicated, the digitization process still faces some challenges. Are they:
1 - Infrastructure
The digitization process of a company will require, above all, a physical space that is capable of transferring all its data to a digital environment.
Therefore, to make the information accumulated in the cloud available, you need to think about several components, such as equipment and servers.
2 - Planning
Companies with a few years of activity may not have a problem with this. But large companies, which have been in the market for generations, may encounter some difficulties during the process, so they need planning.
Large companies need to separate information by sectors, dates, importance, and projects. This task does not involve just a group of IT technicians, but all managers and teams.
Is your idea to transport all your business information to digital? Make a plan, gather the managers of all the teams and create a schedule.
First, gather the information, organize the company. Eliminate unnecessary data, define what is a priority and get everything ready for the practical step, in which the IT team will really take action.
3 - Expertise
There are many professionals on the market, but not everyone is qualified for a process digitization project.
For companies looking for highly qualified professionals for this type of project, without having to increase their staff, they can count on the find a nerd, a company that offers outsourced IT service and helps large businesses reach a new digital level.