Technologies constantly develop and enhance, thus influencing other fields of human activity, including business, marketing, healthcare, education, etc. More and more enterprises start working on strategies and ways to begin enterprise digital transformation. Some of the enterprises have already started the implementation of digital technologies in order to keep on the top positions in the field.
The latest business, technological, and marketing trends make it inevitable for enterprises to initiate a digital transformation process. Digital transformation of the enterprise means the implementation of digital solutions into the systems of the company. There is a number of technologies that are already used and change the image of the business world. Among these technologies, there is IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), Cloud Computing, Blockchain. All of them enhance the workflow of the company, its organization, communication, as well as service delivery to the customers.
The digital transformation enterprise process cannot be done overnight. It is time- and resource-consuming, but the results worth it. The implementation of the technologies can bring a lot of advantages for the company, its employees, and customers. Let’s view them in detail.
Enterprise Digital Transformation: The Advantages
Reorganization of the processes internally and externally due to the digital enterprise transformation will have certain benefits for the companies that come along with the changes. We are going to highlight the top 5 advantages of the digital transformation for enterprises.
- Enterprise EfficiencyThe automation of the processes because of digital transformation will lead to the greater overall efficiency of the enterprise. The technologies like AI and ML can process data quickly, provide better insights, thus giving a possibility for the company to deliver more efficient services to the customers.
- Better ProductivityThe implementation of smart technological solutions that sustain the digital transformation of the enterprises leads to better productivity. The solutions will help you automate certain processes within the company by minimizing the manual work, cut costs, facilitate the work of the employees, and enhance service delivery. For instance, less manual work will result in fewer mistakes, which leads to better services from the company.
- Employee EmpowermentWhen the company starts its digital transformation process, it is important to keep everyone in the loop and spend time on training of the employees. It is necessary for everyone to know about the changes within the system and be able to conduct the work in the proper way. Improvement of the set of skills of your employees will motivate them to work better, give them a chance to show their creativity and share their innovative ideas. By educating the staff, the company, first of all, adds value to its services, thus offers better facilities and increases client satisfaction.
- Enhanced Customer ExperienceThe above-listed advantages result in better customer satisfaction and high-quality experience. The better services you provide, the bigger the number of clients will return to use your services on a regular basis. Transparent transactions and quick delivery of the services is what clients expect from the enterprises. The proper usage of technological solutions for your benefit will help you attract more clients to the services you offer.
- Increased RevenueAs a result, digital transformation will help you increase revenue. It’s possible thanks to the reduction of the costs spent on the maintenance of the business, automation of the processes, and better customer experience. The more hearts you win with your services, the more people will choose you over other companies.
These benefits are the top ones, but its number is bigger, and we also can highlight higher security regarding both the company and its clients. Among them are better resource management; digital culture encouragement; possibility to create digital products/services; more efficient data analysis, etc.
Enterprises that thrive to get all these benefits from the digital transformation should create a detailed enterprise digital transformation strategy.
Enterprise Digital Strategy for Your Business
A strategy is an essential part of every process. If there is no solid strategy approved by all the parties involved or it is not shared with all the departments of the enterprise, consider you already failed in digital enterprise transformation.
A strategy is a detailed plan on the process of achievement of the long-term goals. It is a document that will highlight all the steps of the process, their possible outcomes, and expected results. Also, it is important that enterprise digital strategy is developed by the board of the enterprise leaders and includes all the departments.
A successful strategy consists of the following elements:
- Idea: no idea, no changes. If you want to keep the enterprise a leader in the field, survive the competition or maintain a successful reputation, you should come up with the idea that promotes digital transformation processes. Analyze the current state of affairs, the market, your position in it, think of the ways to enhance your business.
- Total involvement: once you have a clear and defined idea, it’s time to share it with the board and make every department involved in the process. Listen to their ideas, take them into consideration, and together work out the most suitable scheme for digital transformation for the enterprise. As a result, everyone should know their role in the process, responsibilities, and work in coherence to achieve desired results.
- Technology: choose the relevant technology that will take you on the journey to digital transformation. If there are some doubts or challenges with this part, you can consult with the third party and find ways to enhance the efficiency of the enterprise.
- Tests: make sure that your team is aware of the possible risks and is ready to run pilot tests. Every step and its result should be documented in order to minimize risks and move successfully to your goals.
- Change: if you are on the digital transformation path, an enterprise should be ready to change every day. The transformation requires constant analysis of the processes and data received in order to enhance services and find new opportunities for the business.
What is a Digital Enterprise Transformation Roadmap?
Once the enterprise has an enterprise digital transformation strategy, it’s time to build a roadmap to achieve the expected goals. It is a unique plan that will coordinate the enterprise on its way to digital transformation. Each stage of the transformation process should have a clear roadmap that consists of smaller steps. In its turn, every roadmap consists of the three main stages.
Stage 1: Defining Value
The enterprise should analyze its position on the market, involve every department in the process of digitalization and define small, and big goals it wants to achieve. It follows that every goal that leads to the overall enterprise transformation should be divided into smaller steps that add value to the ongoing process.
Stage 2: Launching and Maintaining
Once all the resources are collected and accordingly allocated, the enterprise can launch the first project. Then test it, collect data, compare the expected results and the real ones, and maintain new innovations or add changes if required. At the same time, the team involved in the process should constantly upgrade its skills and enhance their knowledge in order to lead the enterprise to the transformation successfully.
Stage 3: Scaling Up
When the first projects are launched, and you start to see positive outcomes, it’s time to scale up the process and move further. Upgrade the technologies used, add new features or services, as well as enhance the skills of everyone working for the enterprise. The digital transformation itself means constant change and improvement, so everyone involved in the process should be ready to adapt quickly and effectively in order to reach higher goals.
Overall, the digital transformation enterprise can view as a difficult way that requires a lot of changes and resources, but as we can see, it has a number of benefits. These changes will enhance the work of the employees, deliver better services to the customers, and as a result, bring more revenue for the company. Enterprise leaders should wisely plan a strategy for the organization, describe every step that should be taken, think of the possible outcomes in order to succeed with the transformation process. The path is rather long and requires a lot of time effort, but it is a way to future prosperity and a chance to survive the ongoing competition.