Posts

Data is the new oil. The world is going digital fast, and the data race has begun. With the digital transformation of businesses accelerating, organisations are increasing their investments in AI and Big Data technologies to gain a competitive edge. 

Some believe that by 2023, 90% of all network traffic will be driven by artificial intelligence as systems continue to learn at a rapid pace. What does this mean for businesses? It’s time to start being data-driven from now on! 

Data-Driven Companies

Digital transformation has redefined the role of businesses. They are more data-driven and technology-enabled companies, with their performance measured in real-time and their strategy aligning with their KPIs. The prevailing business environment is fast-paced and dynamic, with technological changes accelerating at a lightning speed. Businesses need to remain agile, innovative and collaborative to stay ahead of the curve. 

It is not just about adopting digital technologies but leveraging data to drive business outcomes. Data is the fuel that drives artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics. 

Here are six ways businesses can be data-driven in 2023:

Always be on the lookout for data sources

The first step towards data-driven business is to look for data sources. Enterprises need to go beyond their core business and look for data sources from the broader ecosystem. This is achieved by partnering with startups, data service providers, universities, and government organizations that are focused on data-driven initiatives. 

Data partnerships will strengthen your data set and support your ability to quickly pilot and test new solutions. Already having a large data set will allow businesses to build services that can be applied across industries.

Leverage AI and ML to make sense of the data

Once you have a good data set, you need to make sense of it. This is where AI and ML come into play. AI can be applied to every stage of the data pipeline. 

AI can assist in data sourcing, preparation, training, and model deployment. AI can help make sense of the data at each stage of the data pipeline by detecting patterns and anomalies, automating repetitive tasks, and providing insights that can drive business outcomes.

Build a data-driven culture

A data-driven culture is essential for businesses to thrive in a data-driven world. This can be achieved by creating the right environment that fosters innovation and creativity. Create a culture where data is celebrated, debated, and democratized. 

Leaders should be open to receiving numbers that challenge their assumptions. Data governance and transparency are must-haves for every organization. The data-driven culture will help businesses in leveraging the full potential of data. It will also help businesses in mitigating risks associated with data.

Establish real-time analytics capabilities

Real-time analytics is the need of the hour for businesses to be data-driven. Enterprises are empowered with the ability to generate insights in real-time. 

Decision-making can be made on the go, based on the latest data and insights. Data integration and governance challenges can be overcome with the help of technologies like Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, and Apache Hadoop. 

Beyond data integration, businesses must look for ways to make data more accessible to the end user. An integrated data approach across data-driven ecosystems and tools will help enterprises in delivering real-time insights and enrich the decision-making process. 

Visualisation tools can be leveraged to bring data to life and make it easier for non-technical users to engage with it.

Utilize transparently and trusted data sources

Transparency in data sources will be critical in a data-driven ecosystem. Data quality is the biggest challenge businesses face when it comes to data-driven initiatives. Data quality can be improved by investing in data governance practices. 

It is important to invest in data quality and governance to ensure that all data is clean, trusted, and accurate. Data governance can help in achieving high standards of data quality. It can also help in building data trust by making data transparent and accessible to everyone in the organization.

Data Scientist recruitment

The role of data scientists has evolved from being data-driven to data-driven. Data scientists must be more business-driven and have an impact on business outcomes. Businesses must hire data scientists who can provide value to their organization by leveraging data to provide insights and recommendations that can drive business growth. 

Data scientists must be equipped with the tools and skills to integrate their findings with existing systems and automate insights for broader distribution. It is also important for businesses to invest in hiring the right talent to make the most of their data investments. 

This can be achieved by hiring data scientists who are well-versed with the latest technologies and techniques in the data science field. They should have the skills and expertise to build models that can help in making better business decisions.

Conclusion

Digital transformation has redefined the role of businesses by making them more real-time, data-driven and technology-enabled. To stay ahead of the curve in this new digital world, businesses need to leverage data to drive business outcomes. 

This can be achieved by always being on the lookout for data sources, leveraging AI and ML to make sense of data, building a data-driven culture, establishing real-time analytics capabilities, and using transparent and trusted data sources.

Check Out the Top 21 Digital Tools To Try Out On Your Business in 2023

Since the start of the third industrial revolution – also known as the digital revolution age – in the mid 20th century, businesses and corporate organisations have always adopted improved ways to function digitally.

