According to IDC, “By 2024, more than half of all information and communications technology (ICT) investment will be connected to digital transformation.” Since the outbreak of COVID-19, no topic has had a greater impact on businesses than digital transformation. While many in early 2020 marveled at the rapid rate of change, the sustained focus on digital transformation continues to affect how businesses address today’s concerns.
Digital transformation has the potential to decrease inefficiencies, improve the workplace environment, increase productivity, speed up new product releases, and create a digital thread for more openness and collaboration. Digital transformation will increasingly change how organizations operate and can be a disruptive and major shift at all levels, thanks to AI, automation, Analytics, cloud migration, (Read 7 Steps of cloud migration) and other advanced technologies. The use of these technologies will necessitate a total adjustment in organizational philosophy, culture, and business strategy.
So, how should businesses continue, and what are the other digital tools and industry trends that will usher in a new age in which digital transformation becomes more easily a long-term goal? Take a look at some strategies to accelerate your success with digital transformation:
Reimagine traditional structure and hierarchies
According to Gartner’s forecasts for 2022, “By 2024, 30 percent of corporate teams will be without a supervisor due to the self-directed and hybrid character of work.” While remote and hybrid workflows may not completely eliminate the need for managers, businesses should assess whether their current structures are impeding agility in the digital workplace. When staff is spread across multiple time zones, for example, channeling approvals through a top-down structure may cause bottlenecks. Taking a more collaborative and pragmatic approach to task division and organization could allow teams to move more quickly while maintaining quality.
Prioritize the digital-first experience
Consumer and staff expectations have been rewired in the last two years. We now know that a wide range of services can be delivered via the internet, with end-users – internal and external – appreciating the simplicity and efficiency of a well-designed digital service. When creating new products or services, businesses must start with a digital-first attitude, visualizing how a customer or employee would interact with the product or service online and then developing real-world applications based on that vision. As employees consider new options and customers reconsider their brand loyalty, this difference in identity between digital-first organizations and those that favour in-person experience could prove to be a crucial differentiating element.
Prioritize security while sharing data
Since data is the lifeblood and currency of digital transformation, it’s no wonder that businesses are devising new ways to incorporate more data into their operations. Organizations have recently embraced cloud-based markets to buy and sell important data assets. These secured data assets allow businesses to analyze encrypted data without having to decode it first, putting their privacy at risk. This game-changing new approach to data sharing might allow several firms within a sector to collaborate to tackle shared challenges, or teams to share the groundwork for vital research without revealing intellectual property. Most significantly, integrating more high-quality data will allow any company to fine-tune its operations in the long run, resulting in better business outcomes.
Safeguard security and privacy
While businesses are understandably focused on the pace and effectiveness of their digital transformation activities, they must be careful not to jeopardize their security and privacy duties. With high-profile ransomware attacks and increased regulatory scrutiny, businesses are under increasing pressure to keep their valuable data assets – and those of their customers and partners – safe and secure. Good security practices, such as end-to-end encryption and zero-trust architectures, can ensure that a company’s digital transformation initiatives are built on a solid and long-term foundation. A company that acts swiftly and carelessly may find itself in front of the pack, only to be brought crashing down by a data leak.
The benefits of digital transformation and automated quality management
As well as their capacity to improve quality outcomes, has been demonstrated over the last few years. Digital transformation is a strategic priority that will lead to increased productivity, agility, and company growth in the coming years. Companies who bet on actual, bold innovation in this new business environment may find themselves miles ahead of the rest.
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