The business value of digital transformation

Business change or transformation is necessary for growth, and changes can be cultural shifts to improvements in processes and operations. Digital transformation is crucial in this digital age for businesses to remain competitive and survive - however it is a subjective term.

What is digital transformation?

Depending on the business and the context, digital transformation can differ - a general interpretation is, it is an integration of digital technology, resulting in change that improves business operations and customer experiences. Digital transformation often falls into four categories: business process, business model, domain and organisational culture.

Business process transformation tends to be the one most businesses start with, as it refers to companies leveraging the benefits of technology to change existing processes, infrastructure and services. It can be as simple as moving from legacy on-premise tech to embracing new cloud-based technologies. As the transformation journey progresses, it can be an investment into new software for better, more efficient processes. 

Closely linked with business processes, digital transformation requires organisational and cultural shifts for the changes to be successful – there must be a level of acceptance of the changes from company stakeholders for it to be a success.

How does digitalisation improve business processes?

Digital transformation for business processes requires time and investment for the ultimate business value. These are some of the potential benefits:-

Increase agility and resilience

Investment in technologies such as the cloud can provide added robustness and agility. Cloud technologies add to infrastructure agility, which increases business responsiveness to market demands and supports innovation. The move from legacy technology will minimise downtime, allow the ability to scale up or down anytime and even reduce costs.

Consolidation and resource management

Processes and systems change over time and can become complex to manage, unnecessarily lengthy or simply outdated if not assessed. A digital project encourages stakeholders to review existing processes and decide whether they are still appropriate. This assessment may lead to a complete overhaul of workflows and systems currently used or maybe a case of digitalising existing – either option will help streamline operations, increase efficiencies, and save on overheads linked with legacy solutions. Digitalisation can help the environment too, such as saving energy by reducing the number of systems used and decreasing paper consumption.

Better data collection and analytics

Every organisation will have a large quantity of data, but it can be disparate and spread across several systems. With digital transformation, data collection can be centralised and analysed in a meaningful way. For example, sales or product managers can use product sales data to see whether there are any seasonal fluctuations in demand, whether products are moving towards the end of their lifecycle or if particular colour options are more popular than others. It can also help decide whether a product line is at the end of its lifecycle or how the company can diversify. 

Improve customer satisfaction

With the business value of obtaining meaningful data, improving processes with technology ultimately places businesses in better positions to serve customers. Enhanced customer insights will allow a better understanding of their requirements and needs – for tangible products, the ability to track aftercare and returns is also a bonus. If technology investment centres around a CRM platform, staff can communicate and track activities for a high-quality customer journey.

The overall business value

Digitalisation implemented well will add to profits, deliver business value in all areas, and help maintain competitive advantage. But the investment of time, money and resources is required for digital transformation to provide ROI. For advice or more information on how your business can benefit from digital transformation, contact a member of the Zoosh Product Studio team today to find out more.