The rapid adoption of digital tools by businesses didn’t begin until the late 90s at the height of the internet boom. This golden era heralded the rise of digital products like cloud software which have transformed the way businesses and organisations store important data from meagre physical hard drives sizes of the 60 to the 90s to powerful giant servers housed by software companies like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service and Google Cloud Platform.

Using efficient and innovative digital tools has many advantages which include customer satisfaction and retention, improved internal and external communication, time optimisation, low customer churn out rate, information centralisation, etc.

READ MORE: 10 Things You Need To Know About Digital Transformation

Table of Contents

  1. What Are Digital Tools
  2. The Rise of GAFAM
  3. Basic Digital Tools and Systems
  4. The Right Digital Tools
  5. 1 DT Assessment Tool
  6. 2 Microsoft Teams
  7. 3 Zoom Video Communications
  8. 4 Whatsapp Business
  9. 5 Zendesk
  10. 6 Sage Cloud Accounting
  11. 7 Hootsuite
  12. 8 Google Workspace
  13. 9 Twitter
  14. 10 Asana
  15. 11 Google Marketing Platform
  16. 12 Google Data Studio
  17. 13 DropBox
  18. 14 Microsoft Azure
  19. 15 Instagram
  20. 16 WordPress
  21. 17 TalentSoft
  22. 18 MailChimp
  23. 19 HubSpot
  24. 20 Trello
  25. 21 PayFit

What Are Digital Tools?

Digital tools are online platforms or software applications leveraged by businesses or individuals to perform quick and optimised functions that ordinarily takes forever to accomplish without them.

The Rise of GAFAM

Most businesses and organisations that have transformed or are in the process of transforming digitally have adopted the use of some digital tools owned by Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft also known as the Big 5. From cloud storage, collaboration, security, to communication tools, these tech giants have it covered.

Basic Digital Tools and Systems

Over the years, digital tools have slowly grown from performing very basic tasks easily done by new interns to more complex tasks usually undertaken by high level engineers and managers. This evolution has greatly improved and saved productivity, output and output respectively, reducing the need for busywork in the workplace.

The Right Digital Tools

Beyond joining the digital transformation wave, It’s imperative that businesses choose the right digital tool that works for them. For example, an upcoming fashion brand will quickly improve its operational process digitally with a Customer Relationship Management tool like Zendesk, while a Logistics company will prioritise the use of several management tools.

Some tools remain very necessary to integrate across industries and we’ll take a look at 21 of them. Here are 21 digital tools businesses should promptly adopt next year if they haven’t:

1 DT Assessment tool

Businesses that adopt digital technologies with no other strategy than the sheer aim to compete have found themselves in a puddle 9 out of 10 times. This underscores the importance of the digital transformation assessment tool for businesses.

The Digital Transformation tool will enable businesses to look inward and find out how ready they are to adopt technology, based on their current operational process and also provide recommendations to help businesses understand what technologies they need to adopt. Ultimately this will help to ensure that businesses can guarantee high returns on their investment in technology solutions.

2 Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is one of the most effective digital tools out there for businesses that want an all-in-one package. It gained prominence during the pandemic last year. The collaborative software, replacing other Microsoft messaging and collaborative platforms like Skype and Classroom, consist of a chat feature where users can chat seamlessly with other users both one on one and as a group, file sharing, meeting, live event and a video/audio call feature.

Microsoft Teams is itself an online workspace where Team members can get work done.

3 Zoom Video Communications

The Zoom app was pretty much an inconspicuous digital tool that gained so much traction as the go-to social distancing tool during the surge of the COVID 19 pandemic last year. This led to Zoom being the fifth most downloaded mobile app worldwide in 2020 at 477 million downloads.

The video conferencing platform is best used for remote working, distance education (usually known as webinars) and all those boring Monday meetings.

The app can be downloaded from the Apple app store and Google Play Store and also on desktops.

4 Whatsapp Business

For most individual businesses, especially on social media, the Whatsapp Business app is the go to digital tool. With features such as a business profile, catalogue to show your products and services, auto messaging, QR codes to invite new customers and other features, Whatsapp business allows businesses to enhance operations and provide them with a professional and personalised way to engage with their customers.

The messaging app was created by Facebook as a standalone application for business owners and can be downloaded from the app and PlayStore.

