Impact of Digital Transformation and Trends

 

How companies will transform by adopting these technologies:

 

A digital transformation strategy is to create capabilities to fully leverage the possibilities and opportunities in new technologies and to make a faster and better impact. This is a strategy which businesses should adopt if they want to evolve and survive.

 

Digital technologies like cloud computing, analytics, mobile computing, social media, and IoT, 3D printing, drones, artificial intelligence, and robotics are creating a huge impact on businesses.

 

Companies need to adopt these technologies in their operations by engaging their customers and empowering their employees with the necessary skills. Companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have used digital transformation to grow faster and to improve their productivity.

 

It is a once in a lifetime technology shift to transform every industry and business in the world by evolving faster and by investing in new business models on the latest technologies.

 

Design thinking as a Tool:

 

Design thinking is one of the key tools for digital transformation. We can obtain practical and creative resolution to problems using this technique. It is a significant, different way of thinking with an intent on producing a constructive result considering the end-user.

 

Design thinking employs divergent thinking, which is a way to make sure that we explore many possible solutions while resolving a problem. Design thinking includes "building up" ideas during a "brainstorming" phase. This helps to reduce the fear of failure of the participant(s) and encourages comments and participation from a variety of sources in the "ideation" phase.

 

Design thinking takes into account user experience in designing a solution to a problem faced by end users. In simple words, Design thinking is nothing but putting yourself in the customer's shoes to gain empathy and awareness for their needs while designing a solution.

 

It is the way to go paperless and protect the environment.

 

Skills required for Digital transformation:

 

Employees must have skills like familiarity with new technology, data analysis, interpersonal skills and ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced environment, to adapt to digital transformation. Creativity and ability to execute and a customer-centric approach are also important skills required.

 

There is a big demand for people who have these skills and there are great job opportunities in the marketplace.

 

Conclusion:

 

Digital transformation should target at improving customer experience by digitization of operational processes, recreating new business models and by utilizing design thinking, to survive in a competitive marketplace.

Resource

What Is Digital Transformation And What Does It Really Mean For Your Business?

 

What Is Digital Transformation?

 

The Global Center for Digital Transformation says that "organizational change is the foundation of digital business transformation". That's because changing the nature of an organisation means changing the way people work, challenging their mindsets and the daily work processes and strategies that they rely upon. While these present the most difficult problems, they also yield the most worthwhile rewards, allowing a business to become more efficient, data-driven and nimble, taking advantage of more business opportunities.

 

Define 'digital' in digital transformation

 

While the focus is on changing how the business works at every level, technology underpins all digital transformation projects. But what technology?

 

Obviously this changes as time goes on, but typically businesses want to adopt technologies that help them harness and make sense of the vast quantities of data they are sitting on, as well as preparing for trends like the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile.

 

That means analytics tools are high up on the agenda, as well as cloud computing, which lets you store data outside your own data centre, potentially closing this down. You might also want to focus on collaborative tools, like file-sharing, mobile devices, and apps, that let your employees work wherever they are, and which give them instant access to information - especially useful for salespeople visiting customers, for instance.

 

What Digital Transformation Means For Your Business?

 

Accepting and moving toward digital transformation doesn't simply mean jumping on every technological bandwagon that comes along. Doing that is like putting a bunch of cut up vegetables in a pot and calling it soup. Unless you put the right ingredients in the pot and turn on the stove, you'll never make soup-at least not soup that anyone wants to eat. Instead, each company has to spend some time thinking about what digital transformation really means for them.

 

Companies need to think about transitioning core business processes and digitalizing the client/business process first. They have to think about which applications, platforms, and solutions fit into their culture, daily operations, and budget. There is unfortunately no cookie cutter solution that businesses can opt into. It's a process that requires personalization and a knack for following trends.

 

Digital Disruption And Focusing On The Consumer

 

Digital disruption is another key term that describes what digital transformation can do in society at large. Smartphones created a disruption, Uber created a disruption, and wearable technology continues to create disruptions. With each key technological advancement, the daily lives of consumers change a little more. The norm is shaken up, and the advancement adds value to consumers. Businesses that take advantage of the new changes, and who understand how these changes affect daily life, can modify their practices to meet the needs of the consumer.

