As technology continues to evolve, businesses and individuals alike are coming across more digital tools to help them stay effective and relevant. These digital tools are particularly important in the United Kingdom, where 87.9% of adults (45.9 million) use the internet regularly and 75% of small businesses have access to a reliable internet connection.
Still, there are plenty of businesses that continue to trust more traditional business methods. That is, they have not applied new technologies to pre-existing business activities, and may not even have an online presence to speak of. Meanwhile, more tech-savvy businesses are going mobile, researching analytics and documenting all industry activities online.
This has worked well for a number of large brands, most notably the newspaper industry. When print circulation began to wane, many failing papers from The Independent to The Sun decided to create digital business strategies and soon created thriving presences online and on mobile. The transition was so successful that Apple even created an app named Newsreader for iPhone users where former paper and magazine patrons could store all of their favourite titles.
While the print media industry has managed to retain customers by applying new technologies, some industries have even managed to become exponentially more successful following the creation of digital business strategies. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to the iGaming industry, where online casinos continue to flourish while their land-based counterparts remain somewhat stagnant. The casino industry’s impressive renaissance can be easily assessed by looking at a single example: Betsson, an online casino/sportsbook with desktop, mobile and tablet platforms that can be played from almost anywhere in the world. Once upon a time, players would have had to travel from around the globe to visit a casino, but now they can play their game of choice anytime, anywhere.
Clearly, there are a number of benefits to creating digital business strategies, from widening your businesses impact to retaining a worldwide audience. The latter is particularly crucial to this modern world of business, as even small businesses can now reach possible customers on the other side of the world, while local businesses will be much easier for customers to find when they can simply google for your services. Really, what a digital business strategy provides above all else is efficiency. Gone are the days of newspaper advertisements and flyers: now everything can be found and shared on social media.
As for setting up a digital business strategy, it tends to be relatively easy. There are a number of online sites and apps that will help you set clear, attainable goals including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and budgets. By defining these goals using online systems or software, it will be far easier to measure how far you’ve come.
Really, the only excuse any business has for not having a digital strategy in this day-and-age is a lack of resources or reluctance to embrace all this wonderful new technology. If this is you, then it’s time to come to 2017 and for your business to thrive.