5 Zendesk

Interfacing with a lot of old and new customers seamlessly can be a hassle if your business has yet to integrate with the right customer service software. This is where Zendesk comes in. The tool helps optimise your customer relationship with features like messaging and live chat, ticketing system, voice, answering bot and so much more.

6 Sage Cloud Accounting

One of the best accounting software out there, the Sage business cloud accounting platform is a truly transformative digital tool for any business that has adopted it. The software comes fully fitted with advanced inventory, stocks management, invoicing, debtor management, etc and can be used across all industries.

7 Hootsuite

Social media has increasingly become a very important medium used by companies and organisations to communicate with customers. But managing several social media accounts at the same time will require social media management tools like Hootsuite. With Hootsuite, you can manage, plan, schedule and analyse all your company’s social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube) and contents in one place.

The platform comes in 3 different plans; Professional, Teams and Enterprise and can be accessed on the web and downloaded from the app and Play Store.

8 Google Workspace

Arguably the most used digital tool by businesses and individuals due to its simplicity and seamless integration, the Google Workplace, formerly known as Google Suites is a powerful digital transformation tool. The collaborative suite includes well known digital tools like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Slides, My Tasks, Drive and a number of others that employees can use to share real time information.

The digital tools under the G Workspace package can be used independently or jointly.

9 Twitter

Before its ban, Twitter was one of the most favorite online tools used by Nigerian businesses for the quick dissemination of information about their offerings.

Its disposition to capture a lot of audience in a matter of minutes makes it a go to affordable marketing tool for small businesses.

10 Asana

Another popular collaborative digital tool businesses can use to work remotely is Asana. Created by a former Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams organise, manage and track their work.

Unlike Microsoft Teams and Google workspace, Asana is a bit limited in features that include automated workflow and reporting, but it’s still a great option especially for small-scale businesses and startups.

11 Google Marketing Platform

This is one of the best digital marketing tools for any B2Bs or B2Cs looking to gain visibility and traction.

The Google Marketing Platform offers solutions like Data Studio (check below for more information), Analytics for reporting, Optimize to test your app or web products and Surveys for fast and reliable opinions from your customers for both Small businesses and Enterprises comes loaded with a lot of rich offerings.

12 Google Data Studio

The first data analytics digital tool on the list, the Google Data Studio is a data analytics tool like no other. Simplistic in its usage, the tool is used for converting data into customisable and visualisable informative reports and dashboards.

A product of Google Marketing Platform, the Data Studio features include Data Connectors for seamless integration with other Google platforms like Google Sheets and Google Ads, Data Transformation to transform raw data into meaningful information and Data Visualization.

13 Dropbox

As the name implies, it’s a box where you can drop stuff. Well, it’s a little more than that. It’s a gigantic, remotely accessible box where you can drop and access any of your files.

With Dropbox, you can easily share different files, no matter how large or small, with the rest of your teammates, making it easier to collaborate and co-create. Dropbox can be easily accessed from any computer, mobile device or web driver and its creators assure users of optimal security during file transfers.

14 Microsoft Azure

Build applications to meet customer demands using AI and machine learning. Test, deploy, manage and scale applications up and down depending on demands.

Do all of this and even modernize your existing applications with Microsoft Azure.

15 Instagram

Do we even need to go deep into this one? I’m guessing no. But we’d do it anyway for the sake of those who aren’t still in the know. One of the most important tricks with marketing and digital marketing is understanding where exactly your customers are and meeting them right there.

With this in mind, think of who your ideal customers are, think of what they’d most likely be doing during the day at every moment when they get a breather from work. If you can picture them scrolling through Instagram feeds, then you already know your business page should be one of those feeds they’re feeding on. (hmmm. So that’s why they call them feeds. Oh! you just learnt something extra. I should get a tip for that).

This tool enables users to create websites or blogs for any purpose and helps manage the contents deployed on the website after creation for great SEO ranking.

16 WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems. As of May 2021, 41.4% of the top 10million websites around the world uses WordPress.

This tool enables users to create websites or blogs for any purpose and helps manage the contents deployed on the website after creation for great SEO ranking.

17 TalentSoft

TalentSoft is a cloud-based HR software that enables Human resource managers to have better interactions with other managers across the organization as well as employees. The tool has a wide range of features that caters to different HR functions like, recruiting, employee engagement, onboarding and more.

