Digital transformation is the future. Having a customer-oriented business is extremely important if you want your venture to be successful. The better experience your customers will have, the more traffic you will get. Giving the customers a smooth experience almost always translates to having a digital presence. Especially due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, having an online forum is extremely important if you want your brand to be accessible.
You see people making online transactions every day, whether from mobile phones or laptops. Now, the question is if your business is engaging with your customers every day? If not, it may lack its market alternatives in terms of being market-driven and customer-focused.
Also read: Digital Transformation Roadmap
What is Digital Transformation?
You can refer to digital transformation as the integration of technology into your business processes. This changes the way people interact with your brand, allowing for improved customer experience and loyalty. Digital transformation leads to increased efficiency, automation, and fewer costs. It also helps address and overcome developmental and scaling challenges that your business might face in the future.
Key Drivers of Digital Transformation
Digital transformation has led to a “ripple effect”. This is changing how the world previously used technology. As companies introduce new services, lacking a digital aspect in your company might give your competitors an advantage over your products. Therefore, to prevent losing your competitive advantage, moving towards a digital future is an optimal option.
According to statistics released in the IDG State of Digital Business Transformation report, around 44 percent of current organizations have integrated a digital variant in their operations, business processes, and customer experience.
Following are the key drivers of digital transformation:
Customer Experience
Firstly, customer experience is a key contributor to the success of your business. Your customers have the capability of making or breaking your venture. Satisfied customers are important if you want to get an advantage over your competitors. Today, people expect 24/7 availability and a smooth experience to keep coming back. The user traffic you get is variable and is highly dependent on the availability and accessibility of your service. For instance, if your website fails to load within 3 seconds, there is a high chance that the user would shift to one of your competitors to get their service.
According to a study, customers prefer a personalized experience. If you offer a personalized experience, 80% of your customers will most likely make a purchase. This helps increase customer loyalty, as well.
Further, the technology can also be used to understand customer dynamics and preferences. This allows you to shape your campaigns to attract the most users.
Sink or Swim
Secondly, there is a prevalent need to sink or swim. Digital transformation has brought about several changes that allow companies to survive in today’s competitive world. It improves efficiency and outdated ways of doing tasks. It can also open new opportunities for the company to grow and scale-up.
Digital transformation helps improve business processes by making a more comfortable environment, not only for the customers but also for your company’s employees.
Digital Talent
There is a need for maintaining digital talent. The only way you can attract it is through digital transformation. You should be able to provide opportunities and training to the people to come to work with you. The more digitally skilled employees your recruit, the better are the chances of you growing into a digitally advanced company.
Statistics have shown that employees are eager to learn digital skills. As per a PWC report, most employees are willing to spend 15 hours per month0, improving their digital skills.
AI
Lastly, the artificial intelligence industry is rapidly growing. AI is being integrated into most of the world’s processes today. Incorporating it into your infrastructure can lead to several benefits as well. Devin Wanig, CEO of eBay, said, “If you don’t have an AI strategy, you’re going to die in the world that’s coming.”
Therefore, including AI in your processes can reap several benefits. While graphical user interfaces are being used to communicate with the customers today, that will not be the case forever. AI interfaces will provide better interaction and usability and will be able to make proactive decisions on behalf of users.
Are the Users Realizing Value of Your Products?
You cannot keep launching products or services if your customers do not use them. The more customer traffic you get, the better are the chances of earning profits. Therefore, you must shape your business in a way that allows for easy customer engagement and attracts them to your website or forum. Spending thousands of dollars on unusable products is not only bad for your company but will also lead to losses.
Conclusion
If your company lacks in any of the above aspects, digital transformation is the answer. To maintain a loyal customer base, improved experience, and usability, digital infrastructure can greatly help. It can give you an advantage over your competitors and provide a better customer experience, which translates to more sales and more revenue.