Online, offerings, businesses and opportunities have been growing hugely, particularly in the last 10 years or so. There are however, by their very nature, many businesses that simply cannot fully, if at all make the moves online which others are able to.
Industries and sectors which encompass impulse purchasing and high street retail, as many physical shops and premises across the UK do, cannot move online as they rely on consistent footfall and passing trade. Other businesses like coffee shops and launderettes, can adapt somewhat and move into areas where there remains better footfall but it is by no means an easy feat.
For industries such as high street and luxury retail, travel, finance and even recruitment, much of what they offer and can provide can transition to an online offering and thus many have done exactly that.
Online Recruitment
Traditional recruitment dictates that candidates and recruiters must meet face to face no matter what. However, recent times have shown that the process of recruitment for managers, companies and the candidates themselves can be made much more efficient and worthwhile moving parts of the process online.
For example, in the case of specific industries such as commodities and commodity trading (read more here), recruiters are turning increasingly to online offerings, which allow candidates to be on-boarded by the recruitment companies faster, allowing for quicker processes from sign up to potential placement. By being able to vet and manage CVs in particular online and prior to fully engaging with the candidates, recruiters can undertake an initial paper sift process on behalf of clients.
Financial Products
Financial products such as loans, mortgages and other forms of consumer finance have been moving online for many years, with the payday sector enjoying a particularly large boom in the lead up to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) imposing strict compliance criteria in 2014. The processes however, do not vary in principle terribly much from the once-successful payday model.
The general premise of financial products’ move online is to allow the application and compliance processes in particular to be undertaken entirely remotely and via online channels. There are some products like mortgages and even equity release which may be facilitated and arranged online but because of their nature, will need some face to face meetings as well as property surveys and visits (source: Money Savings Advice).
For many other financial products and offerings ranging from short and longer term loans to logbook loans and even funeral plans, the entire process can be facilitated online, making for a far easier and speedier process. Also, with the advent of the online systems used, it is possible to get indications as to whether you are likely or not to be accepted for one form of finance or another without harming your credit score.
How Do Online Processes Benefit Managers?
As a manager or even recruitment professional within any company, time will be of the essence and when it comes to both recruitment and compliance, both can use up huge swathes of valuable time over the course of every month. Conducting interviews with unsuitable candidates and having to screen out applicants who do not fulfil internal compliance criteria are two of the most time-consuming processes.
Simply put, by getting more online and by connecting the business with candidates and other key stakeholders, managers can almost fully automate and audit processes in a way they have never previously been able to.
By sifting through candidates in advance of any engagement, managers will be able to find the most suitable candidates for interviews and by being able to utilise algorithms and machine learning for compliance checks, unsuitable applicants can be weeded out before any additional time needs to be spent identifying them.