 

Consumer-centrism is one way to ensure that you're meeting the demands of the digital age. Knowing where your customers are interacting online and how you can meet them on their own turf will enhance your ability to make their lives easier and to make sales. Every business has to think about digital transformation and the power of disruptions now. There is no longer time to take baby steps and get your feet wet. It's a sink or swim environment for many businesses.

 

Planning Ahead For Digital Transformation

 

Digital transformation is both an end result and an ongoing process. You have to make the initial move, and then you must continue to evolve or be forced out. There is no quick fix for digital transformation. When you sit down with your team to discuss your company's digital future, think about the near future, but also the long-term goals of your company. To maintain relevancy, you will need to implement digital solutions that keep your company moving forward into the digital era and not standing still or moving backwards.

 

At every step, think about the business experience. What can you implement to streamline in-house operations? What can you implement to facilitate customer interactions? These aspects that will drive your digital transformation. For some companies that may mean adopting an integrated payment solution so that customers can login to an online portal and pay their bills. For others, it may mean getting on social media and posting relevant content on a regular basis. Any move to the digital space is part of the digital transformation.

 

Over the long term, the digital experience will shift. How can you make changing an easier part of the business process? Transparency, a group mission toward digital relevance, and constant listening to customer behaviors may all be important for shifting your company's focus away from legacy business practices and to a more digital oriented future.

 

If your business is seeking to get into the race of digital transformation, it is important to act right now. Late adopters can have serious disadvantages since the competition is already in the domain. If you are looking to adopt a business model that utilizes a digital core, we can help. Embrace the digital transformation with the best developers to get to the forefront of change.

Resource

Digital Transformation Myths and Trends in 2020

 

You have been hearing about Fourth Industrial Revolution. It's probably the hottest topic for businesses, thought leaders, policymakers, scientists and of course technocrats.

 

Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, who coined this term, writes - "The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create the mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres."

 

He makes a very important, pertinent point - "Neither technology nor the disruption that comes with it is an exogenous force over which humans have no control. All of us are responsible for guiding its evolution, in the decisions we make on a daily basis as citizens, consumers, and investors."

 

While Digital Transformation as a term is still misunderstood, today, digital transformation as a business imperative is widely agreed upon. What then is a digital transformation in practice? Is it an IT project? Or the introduction of a few cool tools in the company? Or the addition of a mobility is driven customer relationship management (CRM) initiative to engage customers better?

 

As an organization, if you are looking to embark on the digital transformation journey or trying to stay away from it, there are still a few myths around digital transformation that you need to steer clear of. If you want to lead your organization through digital transformation, the first step is understanding the realities of digital transformation - rather than getting carried away by the hype.

 

In this article we use excerpts from a few, prestigious industry reports/white papers to dispel a few myths.

 

The reports/white papers that we quote from include:

 

World Economic Forum's (WEF) White Paper on Digital Transformation of Industries: Digital Enterprise, developed in collaboration with Accenture

Forrester's Report, The Digital Business Imperative, co-authored by Martin Gill and Nigel Fenwick

Digital is a fad; a trend that my business need not think about

digital transformation process

Digital has transformed the market context for every business, and the pace of change is accelerating.

The WEF White Paper says - There is widespread recognition among leaders in most industries that the role of digital technology is rapidly shifting, from being a driver of marginal efficiency to an enabler of fundamental innovation and disruption. Digitalization is the cause of large-scale and sweeping transformations across multiple aspects of business, providing unparalleled opportunities for value creation and capture. Business leaders across all sectors are grappling with the strategic implications of these transformations for their organizations, industry ecosystems, and society.

 

Digital Transformation means exceptional customer experiences powered by new technologies

 

Digital has impacted not just channels and customers. It is disrupting organizations from within - changing the way they do business. Digital brings new opportunities for organizations that can embrace the technology fast enough. It speeds time-to-market, reduces costs, and unlocks new revenue streams.

 

Forrester Report says - Digital business isn't just about customer experience; it's also a way to drive operational agility. Digital operations can increase speed-to-market, make employees more productive, promote leaner processes, and maximize asset utilization.

 

Let me build an app. My digital transformation is done.

 

Digital transformation is not about the introduction of a few tools that are geared to change a particular facet of your business, be it employee collaboration or customer transactions.

