Why are digital tools necessary? They make your life and that of your team much easier, and also, customer expectations demand it. Modern businesses must use effective and innovative tools or be left behind.

The benefits for your business are significant and include time optimization, improved internal and external communications, increased product/service roll-out times, and centralizing and protecting data.

There’s an astounding array of digital tools available these days, and you can cherry-pick to get the best for your business from several broad categories.

1. Teamwork & Collaboration

At a time when individuals increasingly need to be mobile and able to work from anywhere, cloud-based collaborative suites have become the answer. They allow team members to:

• Share information and documents in real-time;
• Use shared calendars;
• Organize activities across the team/company.

There are several suites and apps available, but the most popular include Google’s G Suite, Microsoft World, and the app Buffer.

2. Communication Tools

Effective communication is essential at every level of business to maintain and improve productivity and organizational success. Reliable, direct communication is even more essential with team members in different locations.

Digital communication platforms are far more reliable and adaptable than other formats, such as emails. They allow you to:

• Create dedicated workgroups/teams;
• Circulate information reliably and quickly;
• Allow group, private, text, and face-to-face interactions;
• Only involve relevant parties;
• Allow all those involved to contribute with feedback, questions, etc;
• Increase group cohesion and engagement;
• Increase and accelerate the achievement of objectives.

Examples of this digital tool type include Microsoft Teams or the Slack app.

3. Information Protection & Back-up

Businesses have a legal and moral duty of care when it comes to protecting clients’ data. Protection is also essential for a business’s own data and information that is required for operational purposes.

• Protection & a VPN: An easy safeguard for all your online activities is a Virtual Private Network (VPN). But what is VPN? It hides your IP address/location by routing data through a third-party server and encrypts all your online activity so that everything is protected. Free VPNs are not a good idea so subscribe to a service that meets your needs;
• Back-ups: If your data is stolen or compromised in a malware attack or some other catastrophic event, part of recovering from this is having an accessible backup of all your business information somewhere safe. This means off-site storage. While many businesses use the Cloud for storage, there are other subscription options such as Microsoft HDInsight, Polybase, and NoSQL.

Make sure that your data is safe and recoverable.

4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM is a significant factor when it comes to being competitive and making a digital transformation successful. These systems offer the user a wealth of information, such as what the customer wants, needs, and expects from you.

These digital tools can also help you to:

• Automate tasks;
• Shorten sales and fulfillment cycles;
• And increase overall customer satisfaction.

Again, there are various CRM options for you to select from depending on where you want to utilize it and what information you need to collect. Some possibilities are Freshdesk, Salesforce, or Hubspot.

5. Content Management System (CMS) tools

CMS tools are invaluable when it comes to both creating and managing digital content such as websites, mobile apps, and social media posts.

If your content is great to look at, easy to use, and presents all the information your customer wants or needs, you are far more likely to achieve good conversion rates.

Correctly positioned and presented content will positively impact your customer – or potential customer’s – decision-making when it comes to making a purchase.

Popular CMS tools include Prestashop and WordPress.

6. Project Management Tools

For a project to be successful, it must be run efficiently so that you can roll a product or service out to the market before your competition does. An effective project management tool can make a significant difference.

Part of its effectiveness will be down to your team/s adopting and using it. It should:

• Create and schedule tasks;
• Allow the sharing of documents and requests/questions;
• Provide updated project timelines;
• Track changes and progress;
• Allow all those involved to view the project immediately.

If the tool you use does this, your teams will invest in it, meet deadlines, and achieve objectives. A business with successful projects and productive staff is likely to have satisfied and loyal customers. Some of the best options are Trello and Asana platforms.

7. Password Management Tools

Every online account that you have requires a password. Given that no two should be the same. Different service providers have different requirements, and if you should change passwords regularly, this can become a nightmare.

If you are like most people, you can’t remember all the passwords you have set. Being locked out or not being able to access an account is, at best, frustrating and, at worst, can affect operations.

The solution: a password manager. With this tool, you only need to remember one password, and the tool will store and manage the rest securely. Widely used password managers are LastPass and 1Password.

To Sum Up

Working smarter rather than harder has never been more necessary. If using a range of digital tools can help you boost efficiency, productivity, and income, it’s the only smart thing to do.

By using technology to help teams to work collaboratively, improving communication, protecting data, building strong customer relationships, and harnessing the power of content and project management, you and your teams will save time and effort so that you can use that energy elsewhere.

Investing in digital tool tech is investing in your brand and your future!