What Is Digital Transformation & Why Is It Important?

What is Digital Transformation and Why does it matter to small business?

Digital transformation is a broad concept, but the essential idea is this: using digital technologies to transform your business, improve customer value and more effectively compete in an ever-changing world.

It’s not surprising that many sme businesses are asking, what is digital transformation and how does it benefit my business? Digital transformation has become such a big deal — after all, we’re living in an age when most of us can’t go half an hour without checking our phones. This is especially true for younger generations that have grown up with technology. In fact, a recent survey found that 69% of Generation Z are frustrated with companies that don’t use modern technology to communicate.

Meanwhile, the Internet of Things (IoT) has exploded and continues to grow exponentially. In 2016, Gartner predicted there would be 8.4 billion connected things in use worldwide; by 2020, the research firm predicted there would be approximately 31 billion connected things in use. Add this to the fact that social media and mobile technology allow us to instantly connect with people around the world, and its clear technology has changed our lives forever.

So why should businesses care? Because they need to adapt or risk being left behind by more innovative competitors. If you want your company to stay ahead of the curve, then you need to start investing time and money into digital transformation as soon as possible.

There are many different reasons why digital transformation is important, but at its core, these advances allow businesses to do more with less.  A digital-first organization can collect data on their customers and employees in real time, which allows them to make more informed decisions about the people they’re serving.

Digital transformation also allows for greater collaboration between departments and employees, which leads to a stronger culture of support, creativity, and innovation. The ability of businesses to adapt to new technology and take advantage of its benefits is key for staying competitive in today’s economy.

Digital transformation is important because it opens up new opportunities for growth, increased productivity, and a better customer experience.

But what is digital transformation exactly and what are the benefits ? 

Stronger resource management.

Digital transformation also makes it easier for you to manage your resources more efficiently, allowing you to save time and money in the process.Encourages digital culture.

Digital transformation not only transforms processes but also changes the way people work together. This encourages collaboration — a key component of digital culture — as well as communication, which helps employees work together towards achieving organisational goals.

Increased profits.

Making the switch to digital can help you increase revenues by attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. It can also drive down costs by improving efficiency, increasing productivity and reducing human error (all of which will save valuable time).

Increased agility.

With new technologies like automation, business intelligence software, cloud computing, and ecommerce platforms, businesses are able to react faster than ever to changing customer demands and market conditions alike. This means they can adapt more easily to unexpected challenges and changes in strategy without having to completely overhaul their processes or technology stack.

Improved productivity.

Modern business owners have more tools than ever at their disposal for improving productivity both internally and externally. Customer relationship management (CRM) software, for example, simplifies collaboration between teams and makes it easy for them to track customer interactions across multiple channels — resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and productivity across the board.

Enhanced data collection.

You’ve most likely heard the phrase “data is king” before. Collecting data on your customers helps you to better understand their preferences, needs and behaviours so that you can cater to them accordingly. Digital transformation allows you to collect more data than ever before — which gives you better insight into what your customers want and how they behave — making it easier than ever before to meet their needs and expectations.

Data-driven customer insights.

Organizations can use digital technologies to collect data from customers’ interactions with their products, mobile apps, websites and social media sites. Using analytics tools, you can gain insights into who your customers are, what they need, what they want and how best to reach them. This information can be used to personalize the customer experience, improve customer relationships and increase sales conversion rates.

Whether you’re looking for ways to automate your business operations or simply enhance the way you conduct business, digital transformation can help you do just that. And with its ability to help drive productivity levels and enhance operational processes, it’s easy to see why so many businesses are turning towards it.

Digital transformation is not a one-size-fits-all solution. However, that doesn’t mean that it won’t ever be applicable in a given situation. All you need to do to use digital transformation to your advantage is to identify the places where technology and technology integration can positively impact your business, whether in operations or otherwise.

Then, identify the areas of your business that need the most help (by looking for pain points) and start by making improvements there first. After you have successfully implemented some digital transformation ideas from start to finish, then you can branch out and try some new approaches.

It is clear that digital transformation can be beneficial to businesses of all sizes. It may not be the right solution for every business, but it should be considered by companies who are looking to modernize their business models in the coming years.

To answer the question: what is digital transformation?

In summary, what is digital transformation? It is the integration of digital technologies across an organization to evolve capabilities and performance. There’s no denying that digital transformation is a highly beneficial phenomenon that a business needs to consider. The only question is whether or not your business is actually ready for it right now.

If you find that your business isn’t, there’s nothing wrong with taking the time to prepare and get on track before it’s too late. If you do, though, I encourage you not to delay any longer.

Digital transformation offers far too many benefits to ignore and keeping up with technology trends is necessary in today’s business climate.

Understanding what is digital transformation is not only about moving your business to the online world. It’s about taking advantage of digital technologies to improve performance and productivity.

To discover how an ERP solution such as SAP Business One can kick start in your transformation journey, get in touch with one of our digital experts.  

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