Aside from speeding up the world’s shift to remote working and distance learning, the ongoing global health crisis has also accelerated digital transformation. Strategic business & technology advisor Bernard Marr explains that in addition to forcing us to rethink our day-to-day lives, the pandemic has also compelled many to turn to digital tools to work around current circumstances and get a better sense of normalcy.
Today, it has become even more crucial for businesses across industries to ride this unstoppable trend and reap the benefits of digital transformation. One of the ways businesses can get started is by investing in software packages such as the M365, which can support and enable them to move towards digital transformation in numerous ways.
Boost digital marketing
Over 3.6 billion people in the world use social media sites not just to communicate with friends and family but also, increasingly, to shop, support businesses, and more. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that digital marketing is considered to be a big component of any business’s digital transformation. However, getting digital marketing right is often a big challenge to most businesses, especially budding ones. As Ayima points out, technical SEO problems, the lack of optimized content, a lack of incoming links, and limited development resources can all get in the way of effective digital marketing.
This is where Microsoft platforms affiliated with M365 can come in handy. With the help of its Digital Marketing Center, small businesses would be able to keep track of customer actions, figure out which search terms enjoy higher traffic, and know which kinds of ads perform the best, among others.
Enable seamless collaboration
A recent study cited by Business Insider notes that around 54% of the 25,000 surveyed professionals prefer to continue working remotely full time — even after the pandemic ends. Another study, referenced by Small Business Trends, also reveals that 67% of companies expect remote working to become permanent.
With remote working here to stay, one of the most viable ways businesses can encourage digital transformation is by subscribing to platforms that can enable seamless online collaboration. With M365, organizations can make full use of Kaizala and Teams. Kaizala offers an intuitive interface that encourages group communication and allows users to manage their schedules and timesheets. Meanwhile, Teams is a reliable collaborative workspace where employees can hold video chats, exchange messages, and share documents with one another.
Support work management and day-to-day operations
As the pandemic continues to present businesses with both small and large challenges, the difficulty surrounding the management of work and day-to-day operations grows tenfold.
Thankfully, M365 offers various applications that can make things a whole lot easier. For example, there is Flow, which allows enterprises to automate workflows in order to help employees get notifications, synchronize files, and collect data, among others. Business intelligence platforms that provide employees with tools for aggregating, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing data like Microsoft Power BI can also be found in M365.
Create a learning portal
Now that the economy is primarily run by information and data, it would be a good idea for businesses to establish themselves as reputable sources of relevant industry-focused news and resources. Not only will such a strategy help boost their credibility, but it will also help grow their reach and relevance with the help of digital marketing.
Apart from releasing blogs and other materials, organizations can also think of creating a learning portal for their brand through M365. With the platform Learning Pathways, businesses would have access to a wealth of excellent content. These bits and pieces of relevant information can then be customized by the organizations themselves to fit the brand’s aesthetic accordingly and combined with the enterprises’ very own write-ups, features, and other resources.
Without a doubt, digital transformation is a necessary process all businesses have to go through to stay afloat during these trying times. And in order to make full use of tools like M365, be sure to equip your employees with the right skills for their digital adoption journey through Happit’s intuitive and effective employee training method.
Post written by Bertha Jolene
for happit.com
