85% of business executives admit they have at least two years to embrace digital transformation, or they will fall behind the competition and suffer financially, according to Forbes. Digital transformation is an initiative that needs to be intertwined in every aspect of an organization, for it is no longer the future state – it is already here. The most significant trends and improvements for customer experience are reliant on digital transformation.
However, the concept is not a digital marketing trick or a fad to sell services and products. Neither is the implementation complex, as many managers and entrepreneurs imagine when they try to understand how to digitize their operations. The tools and methodologies are available. You only need to research, create an action plan, evaluate your business structure, and set goals.
To help you understand this concept, here are key components you must consider as you develop your digital transformation strategy.
Prioritize Customer Engagement
Although digitization holds the trends and changes needed to improve customer experience, it is not about using fancy apps and tech innovations to attract customers. Before your organization can invest in innovative tech solutions, it needs to understand the customer journey, behaviors, and expectations. Rather than ask consumers to adapt to new processes, focus on their experience, and implement strategies based on their feedback.
As a leader, you must learn and practice to let go of how you think your business should operate and do what customers want even before they ask for it. The technical founder of an automatic receipt transcription company notes on their website, Taggun.io, that “Good things happen when we learn. But learning gets harder when we get better. We get more arrogant. We are less open to anything.” To survive the competitive market, learning new digital transformation trends should be a never-ending process in your company. Strive to find ways that improve customer service and help you remain relevant in your industry.
Invest In Your Employees
Augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality have the power to improve intelligence and influence informed decision-making within an organization. Without the right talent and focus on employees, however, a company struggles to stay on top of the competition. That is why your company’s focus should be on how best you can use technology to provide meaningful support and experience that reach your staff on a deeper level. Using technology to improve your bottom line doesn’t guarantee long term success.
In a market where talent competition is high, investing in technologies that provide excellent employee experience is critical in accelerating digital transformation. Additionally, what IT thinks is delivering is different from what staff say they are doing. The gap between IT and employees can be the cause of business failure, and a lack of the right technological tools can drive employees to seek other employers. The best way to close the gap while maintaining a great digital employee experience is by aligning IT and human resource processes to enhance organizational culture.
Re-engaging and transforming the workplace helps empower employees, creating room for digital integration. For instance, your company can balance the power of mobility to enhance collaboration from any location, on any device by providing access to applications and data while ensuring there is data security.
Automate Internal Processes
Automation is the pillar that brings customers, employees, processes, and technology together. Optimizing internal processes ensures your organization can quickly transform products and consumer feedback into action. As a result, you can best serve your customers faster and predict their needs. Automation starts with understanding current processes in the business, whether it is in the manufacturing, human resource, finance, or sales department.
The use of the cloud for business operations should be a priority. Cloud services are not only cost-effective but also flexible, scalable, available, and straightforward when it comes to storing data and applications. Using the cloud allows the organization to focus on the people and budget on solutions that make it more competitive instead of spending hours running day-to-day data without progress.
Though moving operations from your IT department to a third-party management service is not ideal, it creates room for new opportunities you can tap in for growth and development. On customer experience, automation should focus on increasing efficiency, customer service, and responsiveness in real-time. Utilizing artificial intelligence, such as chatbots, can help to enhance the customer service experience.
Conclusion
Developing digital transformation strategies is not as challenging as it sounds. You only need to focus on critical areas, such as consumers, employees, and business operations. In addition, you must learn and adapt to new technological trends such as the cloud, AI, IoT, and 5G networks.