TalentSoft adapts to HR practices across different countries and organizational structures, making the tool effective for talent management on a global scale even whilst it respects local requirements.

18 MailChimp

Your business is incomplete without an email marketing tool. One of the most popular digital email marketing tools out there, MailChimp is virtually used by any business – including news platforms and podcast hosts – with a moderate or large customer/audience base.

The MailChimp features which include Audience Management for segmentation and targeting, Creative Tools for content creation, Marketing Automation and Insights and Analytics allow for seamless and faster interaction with customers and integration to other digital tools.

19 HubSpot

Very few digital tools offer so much comprehensive digital interaction for businesses the way HubSpot does. The HubSpot platform packs a big punch; it combines customer relationship management solutions, inbound marketing solutions and other digital solutions into one package and can be integrated with other popular digital tools.

The platform also offers easy to use free features to help businesses grow their audience base online.

20 Trello

Trello is a visual collaboration tool where users share and manage projects. Unlike most collaboration tools on this list, Trello’s unique offering is in its powerful visual perspective to remote work.

Not considered as a go to option for most businesses due to its limited features, it’s still an attractive option for users who want a fun and simple interface to work on.

21 PayFit

A list of digital tools for businesses is not complete without a payroll management tool like PayFit. The tool completely takes away the hassle of manually preparing and processing payment of employee salaries and entitlements from Human Resources managers by automating the process using various features like employee portal, onboarding and reporting and exports.

The big data analytics market is predicted to reach $103 billion by 2023, and the market has grown by 20 per cent this year alone. Many companies use big data creatively to gain insights that enable them to become and remain competitive in their field. For example, tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Meta have successfully leveraged the use of predictive analytics to continually stand out, sometimes designating them as big data companies.

Before we explore how businesses can leverage the power of big data, we must have a firm understanding of the term.

What is Big Data

IBM maintains that businesses around the world generate nearly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily! Almost 90% of the global data has been produced in the last 2 years alone.

Big Data refers to complex and large data sets that have to be processed and analyzed to uncover valuable information that can benefit businesses and organizations.

However, there are certain basic tenets of Big Data that will make it even simpler to answer what is Big Data:

  • It refers to a massive amount of data that keeps on growing exponentially with time.
  • It is so voluminous that it cannot be processed or analyzed using conventional data processing techniques.
  • It includes data mining, data storage, data analysis, data sharing, and data visualization.
  • The term is an all-comprehensive one including data, data frameworks, along with the tools and techniques used to process and analyze the data.

Types of Big Data

Now that we are on track with what is big data, let’s have a look at the types of big data:

Structured

Structured is one of the types of big data and By structured data, we mean data that can be processed, stored, and retrieved in a fixed format. It refers to highly organized information that can be readily and seamlessly stored and accessed from a database by simple search engine algorithms. For instance, the employee table in a company database will be structured as the employee details, their job positions, their salaries, etc., will be present in an organized manner. 

Unstructured

Unstructured data refers to data that lacks any specific form or structure whatsoever. This makes it very difficult and time-consuming to process and analyze unstructured data. Email is an example of unstructured data. Structured and unstructured are two important types of big data.

Semi-structured

Semi-structured is the third type of big data. Semi-structured data pertains to the data containing both the formats mentioned above, that is, structured and unstructured data. To be precise, it refers to the data that although has not been classified under a particular repository (database), yet contains vital information or tags that segregate individual elements within the data. Thus we come to the end of the types of data. Let’s discuss the characteristics of data.

Why Do Businesses Need Big Data Analytics? 

Surely, you would be thinking “why should I use it?”.

Undoubtedly, many businesses are unaware of the need for big data analytics. They must know that uncovering valuable insightful information can allow a business to improve value for consumers. It can be done by analyzing patterns in market shifts, trends, customer behaviour, and correlation between data. Presently, 96% of worldwide companies have confirmed the increased investment in Big Data. 

Besides, Data devices allow you to carve a whole information scene over the organization. Data investigation is the major perk you can relish. Besides, you can also guard delicate data through Big Data statistics. 

The fact is that Big Data is very useful for most businesses, as it allows you to guarantee information well-being and insurance. By enabling advanced software and analytics systems, and having high-power computing systems, big data provides a myriad of advantages to enterprises such as: 

  • Opportunities for revenue generation 
  • Improved customer support 
  • Enhanced marketing strategies 
  • Improved operational efficiency
  • Competitive advantages, and more

However, amidst all of these advantages, the single question remains looming in the head of business owners that is “How to use Big Data in business?’’

