What is Digital Transformation? A must-read for businesses in this era!

For more than a century, technology has played an important role in human life and nowadays, everything has been digitalised. Most people have numerous devices that connect their real world to the online world, including a computer, smartphone, notebook, and tablet. Everything in this era is data-driven and as the world is evolving so fast, it can be hard to keep up. So for this reason, every organisation must know how to adapt to the digital world to keep up with modern times. After all, if businesses continue to use traditional forms of marketing, they may get left behind. That’s why the term “Digital Transformation” has now become a new buzzword. 

What is Digital Transformation?

In an era where the digital marketing landscape has changed drastically, customers’ expectations are also constantly increasing, resulting in digital transformation being key to businesses surviving. Recently, research from Gartner indicated that the Covid-19 outbreak had led many organisations to turn their attention to digital transformation more than ever. So what exactly is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the adoption and use of digital technology within an organisation or business. It starts from upstream, which means that management introduce it to their reports, and then it gets filtered down from there. An example could be moving from paper documents to computer files or sending an email instead of a letter. 

But of course, the example above is only a fraction of what digital transformation entails. Other examples include:

• IT modernisation: using modern technology to help operations, such as the use of Cloud Computing, Big Data, and IoT technology
• Employee reskilling
• Adopting digital tools, such as using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to allow employees more time to be creative and solve problems
• The use of design thinking to innovate solutions to customer problems.
• Improving work processes to better meet the needs of customers
• Adjusting the organisational conditions to support remote working
• Using data rather than assumptions to make predictions
• Keeping important data safe with Cloud storage
• Receiving information digitally
• Selling products or services on online platforms

Why Undergo Digital Transformation?

To be able to survive in a world where everything is digitally driven, businesses need to adapt. The New Normal has completely changed the way of life for people today. Nowadays, carrying a smartphone has become more important than carrying a wallet. Therefore, e-banking and online payment methods have become a big part of the digital transformation process for many businesses. In addition to this, many businesses have had to move online, be it in the form of a social media platform or e-commerce site in order to facilitate customers in the ever-changing digital world.

If businesses are unable to adapt, they’ll soon find themselves left behind, and that could mean the end for them altogether.  This is the very reason digital transformation is needed.

What are the Benefits of Digital Transformation?

• You can collect complete data. Information that was previously recorded on paper will be transferred to a computer or electronic device using online storage. This allows companies to store and review information and data with ease.
• You can manage information quickly, as electronic devices make work more efficient. You will also be able to easily see who has worked on a document or last edited it and contact that person if need be.
• You will receive more accurate information. Every organisation requires data collection, whether it involves people or machines, and digital transformation helps to collect data faster and more reliably. 
• It helps reduce costs in the long run. Digital transformation reduces the need for repetitive work, so businesses can spend less on human resources. 

What Does Digital Transformation Involve?

Digital transformation involves three main factors, which must all come together for it to be effective: 

Employees

Digital transformation is a change that starts with people. Because the experience of people and the experience of customers are related, we must first let our people know what is changing in the market and why we need digital transformation. It’s important to communicate how digital transformation benefits what the organisation is currently working on so that employees are able to understand and accept the changes. 

The organisation

Every change requires a pattern and a process, so we should not just randomly add technology to every process. Businesses should start by selecting technologies that will support the current systems in place and positively impact their employees or customers. For example, technology enables more personalised marketing which allows us to build relationships with customers and drive sales. 

Technology

No two organisations are 100% the same, so you can’t always apply technology to one organisation and expect it to work for another. Still, it’s important to know which technologies will suit your business. For example, any business that focuses on customer service may benefit from the use of AI technology to help answer chats. This technology is also known as a Chatbot, which can help to reduce the time employees spend answering the same questions from customers. 

Conclusion

Since digital technology plays a huge role in people’s daily lives, businesses must keep up or they will be left behind. Change, although challenging, is not always scary. It is also something that we have to accept and live with. So, whichever direction digital transformation takes your organisation in, it’s imperative to meed the needs of modern customers and make your business more efficient.

However, if you’re still unsure where to start when it comes to digitising your business model, speak to Primal’s expert marketing team.