Top 10 Best Digital Transformation Software to Support Your Business in 2022

Digitalization is here to stay. In fact, many successful companies such as SEAT, Lego, Muroexe, and even BMW have decided to take this path. This has resulted in an increase not only in productivity but also in agility. In fact, according to this report published by Statista, by 2023, digitized companies in the United States will account for $53.3 trillion of overall GDP.

But in truth, there are still many companies that, either due to lack of adequate resources or the change that it brings, choose not to digitize. Staying with the status quo is easy. But also very risky. Where there is a change, there is an opportunity. Therefore, in this article, we will talk not only about the advantages that digital transformation and digital tools can bring to your company but also about the top digital transformation tools, free and paid, that can help you streamline your work and make your company more productive.



Digital transformation involves integrating various digital technologies into all aspects of a business to optimize operations, enhance customer experience, and drive innovation. This cultural shift requires organizations to embrace digital technologies and adapt to new ways of working in the digital age.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the integration of new technologies in different areas of a company. It also implies a significant shift in culture to digital-first, on everyone's part, in order to better adapt to these new technologies. In other words, it is not just a matter of acquiring new and innovative technology but also a different way of doing business.



Why is digital transformation important for companies?

Digital transformation brings companies benefits such as streamlined business processes, reduced errors, increased efficiency, and better workplace organization.

Implementing effective digital transformation strategies is crucial for aligning with organizational goals and ensuring practical business cases for successful implementation.

1. Better data collection

Thanks to digital transformation, it is possible to optimize the way you analyze the data collected from your customers. Digital accounting tools play a crucial role in improving data accuracy and streamlining financial reporting. This will allow you to increase your company’s productivity since you will only collect the data that really serves your company. As a result, you will be able to improve the quality of the service you offer to all your customers. For example, Microsoft Power BI is a tool that allows you to analyze automatically and group information from different users, among many other functions. Microsoft has made massive strides in the last five years to democratize automation and intelligence through its Power Automate and BI platforms.

Finally, by being able to perform better data analysis, you will also be able to make the best decisions for your company.

2. Better communication through a digital transformation strategy

Internal communication can become somewhat complicated, especially if we are talking about large teams. This can influence decision-making. Gone are the days of 1:Many, a broadcast-type message from the top to the rest of the organization. We are accustomed to 1:1, 1:Many, Many:1, Many:Many. That's why applications like Slack become so important for companies, as they allow better communication not only within a team but also between various teams.

3. Increased profitability

Digital transformation allows companies to optimize all their procedures to maximize their profits:

• 39 % of business executives expect to notice the benefits of digitalization by 2023.
• Moreover, according to a Deloitte study, the most digitized companies are three times more likely to have above-average net profit margins than those that are less digitized.

4. Better customer service

Thanks to digital transformation, you will be able to streamline all your services and thus increase customer satisfaction. Digital transformation efforts can significantly impact customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. According to a report published by McKinsey, greater agility in different companies increased customer satisfaction between 10 and 30 points. For example, by implementing a ticketing system, such as the one offered by HubSpot, you will be able to centralize all your customers’ queries and thus give them a more effective response.

Top 10 digital transformation tools you must have to support your business in 2022

1. Breakroom: Enhancing the digital workplace

Breakroom is a digital workplace platform that allows virtual meetings to be much more immersive. It belongs to the group of platforms for digital workplaces that allow employees to work remotely and in a highly collaborative way. With Breakroom, all the workers in your company can create a virtual avatar and interact with their colleagues. You can design virtual rooms and even organize training talks.



Advantages

• It will improve interpersonal relationships among workers.
• It allows a much more realistic experience for all users, wherever they are.

Disadvantages

• At first, it may be a bit more difficult to use.
  

Is it a free or paid tool?

It is a paid tool without a free version. It offers six plans ranging from US$12.74 to US$16.99.



2. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a collaborative and communicative platform that is very useful for online work. This type of platform integrates video calls and instant messaging with other useful functions for communication and collaboration among team members. Another possibility offered by Microsoft Teams is the collaborative editing of different documents in One Drive, in addition to the linking of other applications such as Asana, Trello and even Zendesk.



Advantages

• It allows for the more efficient management of group tasks.
• It is a very intuitive application.
• By operating 100% within the cloud, you can quickly access the data you need.
  

Disadvantages

• You will need a constant Internet connection, as it does not have offline functions.
• Although you can link it with many Microsoft programs, some do not allow you to send information to Microsoft Teams.
  

Is it a free or paid tool?

It is a completely free service, but you can purchase one of three plans to increase its functionalities. The cheapest plan costs US$4.00 per month, the Business Basic plan costs US$6.00 per month, and the Business Standard plan costs US$12.50 per month.



3. Workday

Workday is an HCM (Human Capital Management) application. This type of application can help you have better management of human resources, both with your workers and with applicants for a particular position. Among other options, Workday will allow you to keep track of each task performed by your employees and the time worked by each one. In addition, when hiring a new worker, you will be able to know how he/she has performed in other companies.



Advantages:

• Allows you to manage all human resources with a single program.
• It helps to improve the performance of workers based on the analysis of reports and their metrics.
  

Disadvantages

• It is not such an intuitive platform.

Is it a free or paid tool?

It does not have a trial or free plan option. The price of its payment plans varies depending on the number of people using the platform, and you can pay monthly or annually.

