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Digital Transformation Message

The Reality Check You Need To Be Successful In Your Digital Transformation Journey

We are all quite aware of the ongoing buzzword in the business world. Digital Transformation – the cool technical advancements that companies should adopt to get that technical edge and competitive advantage over their peers. In fact, it is estimated that the digital transformation market is set to grow to a $1,009.8 billion valued market by 2025. The IMF predicted in 2020 that, by now, about 65% of the world’s GDP would be digitized, and we are indeed witnessing a huge deal of digitization efforts from organizations of all shapes and sizes, and types, across the world.

With the pandemic essentially rushing us all into a rapid digital transformation, it would be safe to say that every growing business has made some effort towards digital transformation. But not all of them understand what it truly means to undertake and implement digital transformation.

How does digital transformation help?

 

Digital transformation is expected to improve the company’s operational efficiency and customer satisfaction levels, improve product quality, reduce expenses, identify new revenue streams, and make the company more profitable and easier to manage. If you believe your digitization efforts have borne fruit, they should reflect in the benefits stated above.

But many companies still tend to struggle to realize these benefits because they don’t do enough to achieve proper digital transformation.

What does digital transformation entail?

 

Digital transformation is an end-to-end process where you digitize not just your existing business processes but also your business model, domain, and the cultural aspects of your organization. Besides these core aspects, you will also have to look into other avenues where digital transformation can improve efficiency and optimization.

You need to identify the objectives you seek from your digital transformation efforts, establish the metrics that need to be tracked and then monitor them throughout the process. Digital transformation expands across your day-to-day operations and any third-party interaction – be it your consumers, vendors, or outsourcing teams.

You will need to have a clear vision and build a culture that accepts the changes that digital transformation brings. And you will need a major technology upgrade to whatever it is you are currently following.

Digital Transformation – A reality check

 

But not every organization takes up digital transformation with such clear motivation. They lack a proper digital transformation strategy and end up doing a halfway job that, unsurprisingly, will not yield the results they seek.

It is a common misconception that, just because you use computers, you have achieved digital transformation. Many organizations fail to span digital transformation across their entire organization and thus end up with IT silos that still demand manual intervention. The very benefits of digitization, optimization, and remote facilities become unachievable because companies fail to adopt digital transformation completely. The traditional IT systems that you probably have represent digitization and not exactly digital transformation. Understanding the difference between these two is necessary to see the need for digital transformation clearly.

Digitization applies to a specific use case or a system and thus could create silos within the company. In contrast, digital transformation encompasses the whole of the organization.

For instance, consider making use of an enterprise solution for your company. In traditional IT, this solution would only be installed onto company laptops and computers and might have limited access outside the company premises. Some companies also tend to limit access within their intra-network systems. But such a model can be quite restrictive when trying to implement BYOD or remote working facilities.

Similarly, teams could be making use of different tools and information repositories. While these could be digital solutions, not having centralized databases with remote access facilities can soon lead to information silos and miscommunications across the teams.

You need to keep tracking your metrics and ensure your digital transformation journey is on the right path, and you are not stuck with traditional IT systems. You must also nurture a work culture that accepts digital transformation and develop a continuous innovation mindset to keep improving your digitization strategies.

Here are some reality-checking pointers that could help you understand whether you are indeed making full use of what digital transformation could bring you.

User interface

 

Do you have an easy-to-access and intuitive interface to carry out your workflows? Be it employees, customers, or any stakeholder, everyone needs to be able to access easy-to-use interfaces to get their tasks done.

AI and automation

 

Are you making the best use of AI and automation technologies? AI lets you identify new opportunities and helps you optimize your existing workflows and business processes. And remember, automation is key to the success of any digital transformation effort. You should be able to automate all tasks that can indeed be automated. Minimize the need for manual intervention to diminish errors, improve speed and reduce costs.

Silos

 

If your organization has IT silos, it is time to break them down and find better ways to integrate your IT operations under one wing. Silos represent a lacking in your digital transformation strategy and are remnants of traditional IT systems.

Security

 

How well prepared are you with regard to security policies and measures as you adopt digital solutions? Check your security systems to ensure they can handle the threats that come with remote access.

How does cloud computing help?

 

Moving to the cloud is a great way for small businesses to adopt a full digital transformation for their company. Cloud computing empowers digital transformation – with its capabilities to provide better security, agility, and access to cutting-edge technologies.

Cloud solutions allow for remote access from anywhere, anytime.

Cloud solutions are bound to provide secured access to the SLAs. They provide easy backup options and advanced, up-to-date security measures for proper authentication and authorization. You can also set various types of access levels to ensure data integrity.

Cloud computing is cost-effective as you only pay as per the usage. It allows for easy scaling up and down based on your requirements. You get access to powerful technological resources without making huge investments in cloud infrastructure and hardware.

Cloud can easily help you deal with huge amounts of data and provide easy integration with AI-based solutions for advanced data analytics and insights into your business operations.

Start your digital transformation journey today with an expert analysis of your existing business processes. We are business process experts who understand the technology and how it can transform your business. We can help you to realize the benefits of digital transformation. Contact us today to learn more.