Everything You Need to Know About Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is a term that has been thrown around a lot lately, but what does it actually mean?

 It is the process of transforming your business to meet the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. Undertaking a digital transformation is essential because it enables businesses to keep up with these changes and compete in the global economy.

In this blog post, we will discuss key trends in digital transformation for 2022 and how you can kickstart your digital transformation journey!

What are digital transformation and its key drivers?

In its simplest form, digital transformation uses digital technologies to create new or improved business processes, products, and services. This can include everything from automating manual processes to developing new customer-facing applications.

 In many cases, digital transformation can be a response to changes in the marketplace or the needs of customers. For example, a company that sells physical goods may need to develop an online presence to stay competitive. Or a company that traditionally sells its products through brick-and-mortar stores may need to start selling online to reach a wider audience.

Here are some of the critical drivers bringing about digital transformation:

• Technology changes: Modern technology can provide new ways of doing things or make existing processes more accessible and efficient such as having all your tools in one platform, which is also known as integrated project management.
• Globalisation: In a global economy, businesses need to be able to reach customers anywhere in the world.
• Rise of new competitors: Startups and other companies born digital often have an advantage over traditional businesses regarding innovation.
• Online customer expectations: Customers now expect companies to provide a seamless online experience, including 24/7availability, personalisation, and easy-to-use applications.
• Data and analytics: The explosion of data provides opportunities to gain insights into customers, products, and operations.
• Changes in the workforce: The workforce is becoming more digital, mobile, and global.

Starting a digital transformation journey enables businesses to keep up with these changes and compete in the global economy.

Why is digital transformation necessary?

There's no denying that we live in a digital world. From how we work and play to how we connect and communicate, nearly every aspect of our lives has been touched by technology. Businesses that have been slow to embrace digital transformation to overcome this period of digital disruption are falling behind their agile, online competitors, highlighting the importance of digital acceleration.

Digital transformation is essential, not just for businesses but for society as a whole. For one thing, it can help to level the playing field, giving small businesses the same access to global markets that larger companies have. It can also help to reduce the redundancy of repetitive tasks and increase efficiency to foster a high-performance culture in your company. And it can help us to build a better future, one that is more connected, more collaborative, and more inclusive.

By embracing digital transformation, businesses can build more agile workflows to become responsive and customer-focused. In short, digitalisation is essential for any business that wants to stay relevant in today's market.

Here's a brief snapshot of the benefits of adopting a digital transformation journey:

1. It allows businesses to be more responsive to change.
2. It helps companies to tap into new markets and reach new customers.
3. It enables businesses to improve their operational efficiency.
4. It allows companies to better understand and serve their customers.
5. It helps businesses drive innovation and stay competitive.

Key trends in digital transformation for 2022

In 2020 there was a significant push for digital transformation as businesses scrambled to respond to the pandemic. This Digital Acceleration Index from Boston Consulting Group found that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by an average of six years.

What does this mean for the future? We can expect to see more businesses embracing digital transformation in 202, and here are some of the trends to expect:

• The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning: AI and machine learning will continue to be key drivers of digital transformation as businesses look for ways to automate tasks, improve decision-making, and gain insights.
• The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT refers to the growing network of physical devices connected to the internet. This includes everything from wearable devices to connected cars and appliances.
• The expansion of edge computing: Edge computing is a form of distributed computing that brings computation and data storage closer to the devices and sensors generating the data.
• The rise of digital twins: A digital twin is a digital replica of a physical asset or system. Digital twins can be used to simulate and test changes before they are implemented in the real world.
• The increasing importance of data governance: As data becomes more central to business operations, it's essential to have a framework for managing and governing that data.

These trends will have a significant impact on how businesses operate and how they interact with their customers. Companies must rethink their processes and organisational structures as they adopt these technologies. Digital transformation will no longer be optional; it will be essential for survival.

Digital transformation framework

A digital transformation journey can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. By following a few simple steps, you can start your journey with confidence:

Set your goals

Start by thinking about your project objectives and what you want to achieve by going digital:

• Do you want to improve the customer experience or the business's workload management?
• Increase operational efficiency of project collaborations?
• Drive innovation?
• Catch up with or beat the competition?
• Developing a cloud strategy to stay ahead with the cloud?

Setting project goals will enable you to create a project pipeline 

Develop a strategy

Once you know your goals, you can develop a strategy for achieving them to suit your business needs. This will involve looking at every aspect of your business and determining how digitisation and digital workflows can help. It would help if you also looked at the corporate tools such as time tracking, custom client onboarding processes, or even digital signing that will be beneficial in taking your business digital.

Implement change

This is where the rubber meets the road. Once you have a plan, it's time to start implementing changes for your enterprise workflow automation. This will require buy-in from all levels of the organisation and a willingness to experiment and fail.

Measure results

Digital transformation is an ongoing journey, so measuring your progress along the way is essential. By tracking key metrics, you can ensure that you're on track to achieve your goals.

Transform digitally with Tessaract

Digital transformation is not a one-time event; it's an ongoing journey. You can confidently start your digital transformation roadmap by following a few simple steps. Digital transformation will allow you to better understand and serve your customers, drive innovation, and stay competitive. Tessaract is the optimal cloud-native, low-code workflow automation software to help streamline your business processes (such as document management workflows) to achieve operational efficiency. With Tesseract, you can work smarter by focusing on your business goals and leaving the technical details to us. Contact us today for a demo to power your business's digital transformation journey today.