Improve Customer Engagement And Retention 

Every business owner understands the value of customer engagement. Surely, your first preference would also be creating an unmatched quality user experience to ensure customer engagement

However, sometimes, it becomes very daunting for businesses to retain customers even with a higher customer base. This happens when you don’t understand the need and desires of consumers. 

If you are slow in understanding the desire of your customer, you may end up losing your customers. Here comes big data into the picture. This technology stream allows businesses to analyze and observe customer behaviour, patterns, and trends in real-time. 

Simply, the more data a business collects, the more it can find patterns and trends to spruce up user experience. 

Currently, it is easy for businesses to collect data which means it will be easy to understand modern-day consumers through real-time data analytic strategies. 

Real-time customer analytics is very important to achieve business goals in current market scenarios and Big Data offers that insight. 

Gain Marketing Insights 

The naked truth of advertising and marketing is that “businesses have lost millions in devising the right strategy to boost the conversion rate. “ 

Surely, you would have also spent a lot of money in running advertising and still you won’t be able to get fruitful results. 

Big data analytics has the utmost potential to improve this operation for your organization by enabling you to match customer expectations. Besides, it also supports changing your company’s product line and devising powerful marketing campaigns. 

If you think it is not viable then let me tell you that “ after years of research and cautious enthusiasm, the advertising and marketing technology sector is now embracing big data”.

This sector is now making a more informed and decisive analysis of marketing and advertisements. The major aspects of these analyses are online activity, monitoring point of sales transactions, and detection of changes in customer trends. 

Gaining insights about customer behaviour and their buying patterns allows you to understand the likings and preferences of consumers. This similar approach is being illustrated by marketers and advertisers resulting in the creation of targeted and focused campaigns. 

You will be able to save money and ensure efficiency by leveraging targeted, and personalized campaigns. As per a report, big data analytics allows you to 

  • Predict Audience 
  • Improve targeted advertising 
  • Develop new content and  monetization 
  • Better media scheduling and more

Examples of companies that have used big data for market insight to scale include YouTube and Netflix. If you use these applications, you must be aware of how these platforms send suggestions and also show advertisements. Past searches and the watch history of users allow them to send the right interest to users which is all done through Big data analytics. 

Risk Management 

Businesses have to deal with several issues over time. Thus, it is essential to be prepared for any unprecedented risk and problem. 

To ensure damage control, industries opt for risk management processes. You already know how critical risk management investment is for an organization. 

Foreseeing potential risks and finding a mitigation policy is daunting for every enterprise. You may also visit business consultants to find a full-proof risk management strategy for your company. 

 In a recent couple of years, big data analytics has greatly contributed to this stream for developing robust risk management solutions. Now it can be used in several ways for risk management.

  • Fraud Management: Big Data systems compare external and internal data and offer faster fraud recognition with damage control caused due to fraudulent activities. 
  • Mitigate Money Laundering:  Big Data analysis can provide identification of suspicious transactions faster and alert the organization beforehand. 
  • Credit Risk Management: Big Data includes predictive capacity and provides sources of data to foresee user behaviour for credits and loans.
  • Operational Risk: Companies have to face several operational risks at times. Big Data provides improved control and knowledge over company interactions with clients to strengthen safety. 

Apart from these, Big data can be used for integrated risk management. So, it makes sense to use big data to ensure high-grade security in various company processes. 

Conclusion

While the big data concept is redefining the business world, it is essential to know how to streamline strategies and avoid using big data in an unstructured way. Big data can help boost business growth and enables small business to compete with larger corporations.

“In the Midst of Chaos, there is also Opportunity”

Sun Tzu

The words of Sun Tzu above, legendary Chinese master military strategist, ring eerily true with the world seemingly in turmoil at the moment. 

The Ukraine – Russia war is currently putting (no pun intended) the entire world rightly in a massive frenzy with businesses across industries affected directly (Russian business owners read Oligarchs who have been barred by Western countries) and indirectly (businesses that are affected by other variables like high gas prices as a result of the war), after just recovering from one of the most devastating pandemics in history. As a result of the war, Oil prices are spiralling out of control, same as commodities like wheat, Russia and Ukraine together exported more than a quarter (25.4%) of wheat in 2019, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. 

