Digital transformation is no longer a buzzword for organizations – it’s become the new normal of operating in today’s digital age. Whether you’re an enterprise, a start-up, or a mid-sized business, you need to transform your operations and processes if you want to stay competitive and relevant.
The pandemic has been a key driver in accelerating digital transformation. According to Dell’s , which surveyed over 4000 business leaders globally, 8 in 10 organizations accelerated their digital transformation programs in 2020, and 89% said that the pandemic highlighted the need for business agility.
But what does digital transformation really mean? And why is it so critical for your organization? This article explores what digital transformation means in 2022, why you need it now more than ever, and how to get started.
What Does Digital Transformation Mean in 2022?
Digital transformation isn’t just a technology strategy, and it goes beyond just implementing new technology. Most organizations are doing some digital projects, but that does not mean they are a digital businesses. True digital transformation is about leveraging technology to modify your business processes or create new processes so your company can operate with a digital-first mindset. In a nutshell, it involves using digital technologies to reimagine a business process to be more effective and efficient.
According to an global spending on digital transformation of business practices, products, and organizations is forecasted to reach $2.8 trillion in 2025 – almost double the amount allocated in 2020. They forecast technology investments to accelerate in 2022, with more emphasis on long-term strategic digital objectives. Many of these are operational objectives – back-office support and infrastructure for core business functions.
Why Does Digital Transformation Matter?
If you’re wondering about the benefits of digital transformation for your company, here are some of the main reasons why every business needs to go digital – and fast.
1) Improves customer experience and engagement
Digital technology has caused a shift in customer expectations. Today’s modern buyer expects on-demand service – faster delivery times, quicker responses, and personalized experiences. Digital transformation helps improve your business processes, increasing speed and agility and reducing wasted time and effort. All of this allows you to enhance the delivery of your products and services to your customers.
It also allows you to reimagine the entire customer journey and the touchpoints through which a customer interacts with your brand. For instance, with a cloud-based CRM coupled with a customer-focused strategy and processes, you’ll be able to streamline communications and create highly targeted messages. Your customer service team will be able to offer immediate assistance as and when required across multiple channels.
2) Increases employee efficiency and experience
The pandemic brought remote working to the mainstream, and businesses that had not already implemented digital strategies and tools found the shift extremely difficult. As remote and hybrid work models are likely to feature in the post-pandemic landscape, a digital-first business strategy lets your employees work from anywhere and on the go and makes it easier to collaborate.
Improving business processes by leveraging automation, machine learning, and AI allows your employees to move from routine, manual tasks to more fulfilling and revenue-generating projects. In this way, digital transformation can positively shape employee experience, while also helping to increase efficiency.
3) Improves business agility and resilience
Digital transformation goes beyond just cost efficiencies. When done right, it improves a company’s agility and builds resilience. Business agility can help reduce your time to market, make it easier to innovate, and create new services and products possibilities.
Another advantage of an agile business is your ability to adapt quickly while increasing customer focus, resulting in revenue growth, waste reduction, and efficient risk management. A business should simplify and modernize its existing IT architecture and operations to achieve this. Some steps they can take include identifying redundancies, reducing the number of stand-alone software platforms, systematic architecture review, and modernizing your legacy software. Essentially, digital transformation provides a foundation for your business to explore new ways of working to deliver value to your clients, regardless of any business fluctuations, market trends, or other disruptions.
4) Gives access to data-driven insights for better business decisions
Data and analytics should be an important aspect of any digital transformation strategy. Every business has access to large volumes of data, however with integrated systems and access to technology such BI software, AI, and predictive analytics, your raw data is transformed into useful insights that can help business leaders make informed decisions.
This means decisions are made based on data instead of only relying on assumptions or gut instincts alone. As they are objective and quantifiable, it becomes easier to justify strategies and decisions to stakeholders.
Final thoughts: digital transformation is a journey
Digital transformation encompasses more than just technology now – it is about getting the right mix of technology, processes, and people to operate digitally first. This means adapting to changes rapidly, leveraging your solutions to create lean operations, and empowering your employees to free up their time and focus on more revenue-generating tasks.
Digital transformation is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. It looks different for different companies, based on your current goals and state of business operations. It can range from optimizing a core business process to or replacing your legacy software altogether.
Kwixand Solutions can help you digitally transform & thrive
If your are looking to optimize your business processes through the right blend of technology and strategy, the team at Kwixand Solutions is here for you. As a , we leverage the cloud-based Dynamics 365 applications and the Power Platform to design creative solutions that will solve your business challenges and help you achieve your business goals. For us, successful digital transformation is in more than just software implementation – it’s about transforming your culture, processes, and customer experiences. with us today to get started.
