What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the process of using technology to optimize business processes.
As technology revolutionizes the way business is conducted across sectors, it is important for organizations to evolve in order to rise up to the change. The present pandemic outbreak is a reminder of how clever deployment of technology is now more important than ever before.
A perceptively flexible and practically agile foundation is the need of the hour.
In this article, we cover aspects of this transformation that are inevitable for service providers across sectors. It will help them can navigate the change seamlessly whilst the smooth running of on-going business operations.
Why should you embrace digital transformation?
Delaying the digitization of your business processes is like postponing a kitchen sink leakage. You are losing customer-centricity, productivity, and possible profits without even a count of how much you could have saved, and in best cases, multiplied.
No matter how healthy old piping may look on the outside, the leak could mean anything from a loose tap-connection to a rusting inside, that might need to be fixed immediately.
In a business context, now is the time for organizations of all scales to revisit their conventional operational methodologies. They should analyse and optimize them for the age of technology.
This can range from aspects as basic as remodeling of your website, or as detailed as developing a custom app to manage leads or other operational activities. Right partners can help you optimally use the budgets you set aside for this upgrade, giving you an edge over your competitors.
The first step while considering an activity for the digital transformation is to analyze its business value.
You can start off by targeting low hanging fruits which would consume minimal efforts and drive maximum benefits.
E.g. Let’s say if you were a goods manufacturer or distributor, you can start off with the development of a eCatalog app for your retailers/buyers.
After a few months, you can make mobile app to manage communication and tasks within the company.
This way you can step by step build your digital arsenal.
Digital Transformation is not necessarily a complete makeover
At first, it is easy to mistake digital transformation to be a technological makeover. However, upon a closer look, you will find that it is actually a technology-enabled transformation that is rooted in the change of strategy and approach that a business takes to keep itself constantly contemporary.
For example, a retail brand that lobbied retailers to stock and sell their products can simply create an eCommerce website and a mobile app to generate orders.
They can also effectively use SEO services to gain top rankings on Google for their targeted keywords. They can even advertise on social media without the giant, pocket-burning budgets of print or TV ads.
The resultant capture of data at the ad-source can be used to know consumers better. This information can be used to make necessary modifications in the product catalog.
This change stems from the business’s objective to grow and scale by the use of technology at its core. Digital Transformation, then is more of a strategy-spearheaded movement and not necessarily an IT-liability.
True Transformation gets you closer to your customers
In a hyper-personalized business environment, consumers are now conditioned to expect products to be conveniently customized to their requirements. Any business failing to fulfill this parameter is bound to be less chosen and at times even less popular.
When you create your digital assets, you get access to one of the most crucial elements i.e. data, which traditional analog business models do not capture. They miss out on a crucial bridge to your customers i.e. data.
The importance of data can be understood by Mukesh Ambani’s quote:
‘Data is the new oil.’
Resorting to digital means of storing, analyzing, and acting upon data is more important now than ever before.
It helps in pre-empting consumer needs and designing innovative solutions that are more likely to be purchased, leading you to productively manage your resources, and magnify your return to investment ratio in turn.
True Transformation gets you closer to your customers
In this context, the digitalization of your business needs to revolve around the way your customers interact with you. This way of interaction will be different from one industry to another.
The way a food-delivery company transforms itself through the usage of its food delivery app is going to be very different from a logistics firm that uses technology for the implementation of a new ERP.
The one-size-fits-all approach will render the whole effort futile. Instead of going with an off-the-shelf solution, develop a custom solution that differentiates your company’s digital assets from others.
A keen understanding of your business is fundamental to device digital solutions for your organization to leverage from.
The secret is to start small, but start now
The success of any plan lies in its timely implementation. The walk towards digital change is no different.
Renovating your business operations and marketing plans all once can be spread-out, investment-heavy, and in most cases, infeasible. But it is important to start the journey even if you can not travel the length of the road all at once.
To take from our earlier example of the retail brand, the shift in the mode of selling, might immediately alter the supply chain, along with the marketing and sales strategies. However, investment in analytics of consumer data, and the subsequent automation need not be implemented right away.
As with any other major revolution, the principles of digital transformation are also fairly simple. What cannot be done completely, must not be left completely.
If you want to future-proof your business and continue your legacy, it is important that you start making a switch before the world out-runs you.
Progress and growth for any organization starts on the inside. Businesses, too, must turn inward as they head towards the anticipated age of rapid technological disruptions. During transition, they should hold on to their core value propositions.
The paradigm shift from a time when businesses had to be built to last, to a stage where they now have to be built to change is the biggest challenge as an organization approaches digital transformation.
Not only then, is expert opinion advisable, but also inevitable. If you are looking for a digital transformation company to discuss your digital road-block, or have a reformation task at hand, our sales team will be happy to help you with a solution customized for you. Reach out today!
Here are some books on Digital Transformation we recommend reading this year.
- See Sooner, Act Faster: How Vigilant Leaders Thrive in an Era of Digital Turbulence (Management on the Cutting Edge). Author: George Day and Paul Schoemaker
- Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction. Author: Tom Siebel
- Why Digital Transformations Fail: The surprising Disciples of how to Take Off and Stay Ahead. Author: Tony Saldanha
- The Technology Fallacy: How People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation ( Management on cutting edge). Authors: Gerald Kane, Anh Nguyen Phillips, Jonathan Copulsky, and Garth Andrus
- MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small. Author: Greg Verdino
- Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation. Authors: George Westerman, Didier Bonnet, and Andrew McAfee
- The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business for the Digital Age. Author: David Rogers
- Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business. Author: Sunil Gupta
- Driving Digital: The Leader’s Guide to Business Transformation Through Technology Author: Isaac Sacolick
- 77 Building Blocks of Digital Transformation: The Digital Capability Model. Author: Jace An