4. HubSpot

HubSpot  is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool that will allow you to implement an effective sales strategy. CRM platforms are an essential solution in the digital transformation process. They allow you to:

• Map sales funnels
• Manage customer interactions
• Align marketing and sales teams
• Implement cross-selling and up-selling to customers.

HubSpot can also be used for various digital marketing strategies, including content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).

In short, they allow you to centralize and optimize the interaction between your company and your customers. But HubSpot is not only a CRM; it also has an integrated CMS where you can create a blog for your company, upload SEO-optimized articles, create forms, etc. HubSpot is a suite of tools that provides access to all critical functions for sales, marketing, and support teams in a single interface.



Advantages:

• In a single platform, it has marketing, sales CRM, customer support, CMS and operations software.
• You can complement it with other CRMs, such as Salesforce.
  

Disadvantages:

• While it offers statistical reports, they can be basic.
• The free version does not offer the ability to filter data.
  

Is it a free or paid tool?

HubSpot is a free tool but has three paid options:

• Basic - $80 / month 
• Professional - $800 / month 
• Enterprise - $3200 / month

5. Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage tool. This type of tool will allow you to avoid losing vital information for your company since all of it will be stored in an external storage system. In addition, Drive will let you create and edit documents online with applications such as Google Docs, Spreadsheet, and Slides, among others. Consequently, you will be able to manage all your files remotely and share them with other members of the work team, thus enhancing collaboration in your organization.



Advantages

• Access to all files in Drive from any device connected to the Internet.
• Enhances collaboration between members of the organization. 
• You can increase the available storage space
  

Disadvantages

• If you do not have an internet connection, you will have to use the desktop app.
• In groups with a high workload, the initial 15 GB of memory may not be enough.
  

Is it a free or paid tool?

It is a free platform, but you have the option of paying for different plans to have more storage space (the cheapest one costs US$10.80). 

6. Trello

Trello is a project management tool that allows you to see what you are working on, what the rest of the team is doing and where they are in the process. Project management tools like Trello enable efficient project management, execution, monitoring, and evaluation, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and delivering exceptional value to customers. Project managers allow you to assign tasks to members of a team and measure the team’s progress in real-time.

In the case of Trello, all the information placed in Trello is hosted in the cloud, so if you have an internet connection,you can access the application from anywhere and on any device.



Its design and functionalities help to work in a team in an organized and orderly manner, improving everyone’s work productivity.

Advantages

• It has a very simple interface.
• It provides a great amount of functionalities in its free version.
  

Disadvantages

• The organization through boards can cause problems in large projects.
• Labels are not global but must be placed for each board.
• It does not show task dependencies.

Is it a free or paid tool?

Trello offers a free version and three paid plans:

• Standard - US$5 /user/month.
• Premium - US$10 /user/month
• Enterprise - US$17.50/user/month

7. WhatFix

WhatFix is a digital adoption platform (DAP) that seeks to empower employees by helping them better understand the company's new programs and processes. Among other things, WhatFix offers a multichannel communication system and allows employees to view their own performance metrics.



Advantages

• Facilitates the adaptation of new employees to the company.
• It can be integrated with Learning Management Systems.

Disadvantages

• It does not have analytical tools as complete as other tools.

Is it a free or paid tool?

WhatFix does not have a free version, but it does have some paid versions, and the price varies according to the client's needs.



8. Payfit

Payfit is a payroll tool that allows you to keep track of your employees' financial and payroll processes. With Payfit, employees can access different data, such as the payroll due to them and the vacation days they have available,



Advantages

• Allows you to manage procedures with public administrations automatically.
• Automates employees' monthly payrolls, notifying them by email.

Disadvantages

• It does not allow changes to be made if an employee makes a mistake in a request.

Is it a free or paid tool?

Payfit does not offer a free version, but it does offer a trial version with fewer features. After the trial period, you can pay US$47 to use the application.

9. Bamboo HR

The next tool is BambooHR, which is the ESS type. This type of tool allows you to automate certain processes, such as check-in or updating employee data, without the need for HR. Robotic process automation plays a crucial role in automating these repetitive and rule-based tasks, improving operational efficiency and reducing manual errors. BambooHR allows employees to manage their vacations and request days off and even gives you the ability to see which positions are not yet filled in your company and initiate searches for workers for them.



Advantages

• It has a decentralized database. This helps protect employee information.
• It allows blocking access to certain documents (e.g. official company documentation).

Disadvantages

• The process of adding an employee has too many steps.

Is it a free or a paid tool?

This tool does not have a free version, but it does have a trial version. The paid version costs US$149 per month.



10. Wordpress

Finally, there is Wordpress. This content management system (CMS) allows you to create and manage a website and its content in a much more intuitive and comfortable way. Wordpress is both easy to use and very versatile. This is thanks to the large and growing number of templates and plugins, which makes it ideal for both beginners and advanced users.



Advantages

• A large number of templates exist with already-developed web designs.
• A large number of plugins exist that extend the functionality of your website. 
• It is easy to configure.

Disadvantages

• Being an open-source software, it may have security problems.
• It has limitations in the customization of templates and functionalities.
• Its optimizations depend on plugins.
• If you install too many plugins, the web may not work slowly.

Is it a free or paid tool?

It is a free and paid tool. The first one is wordpress.org, and the second one is wordpress.com. The latter has two payment plans that already include hosting: a basic one for US$5 and another one for US$15.
In the free version, wordpress.org, you must manage the hosting on your own, but you can access a large number of templates and plugins at no cost. On the other hand, there are also paid templates and plugins that are more specific, customized, and higher-quality.