With advancements in technology and the adoption of digital in almost every aspect of life, it is no news that digital is here to stay. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic that forced most of us all over the world to stay indoors, offices shut down and companies needing to work remotely, it is evident that ‘going digital’ is the new normal and will continue to be.
What does this mean for businesses, both small and large? Businesses of all sizes will have to adapt and meet the new demands of customers in the digital world by constantly providing value and leveraging technology to better interact with customers and create better experiences– hence the need for a digital transformation strategy.
Digital transformation can be viewed from several related angles- could be seen as the new frontier of using innovation and technology to drive businesses. It could also be seen as the implementation of digital tools/technologies into all areas of business in order to build better relationships with customers. It could also mean finding new opportunities for existing businesses while delivering better customer experiences. All of these point to the fact that digital transformation is a concept required for business growth in today’s day and age.
More importantly, in adopting an effective digital transformation effort, strategy plays a more important role than just technology. Statistically, only 15% of early-stage businesses that aim to go digital have a clear digital transformation strategy (According to an MIT Sloan Report). However, 80% of digital-first businesses whose processes are entirely digital have a clear strategy. Interestingly, 55% of startups have adopted digital transformation strategies versus 38% of traditional startups. Among businesses that have adopted the digital-first model, 95% are in the services sector, 93% in Financial Services, and 92% in Healthcare. (Source: IDG)
Businesses go digital for several good reasons which your businesses could hugely benefit from and they include;
- Increased efficiency and productivity in business processes
- Improvement in user experience and interaction thereby improving customer satisfaction.
- Improvement in making business decisions
- Drives Innovation & Change in product development and service delivery.
- Transforming a business that meets the needs of customers at various touchpoints.
- Attract great talent as many potential employees are seeking digitally-enabled companies
Amazon is a good example of a company that leveraged digital transformation to dominate the entire retail industry. As of 2006, Amazon was simply an online bookstore, and by 2016, 10 years later, Amazon’s market value was almost twice that of all the brick-and-mortar retail chains (such as BestBuy, JCPenny, Macy’s, Walmart, etc.) combined gaining over 1,934% in market value in those 10 years while the traditional companies lost huge market share.
Amazon’s digital transformation strategy is built upon constantly adapting to times and meeting the needs of its customers at the same time.
Moving into the future, enterprises are adapting by leveraging three top technology trends namely;
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Internet-of-things
These technologies have several applications that are creating entirely new industries and opportunities for businesses today. Small and large businesses should be looking to adapt fast and take advantage of applications such as marketing automation, analytics, personalized marketing, voice search, AI-based customer service, conversational commerce, and many more.
To take advantage of digital transformation, an effective strategy needs to be put in place to make the effort worthwhile. In developing your strategy you must ensure you;
- Think fast by striving for innovation to stay competitive in the marketplace
- Embrace the Internet-Of-Things by seeking new opportunities for your business
- Study the trends and follow the trends. Don’t sleep on opportunities.
- Leverage big data and understand how to extract meaningful insights from it.
- Constantly adapt to the new needs of your customers and ensure effective feedback channels are available
- Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to try out new things.