Business digitalization in practice: insights from the BusinessLink training

Many entrepreneurs start their digitalization journey by searching for CRM, ERP, or other digital services. However, experts advise against rushing to choose software. The first step is understanding how the business works today — where it loses time, resources, and money.

This was the focus of the practical training "Business Digitalization in Practice: From First Steps to Real Cases" held by Kharkiv IT Cluster on June 25, 2026, as part of the BusinessLink project. Together with entrepreneurs, experts explored how to prepare a company for digital transformation, identify processes holding back business growth, and choose solutions that actually work.

The material is based on presentations by Dmytro Nehoda, owner and project manager for business process digitization and optimization at NEAN, and Oleksandr Karatanov, associate professor at the Department of Information Technology Design at Kharkiv Aviation Institute (KhAI).

Digitalization Doesn't Start with Choosing Software

One of the key ideas of the training was that digitalization is primarily about business processes — and only afterward about technology.

"If you simply automate what already exists, you'll just get automated chaos," said Dmytro Nehoda.

An information system only executes the logic built into it. Unnecessary approvals, duplicated information, or manual intervention by managers don't disappear after automation — they just speed up.

That's why digitalization should start with the question "What problem do we want to solve?" rather than "What system do we want to buy?"

How to Understand If a Business Is Ready for Digitalization

Before digital transformation, it's worth conducting a small company audit. Experts recommend answering several questions:

• Which process takes the most time?
• Where do errors occur most often?
• Which operations do employees perform manually every day?
• At what stage does work get delayed most frequently?
• Without which employee does the process practically come to a halt?

Another important signal is when the same information is simultaneously stored in Excel, email, messengers, and employees' notebooks. This indicates a lack of a unified process and a high risk of errors.

Efficiency Isn't Measured by Profit Alone

Profit is an important indicator, but it doesn't always show how efficiently a business operates.

If two companies earn the same amount, but one does it with a team of five people and the other with twenty, their efficiency can't be considered equal.

That's why, when analyzing processes, it's worth evaluating:

• process duration;
• number of employees involved;
• number of repeated operations;
• frequency of errors;
• cost of the process;
• customer satisfaction level.

These metrics help identify where a business is losing resources and determine which processes should be optimized first — especially before scaling, since an inefficient process, when scaled up, creates even greater losses.

Start with a Process Map, Not a Massive Overhaul

A business should operate through processes, not constant manual management. Every process should have a clear starting point, a sequence of actions, a responsible owner, and an expected result — otherwise the manager gradually turns into a task dispatcher.

That's why experts recommend not trying to digitalize everything at once. Instead, start with:

• describing key business processes and building a process map;
• identifying where delays and unnecessary operations occur;
• selecting the one process causing the most difficulty;
• testing a new way of working.

Only after that should you move on to implementing digital tools.

Tools like Draw.io, Miro, or Microsoft Visio can be used to build process maps.

There's No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

A universal tool doesn't exist — what works for a service company may be ineffective for manufacturing or logistics.

Businesses with a large customer base primarily need automation of communication, customer database management, and online booking.

Manufacturing companies need to focus more on controlling operations, equipment, product quality, and resource usage.

For team and project management, it's worth moving from messenger-based correspondence to task management systems such as ClickUp, Jira, Asana, Monday.com, or Microsoft Planner — where every task has an owner, a deadline, and a status.

Even the best digital service can't compensate for the absence of clear internal work rules within a company.

Digitalization Isn't Just About CRM: Practical Business Cases

During the second part of the training, Oleksandr Karatanov showed that digitalization can start with simple solutions and bring tangible results even to small companies.

One example was a service-based business, where digital tools helped automate client booking, database management, communication, and service delivery tracking. Such solutions not only reduce manual work but also improve the customer experience.

At the same time, digitalization for manufacturing companies has a different focus. Using the example of the "Bufet" enterprise in Kharkiv, the expert demonstrated how digital solutions help:

• optimize internal processes;
• monitor operation execution;
• work with production data;
• make management decisions faster.

The speaker also paid special attention to the choice between ready-made digital services and custom development.

According to him, ready-made SaaS solutions are often the optimal choice for small and medium businesses, while custom development is justified only when a company has specific processes or needs integration with production systems.

Don't Know Where to Start? Get Support from Eastern Ukraine EDIH

The training also highlighted the opportunities currently available to Ukrainian businesses through the Eastern Ukraine European Digital Innovation Hub (Eastern Ukraine EDIH).

Many companies delay digitalization not out of reluctance to change, but due to uncertainty: which processes should be digitalized first, which solutions the business actually needs, and how to avoid spending budget on tools that won't deliver expected results.

These are exactly the kinds of requests the Eastern Ukraine EDIH team handles. Within the hub, micro, small, and medium enterprises can receive expert support at various stages of digital transformation, including:

• analysis of the business's digital needs;
• assessment of the company's digital maturity level;
• consultations on business process digitalization;
• help choosing digital solutions tailored to the company's needs;
• support in preparing a digital transformation roadmap;
• information about funding opportunities for implementing digital solutions.

If you're just beginning your digitalization journey, or already planning to implement new technologies, you don't have to go through this process alone. Reaching out to experts will help you set priorities, avoid common mistakes, and choose solutions that will genuinely support your business's growth.

Sign up for a free consultation with Eastern Ukraine EDIH experts: https://form.jotform.com/250687104703353

The first step of digitalization is an honest answer to the question of where the company is currently losing time, money, and resources. Only after that should you choose digital services, automate individual processes, and scale successful solutions.

A recording of the meeting is available on YouTube via the link.

This material was prepared based on the results of the BusinessLink training organized by Kharkiv IT Cluster.

The project is implemented with the support of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PRFU), funded by aid from the governments of the United Kingdom, Estonia, Canada, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden.