The way an organization creates, manages, and consumes information has a huge impact on its bottom line. That’s exactly why an increasing number of enterprises, small businesses, corporations, and non-profit agencies are looking to turn their information into the universal language of computers. In other words, they are using digitalization to transform the way their business processes work. 

As a business executive or IT leader, you might be feeling an urgency to act now and become a digital business due to the pandemic. However, it’s hard to find success when it comes to the digitalization of a business, even with the abundance of new digital tools and platforms.

While the majority of business leaders prioritize digitalization, two-thirds of transformations are not successful. The lack of managerial support and employee resistance are two of the leading factors that hinder digital transformation. 

But what is digitalization anyway, and why is it so important? What role does digitalization play in the recruiting industry? What can go wrong when a company tries to take a step toward digitalization? 

This blog post will answer these questions in great detail. Before we dig deep, let’s define some key terms. 

What is digitalization? 

Digitalization has many definitions. Here is how Gartner defines the term: 

“Digitalization is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.”

From an academic perspective, digitalization often refers to digital communication and its impact on social life. From a business perspective, digitalization refers to the use of digital technologies to change business models and open up new growth and revenue opportunities.

Why is digitalization so important? 

The limitations of the physical world are the reason businesses of all sizes have started using digital means. From reaching new customers to hiring great talent, technology can help you skyrocket the pace of your growth. 

Impact of digitalization on society 

Businesses can’t materialize sustainable growth unless they digitize their business processes. But how does digitalization impact society?

There’s a hot debate among economists and policymakers about the potential impact of digitalization on society. One of the major concerns is how growing digitalization is affecting wages, jobs, resource efficiency, health, and security. 

If we take the health sector, for example, computers have become intelligent enough to check for signs of cancer, a task typically performed by a qualified radiologist. It’s just one instance of how technology outsmarts humans. So far as jobs are concerned, technological advances will continue to impact jobs and salary levels across sectors. 

Effects of digitalization on society: 

• Increased possibility of information breaches and cyber threats 
• People run a risk of their personal data being stolen or sold 
• Ease of manipulating information and spreading fake news 
• Ease of hiding identities and posting inappropriate content 

As a business, you can easily come up with a better plan to address these issues at an organizational level. 

Recruitment and the role of digitalization 

As a recruiter, you probably spend most of your time reaching out to potential candidates, sending emails, and scheduling interviews. You visit various sites to post jobs and try to browse through endless resumes and spreadsheets. In short, you invest a lot of your time but achieve little. 

What if a smart tool or software automates most of your repetitive tasks and streamlines things that are hard to manage manually? What if technology can help you find and connect with better talent?  

If we look at digitalization from an HR perspective, recruitment tech can make your life easier. As an HR manager or recruiter, you should digitally transform your hiring and talent management efforts. 

Why? Because digital transformation will help you simplify various tasks while improving efficiency through data and automation. Digitalization in recruitment guides organizations to solve complex recruitment challenges such as the need for hiring the right people in a short time. 

The following are some of the changes that digital transformation can bring:

Handling high-volume recruitment 

Millions of people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. It’s predicted that recruiters will receive a higher volume of job applicants down the road. What’s your plan to improve your high-volume recruiting strategy? 

It’s exciting to see how software can sift through thousands of applications and shortlist candidates quickly. So, despite the increase in applicant volume, you can stick to high hiring standards and get things done with great speed. 

Improved metrics 

Analyzing or gathering data can be a daunting and time-consuming process. The worst part is that you might end up generating inaccurate information. Recruiting tools, on the other hand, not only produce valuable data but also make it actionable. With real-time analytics, you identify gaps and take action in a timely fashion. 

If you want to execute a top-notch, well-directed recruitment strategy, get ready to adopt digitalization. In other words, equip your team with digital tools that offer a simple-to-use dashboard and help them draw conclusions faster. For example, metrics analytics can help you understand who your ideal candidates are and what kind of content drives them to apply. 

Check out Wiggli to get some inspiration! 

Enhanced team collaboration 

Does your HR team have the capability to collaborate remotely? A good tool will enable you and your team to perform a variety of tasks remotely. For example, you can assign tasks to your people and see progress while they work from home.

Think of implementing a cloud-based recruitment platform that could present one picture to everyone in a team. Before you choose a system, be sure it meets the unique requirements of your team. 

Access to talent 

Digital recruitment solutions are designed to help companies find the right candidates faster than traditional hiring methods. For example, you can post a job with one click and advertise it in places where your ideal candidates are likely to hang out. LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the most popular places for recruiters to find new talent. 

If you’re new to digitalization, don’t hesitate to experiment and see what works for your organization. 

How companies should implement digitalization 

One of the outcomes of the Covid pandemic is the infusion of data-enabled services into our lives. However, organizations need to be more strategic when it comes to digital transformation. Here are some tips for repositioning your business in the digital economy: 

Adopt a people-first approach 

Technology helps us achieve more, but you need the right human skills to make good use of it. While digitalization is eliminating outdated jobs through automation, it has created new jobs and growth possibilities. 

To implement digital transformation strategically, we have to upskill and reskill our workforce. Simply put, your innovative ideas are useless if your team doesn’t have the skills to use them. So, as a leader, think about investing in your people who have to go through the transformation. 

Soft skills are crucial  

As mentioned earlier, digital transformation is about people rather than technology. Therefore, focus on soft skills. Organizations are looking for data scientists and software engineers, but what they shouldn’t miss are people who can be trained easily. 

To make your company more digital and data-centric, invest in curious people who love to adopt. We’re not sure about the key future hard skills, so the ideal way is to focus on people with a hungry mind, people who are most likely to develop new skills. 

Drive change from the top 

The idea of grassroots change is attractive, but the reality is quite the opposite. Change is likely to happen when you start from the top. It doesn’t mean you have to create a culture of fear or an autocratic structure.

All organizations need to do is understand that they cannot bring about big changes unless they start preparing their top leaders. The values, integrity, and mindset of senior leaders stand out. 

We talk about hiring the best talent, but the key is to find people who can manage talent and make them work toward a common business goal. 

Use data insights to make decisions 

The discussion about data often revolves around concepts like AI, machine learning, and other computer intelligence. These concepts are exciting, but your people need to have the skills to use that data and turn it into meaningful insights. Most importantly, you should be able to act on those insights. 

If you think hiring the best data scientist will resolve your issues, think again. Because the solution doesn’t lie in the brainpower of your top people, but in a data-driven culture. What your organization does, it must live, breathe, and act according to data. 

Take your time 

We often face a trade-off between speed and quality. If you can’t afford to fail fast, try to succeed slowly. If you don’t have a culture that encourages innovation and experimentation, you have to go slow and think of your long-term objectives. Learn from your failures in the short run. 

Digitalize your recruitment to stay competitive 

The process of hiring the right candidate is often time-consuming and involves many processes. And we know how manual recruiting processes eat up plenty of resources and time. However, digital technologies can solve your longstanding recruiting issues once and for all. 

Need an example? Check out Wiggli, a total talent management solution that makes it super easy for businesses to digitally transform their recruitment processes. From recruitment marketing and ATS to candidate relationship management and vendor management, Wiggli is a perfect technology for any business that wants to go digital without facing the risk of failure. 

It’s pretty much what our blog title says: ride or die. If you really want your business to survive and flourish, be ready to embrace digital transformation. It’s the only way you can stay ahead of the curve and serve your customers and people with a better experience.