Strategies for Digital Transformation can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Each business can have a different perspective because of the unique value it offers each one. Before diving into the topic further, let’s hear from thought leaders in the high tech industry on how they define digital transformation.
What is Digital Transformation?
“Digital Transformation is the creation of a continuously learning and adapting, AI-driven and human-empowered, business model that seeks to identify, codify, and operationalize actionable customer, product, and operational insights (propensities) in order to optimize, or re-invent, operational efficiency, enhance customer value creation, mitigate operational and compliance risk, and create new revenue opportunities.”
Bill Schmarzo
“Digital Transformation encompasses many areas of an organization’s peregrination from legacy to modernized, many of which focus on employee experience or customer experience; but this is only a microcosm. Digital Transformation is a murky term at best that can be interchanged with terms like “Digitization” or “Digital Business Transformation”. The term’s application is a reference to a myriad of things from putting services online, to cloud computing, to digital business processes and workflows, to artificial intelligence and machine learning. True Digital Transformation contains four segments; Culture/organizational change, Domain, Business Processes, and Business Model.”
Christopher Claunch
A great example of digital transformation is a brick-and-mortar business everyone knows by name, Walmart. The company started its journey to digitally transform its business starting back in 2011. The curbside pickup market is rapidly growing and Walmart is the clear leader with innovation at its core. Since COVID-19, 85% of shoppers have increased curbside pick-up and Walmart has been very successful in its adoption to digitally transform its business. The result of this drastically increased revenue, customer satisfaction, and employee retention.
5 Strategies for Digital Transformation
Digital transformation can be a confusing topic but, I want to highlight five strategies for digital transformation and why it should be your #1 priority – After all, your company’s future depends on it. To simplify the complexity of the topic, it’s safe to assume that food is a priority for you, and if you never eat, you’ll die of starvation. The reason you eat is to eliminate hunger and the reason you need to implement digital transformation is to eliminate liquidation. Now, let’s dive into some different strategies for digital transformation and why it’s so important.
1. Remote work is becoming the new norm
In order to support remote employees, your digital strategies need to be effective. As your employees leave the office to work from home, implementing cloud-based technologies and adapting to the market will greatly strengthen the transition process. Not to mention, having these updated systems and processes will give you a competitive edge when hiring new employees. This is also known as innovating and modernizing – two very attractive traits to new hires.
2. Online shopping increases digital customer service
Due to COVID-19, consumers are relying more on making all of their purchases online. This increases the demand for online customer service due to more customers reaching out through digital channels. Investing in digital workflows will allow your agents to keep up with their rising workload through automating business processes. This will not only help retain employees, but it will help maintain loyal customers.
3. Lower operational costs
The Hackett team found that an organization’s transaction costs were able to be cut by 40% through digital transformation initiatives. The ultimate driver to cut these costs was by advancing business efficiency and performance through IT operations.
4. Unlock new revenue streams
By implementing digital transformation you’re able to unlock new revenue streams and deliver innovative products/services. According to Forrester, several companies have modernized their existing business model, but few have transformed. Many think that digital transformation is only about changing the operating model of the business. Unfortunately, that’s not correct. True transformation only happens when a firm begins to use software to create and sustain different customer values.
5. Chatbots and virtual agents
While most clients prefer online shopping, they also prefer automated tools to eliminate time and hassle. We’re all human and want to have our problems and questions answered quickly and accurately. This is where chatbots and virtual agents come in handy. They reduce the handling time and call volume of service desk technicians while delivering reliable 24/7/365 technical support.
Is Digital Transformation Right For Your Business?
While I have only scratched the surface of digital transformation, there’s still much more to explore. If you’d like to learn more, schedule a FREE consultation with a professional to get a full 360-degree look around your business model!