 

Forrester Report Says -

 

Digital fundamentally changes your relationship with your customers. You can't address this change with a bolt-on digital strategy that adds an app here or a site there. To remain competitive, you must re-engineer how your business creates value for your customers in the digital age.

Re-envision your business not as a set of products and services but instead as a part of the personal value ecosystems that your customers assemble according to their needs and desires. Learn to increase value by expanding your company's role in your customers' personal value ecosystems.

Digital Transformation can only occur through disruptive technologies

 

Every digital transformation exercise need not take the examples of Uber and Airbnb in terms of the use of emerging technologies. The technology stack that you would use depends on your business context and technological leverage is just one part of the digital transformation. Sometimes, you may achieve significant enhancement of productivity, agility, and customer-centricity through the use of tried-and-tested operational technology (networking and databases) and strategic technology (enterprise resource planning or customer relationship management) or mobility.

 

WEF White paper says - A truly digital enterprise stands for more than just using new technologies for the sake of it. Rather, what truly distinguishes and gives a digital enterprise its competitive advantage is its culture, strategy, and way of operating. Digital enterprises strive continuously to enable new and leaner operating models underpinned by agile business processes, connected platforms, analytics and collaboration capabilities that enhance the productivity of the firm. A digital enterprise relentlessly searches out, identifies and develops new digital business models, always ensuring that customers and employees are at the center of whatever it does.

 

Digital transformation: I need to get this done this year so I am not falling behind

 

Digital Transformation cannot be and need not be a sprint. It is a long journey with multiple touch points and milestones; dependencies and synergistic endeavors.

 

Forrester Report says - You need to transform your business by applying digital thinking across everything you do - how you win, serve, and retain customers; how you operate your internal processes; and how you source business services.

 

For example, your answers to the below questions alone will help you craft a roadmap that takes digital transformation beyond the realm of IT.

 

Digital transformation business success

 

Have you identified areas in your business where automation is most relevant?

Is your existing workforce consistently improving productivity and quality?

Which steps have been taken to convince your investors about your digital vision and the long-term value-creation of your digital transformation journey?

How much of your revenue is coming from new sources of digital business?

Do your company leverage analytics around customer data, operational data, and compliance?

Do you have a digitally literate leadership team?

Have you established training programs to overcome the digital skills gap and reskill your existing employees?

How are you empowering employees through digital channels to enable faster decision making and encourage greater agility within your organization?

These are just a few myths we have tried to address. We invite you to share your take on these as well as other myths.

Resource

Why Digital Transformation Is Private Equity's Sharpest Tool

 

Private equity groups are always looking for the sure thing - it's part of their culture. It's not surprising they've been so slow to embrace Digital Transformation, but money is usually pretty conservative. So here's a wake-up call for anyone in private equity - you need to take Digital Transformation seriously and make it one of the tools of your trade.

 

Private equity has to create value in its acquisitions. That's pretty obvious and we know the common strategies. In the past, a private equity firm would acquire a business with the intent of growing it and hopefully acquiring another, putting them together and building greater value for both companies. Part of that process would involve creating efficiencies within the new company through economies of scale and instituting better practices for sales, marketing, supply chain and operations.

 

That's what Digital Transformation is all about - creating greater efficiencies and best practices - but for the digital age - not the steam age. Private equity has to realize scale is not the only efficiency - from customer management systems (CMS), to building out robust e-commerce engines, to exploding a brand, Digital Transformation can turn around an undervalued company and absolutely smash competition with just a bit of digital vision.

 

Digital Transformation affects all aspects of a company - and each aspect represents another potential growth point for private equity. Think about this: private equity firms always worry about losing key employees after an acquisition. A well executed Digital Transformation always includes a clear digital vision delivered to the company first - and always considers how to improve its employee's work experience by utilizing every chance to supercharge internal processes and efficiencies. Think how that will affect morale during a take-over - and help improve ROI.

 

In fact, private equity firms would all be wise to initiate a Digital Transformation within their four walls. You can't just pound your chest like a gorilla - you have to rip the antiquated doors off your own walls. Sure, hedge funds are computerized out the yin/yang but private equity firms struggle. In addition, how well do they manage their own digital presence and their public digital profile - their leadership casting? Are they active on the social media front? Are they providing opportunities for top talent to share their vision - and build their digital profile? Everyone in PE firms know a sharp suit is important for first impressions - so help your firm, and your people, look sharp on the web.

