Digital Transformation: How To Transform & Future-Proof Your Business

What is digital transformation?

Today Digital Transformation is not merely a buzzword. It has become an indispensable attribute of businesses around the globe and a top priority of savvy CXOs. But, what is real digital transformation? Why does it matter to organisations?

Digital transformation combines digital technology into a company's domains, fundamentally reshaping its function and giving customers value. It is also a cultural shift that requires organisations to consistently challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.

Companies looking to start their digital transformation journey should have a solid insight into the concepts and approaches. You can take the digital transformation beyond IT with a thorough understanding and have a positive impact on business performance as well.

What drives digital transformation?

These sweeping changes called for by digital transformation are driven by three key factors that are closely linked and work together: innovative technology, customer behaviour, and external factors.

Technological innovations lead to disruption because, with more incredible speed, less effort, and lower cost, they deliver better results. As customers begin to develop new tastes, requirements, and business expectations, this technological disruption influences customer behaviour. This market shift will soon lead to new external factors, such as new regulatory legislation and new industry competitors.

For instance, Uber's innovative ride-sharing technology has revolutionised the transport sector by making it that much smoother, more enjoyable, and more efficient to get and take a cab. This change reshaped the taxi industry's user experience, and consumer expectations as individuals developed a taste for on-demand services.

Why digital transformation matters for your business?

Frankly, all the high-level discussions about the topic may fail to answer the fundamental question as to why you should even care. If it is not broke, after all, why bother fixing it? If the job seems to be getting done through long-standing processes and workflows, why rock the boat? Indeed these are valid questions.

Digital transformation has several costs associated with it. To make it all work, it requires immense dedication. Is it worth investing time, money, and human resources for your company in this process?
Short answer: yes.
It is a matter of survival, at the risk of overstating things. Not maybe in the immediate future, but indeed a few years down the road

What potential benefits do digital transformation present organisations?

In addition to staying heads above water amid the COVID-19 crisis we are facing (and still, we've no idea when it will end), digital transformation allows organisations to benefit from the following advantages:

1. Increased efficiency

Digital transformation, at its core, is about making processes and workflows faster, simpler, and more effective. For example, digitizing paperwork management to automatically move documents to where they need to be releases employees to focus on other, more revenue-generating activities.

2. Improved user experience

Implementing digital transformation allows you to eliminate points of friction that your customers experience. For example, if some onboarding documents need to be filled out by new customers, digitising and automating it can remove a significant burden. This leads to higher customer loyalty and higher lifetime value for customers.

3. Increased profits

With the greater efficiency of employees and better customer experience mentioned above, digital transformation inevitably leads to bottom-line improvements. In recent research by Gartner, 56 percent of the CEOs surveyed said that digital advances have already led to revenue gains.

4. Quicker, better decisions

Today, businesses can access more significant data volumes than ever before. Companies can crunch this data into valuable, real-time business insights with the right analytics tools that can be used to make more informed, faster decisions about their strategies.

5. More Innovation and Agility

Digital transformation is pushing companies to remain on their toes. Digital innovation's rapid evolution leaves companies no time to rest on their laurels. Even those in the lead must remain adaptive and continue to enhance their business innovation to stay ahead. There are always new competitors in the industry, new tech tools, and recent trends in innovation emerging on the horizon.

How to get started on digital transformation?

If all this makes you feel gross behind, don't be afraid. This does not have to be another great project to bring everything to a standstill in the organisation for it to succeed.

It does not need the CEO to gather everyone together and say, "Let's do digital transformation!". All that is required for digital transformation is for the department or team to decide, "let's all be better and quicker at everything we do."

An autonomous team or department can even hire an external agency to create tailored digital solutions for them. They can also continue to be adopted by the entire company over time.

What you need to do to start a digital transformation is the first step. Any employee in an enterprise with a budget and wants to be more efficient at work can start a digital transformation by creating a new digital tool that will make their job more comfortable and better.

The times are changing

The "If it is not broken, then do not fix it" concept does not work anymore. Technology is moving too fast, and your competitors are moving with it. It is not about keeping up. It is all about not falling behind.

Creating a company-wide digital transformation will not be easy. But this is a practical necessity. Increased efficiency, customer satisfaction, and revenue have set you up for years of success. Last but not least, choose an agile, successful, and productive agency that fits your requirements and budget as well.