The story is equally not savoury back home, the price of diesel has more than doubled in the last fortnight. The country is also currently under its usual siege of petrol queues as a result of petrol scarcity. These issues coupled with the country’s mounting debt profile and a spate of insecurities have made it imperative for business owners to start thinking of possible bunkers somewhere to crawl into.

Bunkers aside, how do business owners protect their assets during these wild uncertain times? How would they form a massive moat around their assets and insulate them from this chaos? Not to worry, we’ve put together 5 great ways you can secure these assets and none of them includes hiding somewhere in that bunker.

1. Put it in the Cloud

If you haven’t stored your business’ or company’s assets/data which include important business documents, projects documents, email communications, etc… on the clouds, you could be casting a dark cloud in the long run over your business or company. The concept of storing data in the cloud using cloud computing software has been around with us over the last three decades since the inception of the internet and it has grown astronomical. 

Last year, cloud computing marketing was worth over $370 billion (N153.9 trillion) and is expected to more than double by 2025 with the top three Cloud computing companies (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) having a combined market share of about 60%. These staggering stats prove that businesses across all industries are adopting cloud computing technology at a fast pace to safeguard their data, especially during these uncertain times.

Thankfully, we offer cloud computing services to help small and big businesses like yours manage their data and assets more efficiently.

2. Subscribe for That Cybersecurity software Now If You haven’t Yet

One of the most popular tools deployed for modern warfare during a time of uncertainty is cyberwarfare. It’s no surprise the use of cyber warfare tools grew at the height of the pandemic two years ago and is set to continue the upward trajectory as the war in Ukraine rages on. 

Already, it is estimated that almost 60% of small companies go out of business within the first six months according to data gathered by National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit organisation. This is quite telling as hackers tend to focus on startups without the necessary security structure compared to much more entrenched companies. But this is not to say big companies are not susceptible to cyberattacks. 

Making it even more imperative for companies of shapes and sizes to protect their online assets with the best cybersecurity software we have on offer.  

3. Adopt a Digital-first Approach

This is an obvious no brainer, especially in an age where everyone is talking and experimenting with the concepts of having their social identities in a virtual reality world read Metaverse. But the right structure must be put in place for a successful digital-first approach adoption. 

For example, companies that have gone fully remote have put in place the right interactive and collaborative software to aid seamless interaction among employees outside the office. At the moment, no thanks to the pandemic, more than 16% of companies worldwide are fully remote, this is according to a study carried out by Owl Labs in collaboration with Global Workforce Analytics. Some Ukraine based software companies didn’t have their services disrupted by the war as they already had the remote structure in place.

We can help you make that transition if you haven’t hopped on the digital train yet by signing up on this link.

4. Don’t Panic!

So much negativity from tumbling revenue numbers for businesses due to high oil prices to the high cost of commodities like gas, high inflation cost by these growing costs and economic downturn will be aired repeatedly by news outlets across the media like TV and podcasts during these uncertain times. It is very important as a business owner, you practise the art of calmness by switching your focus to other relaxing and meditative activities. You can also visit places with rich natural habitats that will refresh your thought process and improve your emotional intelligence to avoid making rash decisions.  

And remember this as a rule of thumb; whatever choices or decisions you make during these moments, make sure you avoid pushing that panic button! 

5. Diversify Your Assets

This is probably the most essential safeguard of all especially if you want to come out on the other side of these uncertain times smiling. Thankfully, there are so many investment opportunities to try out; from the conventional ones such as stocks and real estate to disruptive ones like cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and others), the much talked about NFTs and Metaverse. 

There are a million more ways you can diversify your investment, but it is very crucial to note that whichever way(s) you choose to helps you limit your exposure during a time of crisis.

Conclusion

These safeguards are not cast in stones and should not be seen as the only way to protect your assets in a time of chaos, as there are several other means of safeguards. But this article will help in guiding you to make the best decisions for your business during uncertain times.

The Best Digital Tool to Invest in Right Now

Technology has come a long way since we first had a glimpse of what it could do. While that may sound cliche, there’s a whole lot of truth and mind-blowing detail wrapped in that simple statement. At the initial stage of technology’s arrival, we familiarized ourselves with hardware like printers, desktops, laptops, mobile phones, and lots more, and we used them to complete simple tasks with basic software for messaging, keeping time, taking pictures, and saving dates on our calendar. However, with time, the software has evolved massively and that has started an entirely different revolution under which anything can be made possible and easy too.

