Digital Transformation Sparks Unprecedented Business Agility
By Emily Newton is a tech journalist with over five years of experience covering how technology is changing industry and business. Keep up with Emily by connecting with her on LinkedIn
Agility is essential for modern businesses. Consumer trends can change course in an instant; supply chains are increasingly volatile, and new opportunities are emerging in the blink of an eye. Keeping up with these rapid shifts can surge a company ahead of its competition, but that is a challenging prospect.
The answer, as with many goals today, is technology. Digital transformation offers the agility your organization needs to keep pace with a fast-moving environment.
How Digital Transformation Drives Agility
Business agility is all about recognizing shifts early and responding to them quickly. Digital transformation supports both goals through two primary technology categories — real-time data visibility and automation. Combining them under data-driven analytics can cut decision-making time by 70% in some cases.
It starts with data. Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud-based reporting tools can gather information from across your workflows and report it in real-time. Gaining this kind of visibility gives you a better understanding of what’s going on in your market and processes. It also ensures you can see it in as up-to-date a fashion as possible, enabling quicker responses.
Automation then clarifies what your data means and lets you act on it in less time. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the big game-changer here, but robotic process automation (RPA) and other simpler automated features help, too.
The “transformation” part of digital transformation is also worth noting. Tools like these are most effective when all teams can use them and they all connect together. That requires a company-wide shift in how you think and operate.
The State of Digital Transformation Today
The need for digital transformation is all the more urgent when you recognize how it’s driving agility outside of your company. Consider how 40% of top economic performers have a company-wide data strategy, compared to just 17% of other companies. Similarly, 44% of the biggest successes have embraced the public cloud, while only 28% of others have done the same.
What does this mean? Many of the top-performing businesses are those investing the most in digital transformation. That’s not a well-kept secret, either. A lot of your competitors will take note and put more effort into tech-driven strategies.
Before long, any organization that doesn’t capitalize on digital transformation will get left behind. That shift is already starting as key technologies like AI and the cloud become standard. The time is now to double down on digitalization.
A successful business today is an agile one. The only way to get that kind of agility is to invest wisely in digital transformation. So, if you’re ready to kick-start a new era for your company, review this guide and consider how you can approach tech-driven disruption.
Creating an Effective Digital Transformation Strategy
As important as agility is, you shouldn’t respond by immediately pouring resources into any technology. Digital transformation can be challenging, so you should follow a few best practices to make the most of it.
Identify Current Needs
The most common cause of failing tech projects is a failure to align technology investments with relevant business outcomes. A lack of clarity on this is behind 43% of IT project delays and cost overruns. You can avoid the same fate by building your digital transformation around your needs.
Don’t start by asking how you can use new technologies. Start by asking where your business struggles to be agile today. Framing your digitalization strategy from a problem-solving perspective will make it easier to put resources where they’ll actually deliver value for your specific company.
It may not be immediately clear where your biggest inefficiencies are. You can get more clarity by surveying employees across departments or performing an operational audit.
Explore Applicable Digital Solutions
Once you know where your digital journey should start, you can determine how it will proceed. More specifically, you can compare technologies to see which is the best fit for your goals.
Digital transformation covers a massive range of innovations, and which will improve your agility the most depends on your situation. A transportation management system (TMS) can reduce shipping costs and optimize routes, while a warehouse management system (WMS) improves inventory accuracy and minimizes errors. So, a TMS may be ideal if you manage your own logistics, while a WMS may be more helpful if inventory is your biggest struggle.
You can likely benefit from many different technologies. Still, you should focus on whichever one has the highest potential in your business first. You’ll be able to integrate others and scale later. After you choose a solution, remember to compare options from various vendors, too.
Ensure Security and Compliance
Regardless of what technology you target, cybersecurity is a must. Cybercrime cost the world $9.22 trillion in 2024, and experts predict the damage will keep growing every year. You can’t afford to ignore that trend as you implement tech that may make you more susceptible to attacks.
Specific cybersecurity best practices vary by industry and use case, but there are a few general guidelines to follow. Start by restricting access permissions as much as possible, using strong authentication measures on everything and deploying an automated breach monitoring system. Partner with a third-party security provider if you don’t have the resources for an internal cybersecurity team.
Regulatory compliance is a similar issue, especially if you’re using AI or gathering customer data. Review what laws may apply to you and refer to a professional for guidance if you’re in a heavily regulated industry.
Address Workforce Obstacles
While technical steps like these are crucial, you should also take care not to overlook the human factor. Digital transformation requires a shift in company culture, so failing to prepare your employees will limit the agility you hope to gain.
Training is a big hurdle to address, as teams will need to use different tools than they’re used to. You can address this through training sessions so they can learn the ins and outs of your new technology. Prioritizing solutions that are user-friendly from the start can help, too.
As you integrate additional technologies, some roles may shift. You can account for these changes by providing career development opportunities for workers to gain new skills, preparing them to serve different needs as technology automates other tasks.
Scale and Adapt
Before starting your digital transformation in full, benchmark your current performance. Keep measuring the same key performance indicators (KPIs) after implementation so you can track your success and adjust as necessary.
Once you see positive results and the workforce has adapted, you can scale. Repeat the process, looking for new areas to improve and technologies with answers to these problems. Remember that future additions will work best when they integrate well with your existing technology.
Refer to your old projects and KPIs anytime you’re considering another leg of your digital journey. Look to the past to learn what worked and how you can avoid a few mistakes the next time around.
Digital Transformation Is Key to Business Agility
A successful business today is an agile one. The only way to get that kind of agility is to invest wisely in digital transformation. So, if you’re ready to kick-start a new era for your company, review this guide and consider how you can approach tech-driven disruption.