Digital Transformation has been the buzzword post-pandemic. Many companies interpret it as introducing newer technologies into your business. It is only partially correct.
Digital Transformation is more about adopting newer technologies with the objective of achieving business growth.
It also requires everyone in a company to develop a mindset of utilizing technology to deliver more value. If business growth is not at the centre of digital transformation, it would merely result in substituting one set of software or tools with another. It may lead to only digitization and not digital transformation. It would not transform its functioning or increase its capabilities.
2. Enhance customer experience:
The customer should be at the centre of any transformation that the business plans to make. It is imperative to analyze its impact on the overall customer experience. A successful digital transformation will elevate the customer experience, reduce friction, and deliver more value to the customers across different phases of a customer life cycle.
3. Improve operational efficiency
Another critical change digital transformation should be able to bring about is improving the overall operational efficiency within an organization. The processes and systems should work better after the introduction of new technology. It should enable employees to perform their work faster and automate routine tasks wherever possible.
4. Increased focus on everything data
Many businesses collect data across different departments but do not possess the capabilities to use this data effectively. It may also lead to the creation of data silos. In today’s world, a business must harness its data and make data-driven decisions. It can give them a significant competitive edge. Hence, all the relevant stakeholders should ensure that they are leveraging data and using these data insights to make real-time business-critical decisions.
2. Low Code Platforms
Every company aims to find the right balance between quickly building modern, high-quality, professional-grade systems and applications to solve specific challenges and modernize processes while keeping the developmental costs as low as possible. Low-code platforms like Power Apps have in-built AI capabilities, existing templates, drag-and-drop features, etc. Employees can use these features to develop, launch, and quickly roll out custom business-wide applications. Also, these apps can be built even by employees with no coding background without any expert intervention.
3. Integrated ERPs
Modern ERPs are a unified platform that helps connect operations across all departments and come with advanced capabilities. ERP platforms like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Business Central have in-built financial management solution, CRM solution, supply chain and inventory management solution, customer service solution, etc. A company can opt for an on-cloud, on-premise or hybrid version. It is more than an ERP. It offers a comprehensive business management solution that brings your sales, service, finance, and operations on a single platform, thus ensuring that businesses adapt faster, work better, and perform better.
4. AI and ML-based solutions
AI and ML-based solutions are disrupting the way companies do everything. AI and ML-based technologies are helping businesses streamline their operations, identify bottlenecks, provide actionable insights, etc. Many new-age solutions like Business Central have in-built AI and ML capabilities. It offers numerous benefits, including assisting sales teams to prioritize sales funnels, forecast sales, forecast cashflows, inventory forecasting, late payments prediction, write product descriptions, etc. As per a McKinsey report, AI has the potential to deliver additional global economic activity of around $13 trillion by 2030.
5. Anything as a Service (XaaS)
Anything as a Service (XaaS) allows a business to use cloud-based solutions for any IT functionality. It enables them to scale faster per their requirements, pay-per-use, manage smaller IT teams and reduce IT spending. Let’s consider it as an advanced version of SaaS-based solutions. It will further boost companies providing cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure because the companies offering XaaS will have to host them on-cloud and make them available and accessible for their clients.
6. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
RPA, as a technology, uses robots to automate routine tasks that we humans perform. These software robots can perform these tasks tirelessly and at a faster pace than a human. It can boost employee productivity as many mundane tasks are automated, and they have more time to focus on business-critical tasks. The global RPA market size is estimated to grow at 27.7% CAGR till 2030 and is expected to be valued at $23.9 billion by 2030.
7. Internet of Things (IoT)
With the advent of 5G and the availability of high-speed internet, IoT is considered by many to be the next big thing. IoT is a connected ecosystem that can transfer data amongst its constituents at high speeds. It has already revolutionized healthcare by providing avenues for a remote healthcare model. The connected car technology, another application of IoT, is expected to grow to around $121 Billion by 2025.
8. Virtual Office environments
The pandemic changed people’s perspectives about working from home. Businesses with multiple locations need an ecosystem for employees to work from anywhere at any time and on any device. It will help employees improve their efficiency and decrease business expenses across various overheads. Many businesses are considering setting up a hybrid office environment providing employees with an option to visit the office on a need basis.
The one thing you can be sure of in the world of technology is that things keep changing and changing rapidly. In a few years, newer technologies will replace the ones listed above. However, as a business, it is essential to keep adopting and using them to gain a competitive edge.
CCIT Cloud (CocoonIT Services) is an expert Microsoft Cloud Solutions and Implementation Partner. Organisations around the globe, partner with CCIT to harness the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics, Azure Cloud and Power Platform.