READ MORE: 21 Digital Tools To Use For Your Business In 2021.

Today, there are over a billion applications on the different app stores that exist, enabling us all to do just about anything we can think of.

Surviving through the pandemic has been hard, but with technology, businesses have been able to shut the doors to their physical offices and open a wider door online. Teams that have been dispersed across the world have been able to bridge the distance using collaboration software, complete million-dollar projects right from the comfort of a couch and celebrate wins – whether big or small – together.

Riding on the wings of this technological revolution, we at Descasio have continued to create tailored solutions for businesses of all sizes across Africa and beyond. Transforming businesses through technology has always been our goal. To see local businesses gain the digital advantage and begin to play on the global field is all that we live for.

To make that transition process easier, we recently launched a tool that allows business owners to run an X-ray of their business to find out which bones are cracking and which ones could use a little bit of firming up.

Typically, this solution helps businesses conduct a self-assessment, see what areas they need to improve on, see how technology can help them achieve better results in those areas, understand what technology solutions will be more appropriate for them, and get recommendations on the next steps to take in achieving their desired business outcome. In this simple guide, we’ll be showing you how to use our Digital Transformation Assessment Tool.

1. Visit https://assessments.descasio.io/

Our Digital Transformation Assessment Tool can be accessed via your web browser on smartphones and PCs of all kinds, i.e. IOS, Android, and Windows. To access the tool, open your web browser and type in the URL as seen above. Or simply click here to be redirected to the tool.

2. Sign up

Sign up in one easy step by filling in your desired email address and a unique password. We are very big on security. Hence, we’ve done everything possible on our path to ensure that this tool is 100% safe for users. However, we encourage healthy security practices for all our customers and so we advise that you do the following both here and elsewhere;

1. Create passwords with a minimum of 8 characters.
2. Write some letters of your password in uppercase. It doesn’t always have to be the first character, you can mix it up to reduce the chances of hackers guessing your password.
3. Use special characters (*, ‘ , ^, 🙂
4. Do not share your password with any unauthorized or unknown user.

Select the appropriate answer for each question
To make the assessment easier and faster for users, we have provided a set of options for each question. This way you wouldn’t have to spend long hours thinking of the best way to construct your answers and can complete the assessment in as little time as 10 mins. However, we implore users to select the most appropriate answers for each question as it relates to them, as this will impact on the accuracy of the report that will be issued to them at the end of the assessment.

a. Monitor the progress of your assessment

Easily monitor the progress of your assessment by watching the progress bar on the bottom left of your screen.

b. Pause and resume your assessment

Need to attend to urgent tasks right in the middle of your assessment? Not to worry. You can easily hit the “Save & Continue Later” button at the bottom right of your screen to save your assessment and resume later.

Get a report on your business’s digital maturity profile

Now to the main tea – the report. After ticking your way to the end of the assessment, hit submit and do a little stretch. Your digital maturity report should be waiting on your screen as soon as you look back down.

Get recommendations on how to improve your business across critical pillars

In combination with actionable insights into your business’s current position on the digital maturity scale, you will also be getting recommendations on how to improve your business processes, customer experience, and products to help you meet your business target.

Now you know exactly what you need to do, so don’t gamble. Don’t hesitate. Take your digital transformation assessment today.

It is unimaginable to start a business right now without thinking of its digital journey. In today’s world, going digital is the only way you can stay ahead of the competition as the world continues to move swiftly in the digital direction.

Before taking that leap from the traditional mode of business operation to digital, business owners must understand what it all entails. In this blog, we will be sharing with you ten things you need to know about digital transformation. But before we get into that, let’s lay some foundations and start with the definition of digital transformation.

What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is the cultural, and operational change of an organization, industry, or ecosystem through smart integration of digital technologies, processes, and competencies across all levels and functions in a staged and strategic way. Simply put, it is all about strategically using technology to enhance internal business processes, products, and ultimately consumer experience.

A typical example of an aspect of digital transformation that we all witnessed recently was businesses switching from working from a physical location to working remotely and using different cloud-based software to collaborate and keep the workflow going.

