{"id":5646,"date":"2020-12-08T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/?p=5646"},"modified":"2021-03-16T16:33:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T08:33:37","slug":"3-pillars-of-digitising-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/3-pillars-of-digitising-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Pillars Of Digitising Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was first published on\u00a0CardUp<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the world of business moving faster each day due to the advancement of data and digital communication, there are more opportunities than ever before for businesses to leverage the changing landscape to improve productivity. If you\u2019re running a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), you\u2019ve probably heard of the new government initiatives aimed at increasing business productivity, such as the SME Go Digital initiative<\/a>, the implementation of nationwide e-invoicing<\/a>, and other Smart Nation initiatives<\/a> for both individuals and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the push for more efficient and resilient business operations leveraging digital technologies requires a lot of work. So, as a business owner, which aspect do you begin with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the three key pillars you should be looking at to digitise your business, which will not only save you time and money but also set your business up for sustainable growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1 Bookkeeping Digitisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although it was one of the first core operations to go digital, accounting and bookkeeping software has continued to evolve over time. The ability to track your finances is important for your business as it enables you to forecast and plan for the future, and be fully audited and compliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xero<\/a><\/strong> is one of the most established options in the industry, and for good reason. The tool continues to grow its capabilities, providing easy access to your financial data and features such as near real-time views of your inventory and bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other options include Financio<\/a><\/strong> and Freshbooks, which have features better suited for different sectors and company types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimated time saved per week<\/strong>: Most bookkeeping work can take upwards of 20 hours per week, and you can expect to cut that number in half with digitised bookkeeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activities<\/strong><\/td>		Time saved<\/strong><\/td>Estimated cost savings<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
– Preparation of financial statements and other reports
– Maintaining and recording all financial transactions
– Posting of debit and credits in respective ledgers<\/td>		10 hours per week<\/td>$5,840 per year<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

#2 Invoice and Payment Digitisation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Invoicing looks very different now to how it looked 20 years ago. In the past, if you were sending or receiving money, things moved much slower and involved complicated processes, with many inefficiencies like manual cash deposits and long cheque clearing times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you can provide a valid bank account and start receiving payments in a few days, or in many cases, instantly. The Singapore Government is also working towards implementing a nationwide e-Invoicing framework<\/a>, which will bring about even faster payment cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, new tools such as credit card enablement platform\u00a0CardUp for Business<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0open up even more possibilities. Business owners now have new ways to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n