Digital transformation is one of the most popular concepts being discussed and practiced among organizations today. It is also one that has been subject to different interpretations, with different organizations having their own ideas on how extensive their digital transformation should be.
What It Is Actually About
Regardless of these interpretations, the core idea of digital transformation remains constant: the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business that will result in fundamental changes to how it will operate and how it delivers value to customers.
While some would equate digital transformation with digitization or digitalization, in truth, digital transformation entails changes beyond just converting analog or handwritten data into digital files which is what digitization does. It also goes beyond what digitalization does which is about making data more accessible by faster and better means.
As the name implies, digital transformation is marked by major changes, not just incremental ones aimed at changing the way things are done within an organization. Such changes involve shifting away from long-standing business processes in favor of relatively new practices that take advantage of the latest technologies and practices that may deem to be more efficient for the business overall and make for a better, more personalized customer experience.
As the name implies, technology is an important element in the process. However, it is just part of the equation as it is more about changing outdated or inefficient processes rather than the technology used to enable such changes. In effect, digital transformation is all about innovation, one that helps organizations perform better internally and externally.
Accelerated Adoption
While digital transformation has been around for a long while, there has been an upsurge within the last two years of businesses initiating their respective digital transformation journeys. The COVID-19 pandemic is a significant factor in this acceleration as the businesses suddenly found themselves unprepared for the disruption it brought to their traditional work processes, which necessitated a move towards digital processes which have been found to be less susceptible to such disruptions.
Thanks to digital transformation, businesses are able to achieve significant progress in critical areas in the business. For CIOs for instance, these improvements include:
Furthering the reach of customer support via tools including chatbots
Automation tools for resilience reasons
Radical housecleaning of redundant or conflicting systems
In turn, this has also allowed businesses to enjoy significant cost savings as these new processes involve lesser resources to be utilized while saving considerable time and energy as well.
Embracing the Potential
Digital transformation ultimately is about understanding the potential of your technology and embracing it in such a way that such innovative processes and workflows are seen as beneficial to the organization that people within the business are looking to make the most of the technology investments.
This allows businesses to be able to break away from their existing sandboxes that have hindered their growth and allow to set higher targets and standards as they continue to seek further growth and success in their respective markets.