What is digital transformation?

According to Deloitte, “digital transformation is all about becoming a digital enterprise—an organization that uses technology to continuously evolve all aspects of its business models (what it offers, how it interacts with customers and how it operates).” As technology evolves, so should your business. At this point, it’s not about enterprises choosing to transform; it’s more about deciding how to transform. Digital transformation is about evolving your business by experimenting with new tech and rethinking your current approach to common issues. Because it’s an evolution, a transformation doesn’t necessarily have a clear end point. The MIT Sloan Management Review, a publication that focuses on how management transforms in the digital age, says, “Digital transformation is better thought of as continual adaptation to a constantly changing environment.” For enterprises, that means continually seeking out ways to improve the end-user experience. This could be through offering improved on-demand training, migrating data to cloud services, leveraging artificial intelligence, and more.

3 Key Areas of Enterprise Digital Transformation

MIT Sloan Management Review highlights three key areas of digital transformation for enterprises:

1. Customer Experience — working to understand customers in more detail, using technology to fuel customer growth, and creating more customer touchpoints

2. Operational Processes — improving internal processes by leveraging digitization and automation, enabling employees with digital tools, and collecting data to monitor performance and make more strategic business decisions

3. Business Models — transforming the business by augmenting physical offerings with digital tools and services, introducing digital products, and using technology to provide global shared services

What Is the Importance of Digital Transformation?

While every digital transformation initiative will have its own specific goals, the main purpose of any digital transformation is to improve your current processes. Digital transformation is important because companies must evolve to remain competitive in their industry. If you aren’t evolving, you’re falling behind. A Bain & Company study shows that “only 8% of global companies have been able to achieve their targeted business outcomes from their investments in digital technology.” One of the strategies that sets leaders apart is that they spend more on transforming their businesses instead of just running them. Digital transformation is important because it allows organizations to adapt to ever-changing industries and continually improve how they operate. For enterprises, that means continually seeking out ways to improve the end-user experience. This could be through offering improved on-demand training, migrating data to cloud services, leveraging artificial intelligence, and more.

only 8% of global companies achieve their targeted business outcomes from their digital transformation investment.

The Benefits of Digital Transformation

While the ROI of digital transformation depends on a variety of factors, the right technology can greatly improve how your business functions and how customers engage with it.

1. Increases productivity while reducing labor costs — Using technology to work more efficiently is one of the most impactful ways to transform your business. For example, for enterprises, the time and money they spend training new employees and updating digital resources can quickly get out of hand. With the proper tools, you can keep costs down and productivity up.

2. Improves the customer experience — Tech-savvy customers want a great experience through multiple touchpoints — mobile apps, social media, email, live chat, etc. Digital transformations are the driving force behind improved customer experiences.

3. Drives innovation, keeping you ahead of your competition – Your competitors are looking into digital transformation regardless of whether or not you are. Choosing not to embrace digital transformation is essentially deciding that you don’t mind being left behind. Investing in your organization’s future allows for.