How To Perfect Physical Business Processes In A Digital Age
In workplaces of old, physical skills like handwriting and verbal communication were crucial to employee performance. Now, employers are far more interested in abilities like digital fluency and software specifics. And, that’s hardly surprising considering that the vast majority of workday tasks now take place behind a computer screen.
But, is it wise for businesses to entirely overlook physical processes during the employment stage? Perhaps not, considering that studies consistently reveal the ongoing value of these skills sets. For instance, simply writing by hand can improve memory and performance, while the ability to competently communicate with clients face-to-face remains one of the most pressing ways to secure sales.
That’s not to say digital skills should fall by the wayside, but perfecting physical business processes could still prove more important to overall company success than you’d think. The question is, how can you do that in an age where digital focuses always seem to be at the forefront?
In This Article:
4 Ways to Keep Up with Analog Business Processes
Here are four tips for keeping up with non-digital business processes.
1 - Digitize Where Possible
Before you freak out about slow offline processes, remember that it’s often possible to digitize physical business processes that are otherwise at risk of going forgotten. This is a great benefit, as it leans into your team’s existing technical skill sets, while still expanding your business reach in all areas.
Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and business intelligence (BI) tools all stand to help by digitizing physical processes in a wide range of ways. For instance, cloud computing has long been used to replace physical business storage, while companies are now using AI for everything from daily scheduling to the ability to generate professional letters in moments. In each instance, traditionally physical processes become revolutionized, and fully incorporated within a digital age.
To successfully digitize your processes, it’s simply crucial to ensure you’re always identifying the right processes to digitize, and choosing the right tools to fill that gap. Ample system testing, and business-wide rollouts, will then ensure that you needn’t lose priorities like great communication, even through a more digital business lens.
2 - Evaluate all Areas During Employment Onboarding
It’s only natural that you’ll want to know what your new hires can do with your company’s computer software before you bring them on board. After all, this is where they’ll spend the vast majority of the working day. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is all you need to know about your new employees. Physical business skills, including verbal competency, writing ability, and so on, should also still very much feature in your interview questions.
Often, you’ll be able to observe these things based on indicators like body language, without necessarily setting direct tests or evaluations around them. However, there’s still a lot to be said for employment-based skills tests like customer role plays. As well as providing you with far more insight in terms of things like general mannerisms, these additional interview stages ensure employees are competent in more than just computer usage.
3 - Continue to Champion Essential Physical Processes
It’s easy to get caught up on the importance of digital business efforts like social media presence, SEO, and email newsletters these days. After all, these are key areas for attracting and retaining customers, and they also ensure that your business is fully searchable online. But, it’s vital to remember that these aren’t the only things that matter.
In truth, there are still plenty of essential physical processes that should continue to come to the business fore, even in 2025. For instance, many companies are continuing to realize the importance of ongoing offline marketing efforts like TV ads and sponsorships. Equally, warehouse and inventory management still largely relies on human oversight, even if digital systems are in place. And, of course, the vast majority of customers still prefer in-person business interactions.
Companies should continue to champion these processes whenever possible, and should certainly make space for them within broader company focuses. Otherwise, it’ll be all too easy to fall behind the competition, even if you’re ticking all of the right digital boxes.
4 - Review and Train
Regular reviews and training are key across all areas of any successful business, and that includes your physical processes. After all, these elements are part of your business and look set to remain so, whether you like it or not. As such, it’s down to you to ensure that they’re every bit as strong as your digitized focuses.
Key physical training focuses worth pursuing especially include customer service courses and management refreshers for all higher-ups within your team. As well as generally putting your company on a higher standing, these ongoing physical focuses can help with everything from general business communication to efficiency. All of which will make a huge difference to company outputs, even those that happen digitally.
Admittedly, your physical processes might not need as much regular attention as, say, company software that regularly updates, but it’s still worth implementing at least semi-annual training focuses in these areas, and more if you’re digitizing processes like company filing and letter writing.
It’s also vital to review the efficiency of physical outputs like offline marketing drives or in-person service. This may take a little longer than checking out your social media engagement stats, but things like in-person reviews, observations, and feedback can all still ensure that your physical processes are well on track, and are still worth your while.
Conclusion
Recent years have seen us replacing countless physical business processes with digital alternatives, but that’s not to say you can altogether overlook what your employees are able to do offline. While you’ll undeniably want to digitize physical processes like content creation where possible, leaning into physical efforts like human oversight and in-person service remains key to helping your company stand apart.
This is especially true in an age where too many companies are foregoing these focuses for things like the solely online communications which can lead to unnecessary friction across customer journeys. Instead, retain the human element of operations, and keep your customers happy, with these key suggestions for how to get physical business processes right in 2025.