 

These are just a couple of examples of how Digital Transformation can affect both the efficiency and culture of a company - before it even addresses creating greater revenues and new markets. Every PE firm in the world should be making Digital Transformation part of their tool set before they are the ones that get out transformed!

Resource

 

What Is Digital Transformation And What Does It Really Mean For Your Business?

What Is Digital Transformation?

 

The Global Center for Digital Transformation says that "organizational change is the foundation of digital business transformation". That's because changing the nature of an organisation means changing the way people work, challenging their mindsets and the daily work processes and strategies that they rely upon. While these present the most difficult problems, they also yield the most worthwhile rewards, allowing a business to become more efficient, data-driven and nimble, taking advantage of more business opportunities.

 

Define 'digital' in digital transformation

 

While the focus is on changing how the business works at every level, technology underpins all digital transformation projects. But what technology?

 

Obviously this changes as time goes on, but typically businesses want to adopt technologies that help them harness and make sense of the vast quantities of data they are sitting on, as well as preparing for trends like the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile.

 

That means analytics tools are high up on the agenda, as well as cloud computing, which lets you store data outside your own data centre, potentially closing this down. You might also want to focus on collaborative tools, like file-sharing, mobile devices, and apps, that let your employees work wherever they are, and which give them instant access to information - especially useful for salespeople visiting customers, for instance.

 

What Digital Transformation Means For Your Business?

 

Accepting and moving toward digital transformation doesn't simply mean jumping on every technological bandwagon that comes along. Doing that is like putting a bunch of cut up vegetables in a pot and calling it soup. Unless you put the right ingredients in the pot and turn on the stove, you'll never make soup-at least not soup that anyone wants to eat. Instead, each company has to spend some time thinking about what digital transformation really means for them.

 

Companies need to think about transitioning core business processes and digitalizing the client/business process first. They have to think about which applications, platforms, and solutions fit into their culture, daily operations, and budget. There is unfortunately no cookie cutter solution that businesses can opt into. It's a process that requires personalization and a knack for following trends.

 

Digital Disruption And Focusing On The Consumer

 

Digital disruption is another key term that describes what digital transformation can do in society at large. Smartphones created a disruption, Uber created a disruption, and wearable technology continues to create disruptions. With each key technological advancement, the daily lives of consumers change a little more. The norm is shaken up, and the advancement adds value to consumers. Businesses that take advantage of the new changes, and who understand how these changes affect daily life, can modify their practices to meet the needs of the consumer.

 

Consumer-centrism is one way to ensure that you're meeting the demands of the digital age. Knowing where your customers are interacting online and how you can meet them on their own turf will enhance your ability to make their lives easier and to make sales. Every business has to think about digital transformation and the power of disruptions now. There is no longer time to take baby steps and get your feet wet. It's a sink or swim environment for many businesses.

 

Planning Ahead For Digital Transformation

 

Digital transformation is both an end result and an ongoing process. You have to make the initial move, and then you must continue to evolve or be forced out. There is no quick fix for digital transformation. When you sit down with your team to discuss your company's digital future, think about the near future, but also the long-term goals of your company. To maintain relevancy, you will need to implement digital solutions that keep your company moving forward into the digital era and not standing still or moving backwards.

 

At every step, think about the business experience. What can you implement to streamline in-house operations? What can you implement to facilitate customer interactions? These aspects that will drive your digital transformation. For some companies that may mean adopting an integrated payment solution so that customers can login to an online portal and pay their bills. For others, it may mean getting on social media and posting relevant content on a regular basis. Any move to the digital space is part of the digital transformation.

 

Over the long term, the digital experience will shift. How can you make changing an easier part of the business process? Transparency, a group mission toward digital relevance, and constant listening to customer behaviors may all be important for shifting your company's focus away from legacy business practices and to a more digital oriented future.

 

If your business is seeking to get into the race of digital transformation, it is important to act right now. Late adopters can have serious disadvantages since the competition is already in the domain. If you are looking to adopt a business model that utilizes a digital core, we can help. Embrace the digital transformation with the best developers to get to the forefront of change.

Resource