As someone who has worked in solution roles for a while, I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate on some exciting digital business strategies with large organisations. And over the last few years it’s amazing to witness how important digital transformation for business has become in our increasingly online world.
So you may ask what is business transformation?
Business digital transformation programmes aim to modify people, processes, and technologies for measurable improvements, positive change and efficiencies. This may involve the adoption of new technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and IoT, but the ultimate goal is to improve revenue streams whilst enhancing the customer experience,
During the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations had no choice but to recognise the importance of creating a digital business strategy.
Post-pandemic, we’ve evolved, changed and adapted to this new world.
Whether by force or sheer necessity we have changed the way in which we conduct our day-to-day, with the help of low code | no code tools, automation and cloud AI technologies like ChatGPT revolutionising digital communication.
But what is the extent of this change and why does it matter?
We know that people now expect remote or flexible work, freeing companies from traditional bricks-and-mortar offices and allowing them to eliminate costly overheads. But this is only achievable with appropriate home-working technology.
Fortunately, the pandemic accelerated the necessary technological evolution.
But this is not the only area in which bricks-and-mortar are threatening to become obsolete. Let’s consider the ‘Amazon Effect’ and its impact on consumer expectations.
With the popularity of online shopping and e-commerce on the increase. Traditional retailers are faced with lower high-street footfall, alongside the need to compete with next or same-day deliveries and easy or instant returns.
Let’s face it expectations overall are on the rise and the consumer landscape is changing. In fact a recent Mckinsey & Company study said that 75% of adults now prefer to message businesses and according to a Facebook study, 61% of customers believe that messaging a business is more convenient than picking up the phone.
So, what can businesses do to stay current?
They can utilise digital transformation and business analytics to identify how they change, operate and continue to deliver value to customers in this competitive marketplace.
Those who are new to this may need to establish a digital business transformation framework to identify the series of steps or stages required to develop and implement a business digital strategy. Afterall gaining a comprehensive view of your customer journey is easier said than done and to define a clear top-line strategy, may involve working with a digital transformation business consultancy or digital business transformation partner.
Whilst this all may seem daunting. It is key to remember that not all businesses are hugely advanced in this space, but a “customer-first” mentality and the identification of key touchpoints in your customer journey can serve as the first milestone in the digital transformation of business processes.
Ultimately this does not have to mean the replacement of your people. Instead, through the use of effective digital strategies for business, combined with the correct design expertise, it is possible to simplify processes whilst still allowing your consumers or users to
receive exceptional service. The aim is to strike the right balance in your digital business transformation strategy, to create a bot-human synergy that frees up your people to focus on the more sensitive or complex Issues.
The bottom line is that the adoption of these strategies will transform the way we engage in business activities, and ultimately lead to improved outcomes and benefits