Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. This reimagining of business in the digital age is digital transformation.
In general terms, we define digital transformation as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business resulting in fundamental changes to how businesses operate and how they deliver value to customers.
A business may take on digital transformation for several reasons. But by far, the most likely reason is that they have to: It’s a survival issue. In the wake of the pandemic, an organization’s ability to adapt quickly to supply chain disruptions, time to market pressures, and rapidly changing customer expectations has become critical.
Although digital transformation will vary widely based on the organization’s specific challenges and demands, there are a few constants and common themes among existing case studies and published frameworks that all business and technology leaders should consider as they embark on digital transformation.
For instance, these digital transformation elements are often cited:
Customer experience
Operational agility
Culture and leadership
Workforce enablement
Digital technology integration
Digital transformation strategy: 7 key pieces
1. Tell a compelling digital strategy story
2. Align transformation with business goals
3. Take time to run pilot tests
4. Identify the skills mix you need in IT
5. Make experimenting with digital technologies easy
6. Master risk management
7. The critical piece: Prepare for culture change
Some real examples of digital transformation
From print advertising to digital ads
From multiple song vinyl albums to a single MP3 song
From cable TV to streaming
From movie rentals to streaming
From print media to social media
From a 36 picture roll of film to a single jpg file
From a 35 mm camera to 2 digital ones on a single phone
From a desktop computer to a smartphone
From travel bureau to Expedia/Airbnb
From a paper map to GPS
From manned helicopters to drones
From HRMS software to ESS (Employee Self Service)
From Chat Application to Chat Bot
From Delivery Application to Enterprise Logistic System
How does digital transformation work?
Digital transformation is the process of using software tools and methodologies to solve existing business challenges.
Transforming Customer Experience:
Customer Understanding
Top-line Growth
Customer Touch Points
Transforming Operational Processes:
Process Automation
Worker Enablement
Performance Management
Transforming Business Models:
Digitally Modified Businesses
New Digital Businesses
Digital Globalization
Below mentioned are some key effective strategies for digital transformation.
Start Small, slow, and steadily:
Every change is subjected to the risk of resistance and failure. Thus, it advisable to start slow and bring small changes in processes, and then comes the introduce tools and technologies to give people time to adapt to these transformations. It can be very basic like implementing a communication tool like Slack in an organization which makes the teams more organized and focused.
Align business goals with digital transformation:
Alignment is the most important step in digital transformation. Without proper alignment of goals, digital transformation is not possible. Also, all the teams across every department must be on the same page. Many times it is seen that companies involve only those stakeholders who are involved in the digital transformation process directly but it is always advisable to keep everyone in the loop so that people in the organization are aware.
Keep updating the tools and technologies:
To bring in digital transformation, it is very essential to update and adopt the latest technologies and tools. Usually, with time organizations become comfortable with tools and thus resist changing them, but it is always advisable to explore new tools and technologies which can bring add-on features for your teams.
Customer experience is the key:
For digital transformation customer experience is very essential. Thus, Businesses should use new technologies like AI & ML to evolve with changes in customer behaviour and know customer preferences. Continuously innovating, developing, and delivering digital products to customers helps in providing a better customer experience.
Transforming Customer Experience
Transforming Operational Process
Transforming Business Model
Do it with a proper plan, otherwise, digital transformation will cause just troubles and lost money. Before we start to act, we need to make research, we need to know our priorities.
Basic questions we should answer ourselves:
· Why do we want to make a digital transformation?
· What do we need it for? What is our aim? What will we gain from it?
· When should we do it?
· Who will do it?
· How much are we going to win on it and how long we will need to wait to get our money back?
· Could we do something better/ different than in the transformation plan?
When we reply to all the above questions and we have a strategy for our digital transformation, we can proceed with the next steps and start the race to win with competitors.
The following are the keys to a successful digital transformation
· Identify measurable KPIs and share them with everyone in your business, not just those directly involved in a project.
· Start with a minimum viable product and get value from that quickly.
· Build a strong foundation that allows IT teams to maintain less and innovate more.
· Understand all the facts about digital transformation rather than starting with it without complete knowledge.
Contact: dhirendra@xoniertechnologies.com