Want To Learn a Little About the Cloud? Read Our Article on Top Companies Using Cloud Technology Including Netflix

In that scenario, we notice two major factors; a change in operation, the use of technology to support the operational change. These two factors combined is what digital transformation is all about.

Why Digital Transformation?

Our lives are being transformed daily using technology. We once trooped into banking halls to perform one form of transaction or the other, that process has been digitally transformed with the advent of banking apps, PoS and other digital payment tools.

This is just one amongst diverse examples of the huge impact of technology on processes. With digital comes convenience, ease of access, reduction in latency, increased return on investment (when properly deployed), scalability and many other values that businesses and their customers can benefit from. Hence, its importance.

Here are the 10 things about Digital Transformation you need to know.

The Future is not Digital

Going digital belongs to the past. Digitally transforming your entire business process is what determines the survival of your company/business in the future.

But digitally mature companies that have embraced and invested in technology in their early stages are more likely to transform quicker than the companies with little or no digital awareness.

Luckily, most businesses across all spectrums especially in Nigeria have woken up to the reality of a complete digital transformation.

Gen Z want to associate with Digitally inclined Brands

The major driving force behind the adoption of digital tools by brands are the Gen Z (people born after 1996). This digitally savvy demographic has made organizations to completely overhaul their business strategies in order to target and satisfy them, invariably making the demographic the biggest push for digital transformation.

Customers are the front and center of Digital

For most organizations, their journey into the digital world is mostly based on the parallel switch of a lot of their customers from offline to online. We can clearly see this shift from the Digital 2021: Nigeria report released by DataReportal which revealed that Nigeria’s increasing internet penetration rate currently stands at around 50%.

As more customers switch on that online bulb, more businesses will have little choice but to start their transformative digital journey to ensure that they are right where their customers are at.

Assessing your digital readiness is important

If it’s so important, then what exactly is it? Simply put, Digital readiness is defined by the level at which an organization or its workforce is prepared to transition into digitized workflows that are enabled by software and technology. To know this, organizations will usually have to sit through a consultation session.

Thankfully, with Descasio’s soon to be released solution, businesses will be able to complete this process faster and without having to interface with anyone.

Data is everything, or at least almost

Brands and organizations in the past hardly get any insight on their marketing campaigns and other initiatives. But with digital, organisations can turn to analytics and media monitoring tools to get better insight through data, insight that can help businesses to scale. It’s a total game changer for businesses.

Social Media is the new customer service desk

Listening and responding to customers across all social media channels (except for twitter currently) sounds daunting if you’re just getting started with some of the social media apps – like LinkedIn – on your own phone.

But a host of tools designed for social service makes it easy to highlight customer needs, integrate social channels into your service workflows, and start measuring brand sentiment and activity across social media.

Meeting your customers where they already are is a big part of winning business in our digital world. Approaching social service with a digital transformation mindset can really spell the difference between struggling to keep up with customer needs and turning service calls into opportunities to grow your brand.

AI is the go to digital tool for Businesses

Artificial intelligence systems can be incredibly helpful in their ability to comb through vast amounts of data in search of useful patterns and other insights and it’s no wonder big organisations and small and medium scale enterprises are in love with it.

The right skill set is needed

In considering undertaking the digital transformation journey, you must be aware of the fact that you might need to bring on digitally savvy people to the team in necessary areas and train existing staff members to use adopted technology in order to ensure a smooth run.

Any Businesses Can Be Transformed Digitally

Regardless of size or industry, every business can and should take steps to transform their operations through the use of technology. The most important thing is for the business to be able to pinpoint the areas where transformation is needed and plug in the relevant tech solutions that can bring about that needed change.

When this is done, the company can then monitor results and optimize as they go on.

Like Cryptocurrency Digital Transformation is Here to Stay

The world is currently bitten by the cryptocurrency bug. Most financial institutions are threatened by its whirlwind with some partially or outrightly banning it. This has only fuelled the push and acceptance for digital currency.

A lot of parallels can be drawn between cryptocurrency and digital transformation (the former is seen as the next frontier of digital transformation), the more business and corporate organisations delay the inevitable – the adoption of digital transformation, the faster they lose out.

Conclusion

It has become more apparent than ever that business owners and corporate organisations need to infuse digital transformation into their company/brand’s DNA as quickly as possible.

Click on the subscribe button to enjoy more insightful contents like this.