The demand for digitalized services surged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic restricting contact and travel. Locally as well as globally, organizations resorted to virtual platforms to ensure continuity of businesses notwithstanding the challenges posed by the unprecedented global health crisis. From education to public administration, every sector embraced technology to varied levels and this helped the country to move forward even under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Why go digital?

Take Bill Gates’ word for it: “if your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” All segments of the economy are rallying to online platforms to survive in the post-pandemic context. Digitalized services are generally understood as being more efficient, accurate and faster thus time-saving. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that one of the largest players in robotic digital automation, Blue Prism, enjoyed a 125% revenue surge in 2020. It is abundantly clear that the digitalization drive will continue even in the aftermath of the pandemic. Organizations that embrace technology are bound to thrive while others that fail to do so, regrettably, may cease to be relevant.

How should an organization approach digitalization?

According to Forbes, remote work has become the ‘new normal’ for approximately 50% of the US population which is a win-win for all parties concerned. It is not exception i Working remotely significantly lowers the operational cost for employers while also serving to minimize environmental impact from vehicular emissions. However, working from home has its own challenges – automation can help with at least half of them.

DigiEx is an expense management system that helps to safely & securely manage payments within an organization. The application can be installed for free from App Store or Google Play and has a pay-as-you-go model. The app allows for all transactions to be centrally approved and monitored ensuring transparency. DigiEx can be used for many different functions within an organization including petty cash management. Apart from being an upgrade to conventional bookkeeping, the application also acts as an archive for holding all receipts and invoices digitally for later retrieval. DigiEx comes with bank-level encryption to protect businesses and their crucial, confidential information from attacks and breeches.

What are the benefits of digital bookkeeping?

Digitalized services are generally more efficient, fast and offers greater transparency. All transactions can be authorized and monitored centrally and remotely via DigiEx. This prevents lags in terms of reimbursements. The process which previously took days if not weeks now only takes a few minutes. The application is also a great first step towards going paperless. DigiEx can effectively replace not just physical document management but also using several different tools for financial management as it offers a consolidated and streamlined platform incorporating different functions. A customer is able to customize the experience in accordance with the size and nature of the business which they intend to use DigiEx for and pay accordingly, only for what is required/used. .

Working from home is likely to be the preferred mode of working for most because it is rather logical to do so considering it saves time and money on a few different regards including on commute. Commuting in Sri Lanka is becoming progressively costlier and time consuming given the traffic and poor public transport. Colombo, like most commercial capitals, has a lot of traffic during peak hours that one must navigate through just to get to work and back home. Due to reasons such as these, millennials prefer to continue working efficiently from the comfort of their homes. Organization that can afford this shift should ideally empower their staff by providing them the necessary tools.

Sources:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-surges-for-software-robots-that-automate-back-office-tasks-11556140608h
https://resumelab.com/job-search/remote-work-statistics?utm_source=google&utm_medium=sem&utm_campaign=6540517835&utm_term=%2Bwork%20%2Bfrom%20%2Bhome%20%2Bstatistics&network=g&device=c&adposition=&adgroupid=104067133394&placement=&gclid=CjwKCAjwlrqHBhByEiwAnLmYUA9DetaYV6eYqUK9tR1XeclZZPajtMbIUCjMxbpMcNfny148pmF4RhoCH4QQAvD_BwE