It is unimaginable to start a business right now without thinking of its digital journey. In today’s world, going digital is the only way you can stay ahead of the competition as the world continues to move swiftly in the digital direction.
Before taking that leap from the traditional mode of business operation to digital, business owners must understand what it all entails. In this blog, we will be sharing with you ten things you need to know about digital transformation. But before we get into that, let’s lay some foundations and start with the definition of digital transformation.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the cultural, and operational change of an organization, industry, or ecosystem through smart integration of digital technologies, processes, and competencies across all levels and functions in a staged and strategic way. Simply put, it is all about strategically using technology to enhance internal business processes, products, and ultimately consumer experience.
A typical example of an aspect of digital transformation that we all witnessed recently was businesses switching from working from a physical location to working remotely and using different cloud-based software to collaborate and keep the workflow going.
Want To Learn a Little About the Cloud? Read Our Article on Top Companies Using Cloud Technology Including Netflix
In that scenario, we notice two major factors; a change in operation, the use of technology to support the operational change. These two factors combined is what digital transformation is all about.
Why Digital Transformation?
Our lives are being transformed daily using technology. We once trooped into banking halls to perform one form of transaction or the other, that process has been digitally transformed with the advent of banking apps, PoS and other digital payment tools.
This is just one amongst diverse examples of the huge impact of technology on processes. With digital comes convenience, ease of access, reduction in latency, increased return on investment (when properly deployed), scalability and many other values that businesses and their customers can benefit from. Hence, its importance.
Here are the 10 things about Digital Transformation you need to know.
The Future is not Digital
Going digital belongs to the past. Digitally transforming your entire business process is what determines the survival of your company/business in the future.
But digitally mature companies that have embraced and invested in technology in their early stages are more likely to transform quicker than the companies with little or no digital awareness.
Luckily, most businesses across all spectrums especially in Nigeria have woken up to the reality of a complete digital transformation.
Gen Z want to associate with Digitally inclined Brands
The major driving force behind the adoption of digital tools by brands are the Gen Z (people born after 1996). This digitally savvy demographic has made organizations to completely overhaul their business strategies in order to target and satisfy them, invariably making the demographic the biggest push for digital transformation.
Customers are the front and center of Digital
For most organizations, their journey into the digital world is mostly based on the parallel switch of a lot of their customers from offline to online. We can clearly see this shift from the Digital 2021: Nigeria report released by DataReportal which revealed that Nigeria’s increasing internet penetration rate currently stands at around 50%.
As more customers switch on that online bulb, more businesses will have little choice but to start their transformative digital journey to ensure that they are right where their customers are at.
Assessing your digital readiness is important
If it’s so important, then what exactly is it? Simply put, Digital readiness is defined by the level at which an organization or its workforce is prepared to transition into digitized workflows that are enabled by software and technology. To know this, organizations will usually have to sit through a consultation session.
Thankfully, with Descasio’s soon to be released solution, businesses will be able to complete this process faster and without having to interface with anyone.
Data is everything, or at least almost
Brands and organizations in the past hardly get any insight on their marketing campaigns and other initiatives. But with digital, organisations can turn to analytics and media monitoring tools to get better insight through data, insight that can help businesses to scale. It’s a total game changer for businesses.
Social Media is the new customer service desk
Listening and responding to customers across all social media channels (except for twitter currently) sounds daunting if you’re just getting started with some of the social media apps – like LinkedIn – on your own phone.
But a host of tools designed for social service makes it easy to highlight customer needs, integrate social channels into your service workflows, and start measuring brand sentiment and activity across social media.
Meeting your customers where they already are is a big part of winning business in our digital world. Approaching social service with a digital transformation mindset can really spell the difference between struggling to keep up with customer needs and turning service calls into opportunities to grow your brand.
AI is the go to digital tool for Businesses
Artificial intelligence systems can be incredibly helpful in their ability to comb through vast amounts of data in search of useful patterns and other insights and it’s no wonder big organisations and small and medium scale enterprises are in love with it.
The right skill set is needed
In considering undertaking the digital transformation journey, you must be aware of the fact that you might need to bring on digitally savvy people to the team in necessary areas and train existing staff members to use adopted technology in order to ensure a smooth run.
Any Businesses Can Be Transformed Digitally
Regardless of size or industry, every business can and should take steps to transform their operations through the use of technology. The most important thing is for the business to be able to pinpoint the areas where transformation is needed and plug in the relevant tech solutions that can bring about that needed change.
When this is done, the company can then monitor results and optimize as they go on.
Like Cryptocurrency Digital Transformation is Here to Stay
The world is currently bitten by the cryptocurrency bug. Most financial institutions are threatened by its whirlwind with some partially or outrightly banning it. This has only fuelled the push and acceptance for digital currency.
A lot of parallels can be drawn between cryptocurrency and digital transformation (the former is seen as the next frontier of digital transformation), the more business and corporate organisations delay the inevitable – the adoption of digital transformation, the faster they lose out.
Conclusion
It has become more apparent than ever that business owners and corporate organisations need to infuse digital transformation into their company/brand’s DNA as quickly as possible.
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