Why do you need a Digital Transformation?
Digitization has taken all businesses by storm. While the internet has taken the
businesses globally, survival becomes even more difficult, unless you are sharp
and act quick. Acting upon mere assumptions and past data calls for a major risk
which companies do not want to take anymore. Businesses that have used their
own information and what’s available to them from the online and offline
markets are proving to be more successful. That’s why more and more
businesses are adopting digital transformation to gain from information and
technology.
Data has become the most important commodity for businesses. The
data provide insights into how the business is going, about the customers, their
behavior, purchase patters, marketing trends, market performance, revenue and
more. Digital transformation lets you adopt the digital technology that makes
use of information and provides you useful insights which can be used to make
vital management decisions.
Transformation involves a step by step change of processes instead of a
disruptive leap into a completely new process or method. Digital transformation
comprises of social media, analytics, mobile, and the cloud technologies. The
shift is gradual and radical and hence you may consider analyzing the need for
Digital Transformation as such. So, as you analyze the needs, the following stand
out, to be the most important reasons that urge businesses to undergo that
transformation, step by step, but definitely:
Adopting the Trend
As the business landscapes are changing with the advancing technologies and
world, businesses also need to keep abreast with the latest trends in the market
to stay updated. Since the arrival of computers, a massive shift in the business
processes has initiated which is also helping the businesses refine them. Every
business strives to keep it updated on the latest trends in the market, whether
local or international. They need this to satisfy the varied leads and customers
they target. Thus, digital transformation is a part of adopting the latest trends in
the market. In this process, they also benefit from the digital information which
comes handy while taking management decisions.
Information is an Asset
El Camino Hospital significantly expanded patient online “self-serve” payment,
reduced operational costs, and raised patient satisfaction. There was a 16-times
increase in patient self service via online payments, 40% staff time reduction on
payments & collections.
Source:
https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/digital-
transformation-a-need-of-now
With Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Automation ruling
the market, information is definitely the most prized commodities for all types of
businesses. As per Informatica, “Readily available, rich product data help to
engage customers for a rich digital customer experience”. Digital transformation
offers the business its biggest fuel ‘data’ which will offer the biggest insights
including customer behavior, market feasibility, purchasing patterns, customer
experience, customer engagement etc. According to Forrester, such insights will
result in profitability, customer satisfaction, process efficiency optimization, and
faster completion of processes along with cost-reduction.Processes Efficiency Optimization.
Data can give you a detailed report on the speed of your processes, its shortfalls
and also its benefits which helps the businesses to take necessary remedial
actions to speed up the process correcting its deficits and augmenting the
benefits. This is possible only when you have sufficient information about the
processes which is provided by data-driven digital transformation. Process
efficiency improves resource efficiency and productivity which in turn boosts
customer experience and profitability.
Automation and Agility
Digital transformation lets you automate your processes and automation offers
agility. When your processes are efficient, you can set them in automated mode
to generate invoices, issue receipts, send out emails, purchase orders when
stock reaches reorder, and send out alerts based on preset events. Automation
makes the processes more efficient, on-time, and error-free. Automated
processes are carried out on preset triggers which make them agile. In effect,
digital transformation can enhance your process agility.
Evading Risks
Data gives you insights which helps you evade risks to a great extent. Till
recently, many vital management decisions were taken based on assumptions.
Hence, there was a great deal of risk associated with such assumption-based
decisions. With digital transformation, decisions become data-driven which make
them less risky. Digital transformation provides you ample information and
insights based on in-depth analytics. When critical business decisions are taken
based on facts and figures, they are more likely to be successful.
Data Security
Most of the business data is classified. Digital transformation, particularly when
using the cloud technologies, become much more secured. As data goes digital,
it can adopt the modern proven technologies that are available to make it more
secured. Cybersecurity is evolving fast and hence there are many ways in which
data can be secured. A 3rd generation of security is offered with technologies
such as mobility, IoT and cloud computing. Distributed networks and blockchains
are fast-evolving providing additional security to data over a network. Digital
data has thus become more secure than physical data. In a world which is fast-
paced, looking for every opportunity to overcome competition, digital
transformation is a must to ensure data security.
The internet offers a great deal of information on market and customers. With
digitization, businesses can easily go online, use the social media to gain market
insights and use it as a market place. Digital transformation nudges businesses
to go online to make use of the vast information it has to offer and also become
a part of the global market online.
Social media lets the business interact more
personally with the customers, getting to know more about them. This can
improve customer experience and boost customer satisfaction. There’s a lot
more information about its competitors and other innovators available online
which can be analyzed used for greater profitability.
Conclusion
Today’s businesses are process-oriented. When they become data-oriented, the
decisions are bound to be based on facts and figures rather than assumptions
and norms. Data-driven decisions will lead businesses to success. They augment
the speed and enhance the stakeholder experience. The employees andcustomers are more likely to experience the advantages. The processes become
more efficient and agile. There may be some initial challenges, but once
implemented, data-driven digital transformation is bound to lead the business to
long-term success.
