The time is for hypers in the business world. Professional careers and services are naturally moving from an eclectic set of skills towards niche specializations, or as we love to call it hyperspecialization. Hyperspecialization refers back to the arguments of Adam Smith who claimed that division of labor creates reduced costs and greater efficiency, which results in better quality outputs. This was first interpreted as a way to get the Industrial Revolution started, by dividing tasks to a minimum of different repeated actions. Now the views have changed about how to interpret the word of the famous economist properly. Consequently, companies are looking to divide their projects between specialists, or experts in their fields. The idea is that you can trust an expert to complete their part of the task perfectly before passing it to the next expert. As individuals hyperspecialized, the technology that serves the business interests follows a similar movement. The hyperspecialization of digital technology and services is not a sci-fi theme but a real thing that is happening right now. And as businesses rely extensively on digital technology in their everyday activities, it becomes essential to ask ourselves whether our businesses could have too much of a good thing. Is the hyperdigitalization of business strategies and activities something entrepreneurs should be proud about or is it, instead, the end of our business market as we know it?
Keep your web presence simple
While nobody claims that offline transactions are dead when was the last time that a customer passed a completely offline order with your company? The answer is: You probably don’t remember, and that’s natural as most users rely on digital search to establish contact with their service provider or next suppliers. Consequently, your online business presence needs to be polished and straightforward so that it can easily guide users into performing a conversion. The focus is set on relying on a digital tool – namely a web traffic analytical tool such as Google Analytics in most cases, although there are other tools too  – to determine by observation of the digital visit tracking results how to improve the website. As a result, the majority of conversion experts insists that data analysis reveals that simple web design performs better. The simpler the design and the shorter the journey to purchase, the more likely it is to increase conversions. As a result, websites are becoming more streamlined and conversion-focused, through navigation strategies and user-friendly features. While there is no denying that the current changes are working, there’s no indication whether this happens because users respond to a digital Pavlovian pattern.
Automate your social media platforms
Marketing automation is not a new strategy. In fact, it’s been around for almost as long as digital marketing has been around! The reasoning is that by automating can save you a lot of time and effort. But there are areas that can’t take automation very well, such as social media platforms. Social media offers a platform for interactions between users of different background, individuals and companies together. As a result, automated your social media posts can destroy the unique communication advantage and create a dull and impersonal response. More importantly, this approach can damage engagement and spontaneity, without mentioning the damages of a poorly scheduled post.
Digitalize your documents to save money and effectiveness?
Archiving is a business nightmare. But thankfully digital documents can make it a lot easier to archive and to retrieve when required. No more lost document, or at least that’s the thought. But there’s a problem with this digital approach, though. While paper documents can be easily misplaced, digital files can be equally easily erased or, worse, shared with the wrong person. Additionally, while some documents are only produced in their digital versions, such as vouchers or invoices, they more often than not require to be printed out to be officially accepted… which sounds a little counter-productive, to say the least. However, there’s no way of knowing whether digital documentation will be able to remain within the digital sphere in future. All that is sure is that, for now, not all businesses have moved to accept a digital only form of documentation.
You can’t work without your equipment
Nowadays the office life consists primarily of sitting in front of a screen 8 hours a day. While employees are getting good at multitasking and jumping from a project to another on their digital equipment, the productivity rates drop dead when the team experiences computer problems. In fact, that’s why local computer repairs are so important in the business world. Without a working computer, there can be no work done. There is no alternative to broken equipment, and while the equipment doesn’t count as a work colleague, how many employees can produce an error-free text without a word-processing tool or present an idea without a screen and a pair of slides?
Is remote talent made to work?
Remote work is key to combine experts from all over the world to work on a single project. For startups and small businesses, using remote talent is a cost-saving way to create a skillful team. From an employer’s perspective, there’s no need for equipment costs and upsizing their offices. However, remote employees can experience difficulties to belong to a team they don’t spend time with. While on the one hand, working from home can support productivity – as there is less risk of unwanted interruptions from colleagues –, it can be tricky for some employers to trust that employees will do their work, even though there’s nobody to watch.
Collaborative platforms online can be challenging
There are plenty of effective collaborative digital tools that can bring a divided team together. WebEx, for example, is a great tool to create a powerful video conference with a team but also with customers and partners. For collaborative projects, Google Drive or Slack provides just the right functions to get employees on track of tasks, deadlines and file sharing. Unfortunately, there are still employees who can’t get used to digital collaboration and prefer to organize face-to-face meetings or to share information outside of these helpful platforms. The result? They make it difficult to build a solid collaborative environment.
As businesses grow more and more digitalized, the first fissures are starting to appear. From human errors to lack of adaptability from other companies or colleagues, it’s obvious that we can’t create a world that relies entirely on digital power. Creating a balance that respects human nature and digital uses is the way forward.
