Why Is Digital Transformation Important Today?

Digital Transformation has been a popular buzzword floating around the tech space since the age of the internet and Y2K. Yet in recent years the term has seen a true resurgence as business processes continue to become digitized. So, what exactly is digital transformation? According to CIO, digital transformation (DX) is defined as the application of digital capabilities to processes, products, and assets to improve efficiency, enhance customer value, manage risk, and uncover new monetization opportunities. Simply put, digital transformation is about making your business capable of competing and succeeding using modern solutions and technology.

Competition is fierce in every industry, and in order to get ahead of the curve, adopting a digital-first strategy is a must. By 2022, it is estimated that spending on technology and services will reach $1.97 trillion. This increase in spending will directly relate to the digital transformation journey for many businesses. Companies who delay putting together a digital strategy will surely fall behind.

According to Forrester’s report on the Digital Business Imperative, there are two dimensions of DX that customers have come to expect from companies: Digital Customer Experience and Digital Operational Excellence. The digital customer experience requires that products and services are digitally enhanced, and the customer experience is digitized from end-to-end. Digital operational excellence, on the other hand, includes orchestrating new operational capabilities, driving rapid customer-centric collaboration and innovation, and focusing on agility over efficiency.

Customers now assume that businesses will provide a digital experience throughout every touchpoint. Therefore, it is important to implement a company-wide, digital-first strategy to connect all of the departments and provide the same visibility across front, middle and back offices. If a company does not have a digital transformation strategy in place, the result could be detrimental to sales and revenues.

How can businesses advance towards digital transformation?

First, start with operational excellence, then, improve the customer experience.

There are many steps that a business can take when working towards DX, some include:

• Secure Network – Create an environment that empowers and enables technology, and gain visibility into technology usage. Develop a sound network environment either locally or based in the cloud.
• Manage Connected Devices – Implement collaboration hardware and IT infrastructure assets. Improve use of existing printers by providing analytics into printing behaviors and fleet inventory. Control mobile and remote devices and employees.
• Automate Processes – Use automated workflows to process information, and reduce manual input of data into line of business (LOB) systems by using robotic process automation (RPA).
• Business Intelligence and Analytics – Make quick and informed decisions with visibility into business data, and insights into process efficiency.
• Increase Productivity – Create an intranet and utilize a learning management system (LMS) to train employees. Gather customer analytics to inform better campaigns and communications.
• Improve Customer Experience – Digitalize all customer related processes, including a self-service customer portal and mobile application.

Ready to create your digital transformation roadmap?

Join us on Thursday, August 8th, 2019 at Navy Pier in Chicago for Impact Optimize2019, a one-day educational summit that will focus on Digital Transformation for Growing Companies. Attendees will learn how to navigate the digital landscape with presentations, breakout sessions and hands-on workshops dedicated to exploring DX strategies, technologies, and solutions. Mapping out an organization’s DX journey requires a long-term plan to achieve greater efficiencies, better client experiences, a more innovative business model and greater ROI.

Want to Learn More?

Thinking it’s time to talk to someone about your company’s IT? Get in touch with Impact’s Managed IT team and speak to one of our experts today!