One of the hottest topics in the past decade has been digital transformation. This topic especially boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic. When companies found that digital transformation can revolutionise business, they were then forced to transform and adapt to the digital world. They had to do digitally transform in order to survive.
In the past couple of years however, digital transformation has been a controversial topic. Some people even claimed that digital transformation was dead. The reason why they claimed this is because they believe that any company that hasn’t digitally transformed yet never will. At STEPS, we do not believe in that statement, and we believe that it is never too late. The most important part about owning a company is striving for constant improvement. Digital transformation is part of that journey.
Therefore, if you have a business and you’re worried about the prospect of digital transformation, don’t be. It’s better late than never. In this article, we’ll first discuss what exactly is digital transformation. Secondly, we’ll talk about its benefits and why your business needs it. Finally, we’ll use a real life case study of one of our clients to prove its advantages.
What is Digital Transformation?
In order to understand how digital transformation can revolutionise your business, we need to first look at what it means. In simple terms, digital transformation means to use digital technologies in order to transform how your organisation functions. This relates mainly to how you operate and deliver value to your customers.
Examples of digital transformation can include a retail store creating a website in order to be able to sell articles. Another example could be a company using data analytics in order to make predictions and better decisions in the future.
You might be wondering about why you’d digitally transform your company. There are many reasons why, but first, have a look at this statistic. Capgemini reports that 59% of companies that undergo a digital transformation are more likely to be more profitable than their competitors. The reason for this is because our world is becoming more and more digital every day. Companies that do not adapt – especially ones that have contact with the technological world – might cease to exist.
How Can Digital Transformation Revolutionise Business?
Undergoing a digital transformation can have many benefits for your company. These benefits would completely transform the way your company functions. In this article, we’ll be talking about 8 of these benefits.
1). Staying Competitive
In order to not fall behind in this fast-paced world, your business needs to adopt digital technologies. The speed at which technology advances makes it crucial to be on top of it, in order to stay relevant.
2). Better Customer Experience
Better online features and support will increase your customer loyalty. Happy customers are more likely to not only come back, but also recommend your services and products! You can read more about how digital technologies can change your customers’ experiences here!
3). Streamlining Your Operations
Digitising processes reduces errors and improves efficiency. This will help you save costs and deliver quicker to your customers. The time and money saved can help you bring value to your customers in other areas.
4). Improved Decision Making with Data
By diving into the digital world, you will also be diving into the world of data. Although data can seem scary, it’s not. You have to learn to use it to your advantage. Using data analysis will offer you valuable insights. This will allow you to make informed decisions that will take your company one step further. This will be accentuated with the use of real-time data. That will allow you to become agile and to react quickly to our world’s ever changing market.
5). Cost Savings
Implementing digital transformation can be costly. However, the long term savings quickly overcome the initial cost. Things like automated processes, reduced paperwork, or better resource allocation are just examples of how costs could be reduced.
6). Scalability
Digital technologies allow companies to easily scale their operations. An example of this is cloud storage, which allows companies to store large amounts of data without any physical constraints.
7). Meeting Customer Expectations
Nowadays, customers have high expectations. They expect you to be responsive online. They expect you to have a presence. The only way to meet those expectations is through digital transformation. This would be essential to retain these customers and increase their loyalty.
8). Retaining and Attracting Talent
Retaining customers is not your only priority however. You also have to be able to retain your talent. Today’s talent is attracted to innovative companies that have embraced the digital world. Therefore, digital transformation will allow you to not only retain your talent, but also attract talent that’s attracted to innovation and growth.
With all this knowledge, it seems obvious as to why a digital transformation is essential for your business. Even though that road is fruitful, be aware that it will be a long one. It’s impossible to mention everything in this article, but you will need to know about other information such as cyber security. If you need help in digitally transforming your company, we’re here to help!
Case Study: Criistal
Criistal is a company built around research. Criistal’s original idea started from the need of individuals or companies needing research, and researchers needing safe and secure ways to conduct their research while getting paid for it.
The entire concept was that Criistal facilitated this entire process through them. They sought us researchers, and formed focus groups for them. And then some individuals or companies were willing to pay for that research, which in return paid the researchers.
The issue arose with the amount of effort Criistal had to put in, due to their solution being completely offline. This meant that all their work had to be manual. So they had to manually contact the researchers and the entities, manually get the research, and manually pay all parties. As you can imagine, this can be very exhausting.
That’s why they reached out to us, to help them digitally transform. They wanted to make their solution completely digital. STEPS helped them build a complete web application that completely digitalised their processes. Every single process that they had to do manually was now automated and made more efficient. This facilitated not only the process for Criistal, but also for all parties in relation to Criistal. Researchers could suddenly join focus groups and get paid easier, and entities or individuals wanting that research could now get it not only easier, but much quicker!
That’s why Criistal serves as an example to every company wanting to digitally transform. Digital transformation will completely revolutionise your business.
Conclusion
To conclude, this article explained why you should digitally transform your company. We first dived into what digital transformation is. After that, we explained its benefits. Finally, we explored a real-life case study to prove that digital transformation can be revolutionary.
We understand that digital transformation can be scary. A lot of companies do not want to take that initial investment and risk. However, at STEPS, we believe that it’s better late than never. We want you to understand that you’re not in this alone. At STEPS, we can be with you for every step of the way. If you’re ready for this next step in your company’s journey, then contact us today and change your future!
