What is Digital Transformation?
I recently told William my colleague to send me a summary of all the sales made within last year and he replied my text within seconds and it hit me that twenty years ago, I will have had to send him a mail that will have taken days to get to him before he gets to reply and send his feedback. This is digitization, use of data to simplify life and how we work.
A definition from I-Scoop emphasizes Digital transformation as the profound transformation of business and organizational activities, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies and their accelerating impact across society in a strategic way, with present and future shifts in mind.(I-scoop, 2016). We can describe it as the process of using digital technologies to conceive new, or modify existing business processes, customer experiences to meet the constantly changing business and market requirements.Some of the changes may include;
- Digital sales.
- Management of the business.
- Efficiency and Reliability.
- Customer service.
- Operational agility.
- Record keeping of all business processes such as accounts, supply chain, marketing, advertisement and production operations etc with the help of cloud based inventory management system.
It may also be seen as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing operation and delivery of service to its customers. The truth is every business from small to enterprise requires digital transformation to adjust their existing practices, change thinking technique, encourage innovation, build new business models and improve employees of the business. It is mandatory because businesses do not fail because it is risky or expensive but because they have refuse to evolve. Technology has driven a shift in every sector in our world today and so if any business must succeed, it must understand the merge between strategy and technology with an unwavering focus on the customers.
Pros of Digital Transformation
- It adds value to customer interaction – Businesses are made up of a provider and a customer and now it is easier to get feedbacks for the services offered. Companies take time to reevaluate everything they do, from management to internal services all for one purpose – take actions that will ensure better decision-making, seamless customer experience and how to make the business efficient and reliable.
- Technology is an asset and the use of dedicated technologies will be much profit all businesses in every industry.
- Distribution and marketing has never been easier with higher return of investments.
- Product and service innovation – helps in co-creation of new products and new digital products and services.
- Enhanced cooperate control – Improved real-time management information system and decision making.
- Risk optimization – Improved targeting with customer insight and embedded/automated control risk profiling.
- Digital fulfilment – Virtual servicing and full straight-through processing and automatic provisioning.
Cons of Digital Transformation
There are also downsides to digital technology and they include;
- Job insecurity – Many task that were done by humans are now performed by machines or remotely done via the internet.
- Digital media manipulation – It is not easy to identify between what is real or not because median contents can be altered to look original with the use of photo tools for editing such as Photoshop etc.
- Work Overload – Modern workers are faced with the challenge of having to surf through a bunch of mails sent within a day of which some will require replies or action.
- Privacy Concerns – It’s more difficult with have privacy in our world today as personal data can be stolen or hacked. Things on the cloud can be stolen, CCTV cameras are placed around the environment which can also be used record sensitive information and it is much more difficult to control personal information.
Transformational realities of Digital Transformation
- The relationship between business and Information Technology cannot be underestimated, the gap between them must not be minimal
- Every industry is affected so every personnel must wait for the business to catch irrespective of the field.
- The transformation is led from the top of the industry, therefore in a firm from the stakeholders all the way down must understand what’s at stake from within specific projects.
Digital Transformation Trends are topics that seems to be on the loop for a while but its closer than one can ever imagine and they will be the foundation for our transformational journey which include;
- 5G: The biggest names in the Telecommunication business like Nokia, Verizon, AT&T, Qualcomm, Huawei will be looking to deploy the 5G network, also making sure Mobile phone companies will be looking to release phones capable of accessing the network. It will be faster, much more reliable home network and it will accelerate advancements in smart homes, vehicles, manufacturing, and cities. It will have an effect on every industry which will touch our lives for the better and it will be an evolution that will define the year 2020.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:
A lot of companies are investing in its capabilities to increase productivity, reduce human bias and personalize customer service. This will change the look on data analytics and how it can be distilled into the separate value propositions which include; convenience, speed and scale. Speed speaks on how fast it takes analysis of complex data sets as compared to human analysts. Scale emphasizes how analysis is scaled on the cloud and convenience makes analytical tools easy to use, its reliability and the potential in doing much more in 2020.
- Blockchain: There was so much talk on moving to the use of crypto currency as a universal means of exchange instead of our local currency. Blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that are being programmed to record everything of value. It is said that it is connecting the world to the future of finance through suite of products that will be used in food safety, intellectual property and real estate management.
- Multi-Cloud Computing: Today, some companies already run on multi-cloud computing but it seems to be complicated as a lot of hands haven’t fully understood all it is capable of doing. The challenges arise from the complexity, managing cost, managing apps and struggle to move applications between clouds. It’s a concept that will be surely explored within the year 2020 unlocking a lot of potentials.
- Internet of Things (IoT): The Internet of Things is the next logical step in the evolution of the internet and it is a network of interconnected devices which embedded with sensors, software and electronics that enables them to collect and interchange data to make them devices responsive. As technology advances, it makes it easier to purchase the necessary devices and with internet capabilities it makes connecting all the devices easily. All objects that can be connected will be connected by the Internet of Things so as to make life easier, more productive, safer and smarter than ever before. It’s an exciting technology because one can only imagine how you start your day with an alarm clock, which tells the coffee machine to prepare your breakfast, initiates your car engine, and a possible wearable which constantly monitors your health conditions as the day goes by.
- Robotic Process Automation: It is not a new concept, but it is a hot topic explored by most tech giants. It is a form of business automation technology that enables employees configure software to capture and interpret existing applications for processing, manipulating, triggering and communication of data with other digital systems. It helps to augment the value of an existing workforce, and helps grow any working model.
In conclusion, there are a lot technologies that cannot be ignored and will continue to be the center of most digital transformation initiatives. We know that these specific trends will dominate the digital transformation programs in 2020. Businesses now must learn to formulate their own digital transformation strategy and there is a whole lot to catch up and learn on. In order to remain relevant in any business, owners must ensure they understand the following trends and make use of them to build efficient and reliable services to their customers when it is done right.
