Why businesses will benefit from sustained digital transformation

While businesses of all sizes have been aware of the transformative capabilities of digital technologies (DT) for a few years now, the pace of adoption has accelerated exponentially in the wake of the global pandemic. According to an August 2020 study by Statista, worldwide spending on DT is expected to increase by 10.4 percent in 2020 to $1.3 trillion.

This is because businesses are realising that adoption of technology is no longer a choice, but a crucial business strategy that will drive their overall growth. And while this urgent need to digitally transform may seem overwhelming for smaller businesses that are investing in technology for the first time, they have realised it is essential to keep pace with the competition.

Driving success through change

Today, we are in the midst of what is being called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where digital technologies have emerged a key driver for business’ success and is a core part of their innovation strategy and business plans. Another important catalyst driving this change is the evolving expectations of customers, who with increased access to the latest technologies, are seeking speedier solutions to their problems. And while all businesses have realised that enhanced customer experience is the ultimate goal of digital transformation, many fear that they are already late to the game.

While the prospect of taking on massive digital transformation may seem intimidating, new adopters must look at this as an opportunity to embed digital technologies from the core outwards, with a view to scale in the future. To achieve this, organizations must embrace software-centricity across their products and processes; increase the use of sensors and instrumentation across their businesses; and be able to derive insights from all the data available to the business.

Data-driven benefits

Today, businesses are discovering that digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, Big Data can all be leveraged to improve business outcomes. Other key benefits they will derive include:

Enhanced customer experience

The primary goal of any business is ensuring customer satisfaction. Customers today seek rapid and easy solutions to their problems. They also expect bespoke experiences that can only be achieved at scale through digital technologies. Digital technologies not only offer insights into your customers’ interests and interactions, it allows the real-time analysis of this data to better meet their expectations.

Reduced costs

At the end of the day, all businesses, regardless of size, look to cut costs as much as possible. Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to save in the long term. For example, having the right data insights at the right time to drive decision-making not only saves time and money, but also protects business from making the wrong choices that can prove costly.

Higher operational efficiency

Digital technologies can automate tasks that were done manually, often requiring an onsite presence. In addition to saving time, this could also result in higher employee efficiency as they are freed up from doing monotonous, time-consuming tasks that offer limited scope to learn and grow.

Data-driven actionable insights

Digitization allows businesses to track multiple metrics across their operations, which offers key insights into conversion rates, customer satisfaction, possess effectiveness, etc. This lets business leaders make more informed decisions, reducing errors of judgement and ultimately increasing Return On Interest (ROI).

Insights into new markets

Digital technologies and data derived can also be leveraged to target new customers in previously unexplored markets. With the use of relevant data, the process of entering new markets is more efficient and effective, with a higher chance of engaging customers and gaining their loyalty.

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The way ahead

While the pandemic has served an accelerant for digital adoption by many businesses, organizations must sustain and evolve on this journey, rather than see it as a temporary patch-up in this ‘new business order’. In a post-pandemic world, it is likely that many aspects of the way we work would have changed forever. With every aspect of our lives being impacted by technology, it is those organizations that continue to be future-focused, innovate, and adapt to offer the optimal customer experience that will lead the pack.

An immersive learning programme for founders — ‘Digital Scale-Up: ‍The Medium Business Course’ — by Dell Technologies, is here to serve this purpose. As part of the course, leaders from India Inc. provide working knowledge on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and digital transformation to fuel the growth journey of an enterprise.

The course is designed to help key decision-makers in the medium business segment create a resilient and competitive business. Right from evaluating business ideas to approaching scale in a sustainable manner, the programme aims to provide indispensable tools and knowledge that will fast-track the growth of enterprises.

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