Gone are the days when one would spend hours taking care of manual tasks.
Whether it’s organizing data sheets, running business operations, managing employees, or adopting digital technologies across different aspects of the organization, digital transformation gives your business an edge. The process fundamentally transforms how companies deliver value to customers, engage stakeholders, and conduct internal operations.
For example, cloud adoption allows you to easily access data and effectively collaborate from any part of the world. Cloud adoption has skyrocketed in recent years with 94% of enterprises now using cloud services increasing the overall operational efficiency by 40% on average.
We see advances in AI tools and technologies & more sophisticated solutions which offer us significant assistance in automating everyday tasks. It saved businesses a total estimate of $2 trillion in labor costs in 2023 alone. And with big data and analytics, making data-driven decisions has become achievable.
Big data and analytics are now integral to decision-making processes, with companies that utilize data-driven strategies experiencing a 5-6% increase in productivity and profitability.
Without a doubt, digital transformation is reshaping how we see the opportunities and challenges that businesses overcome every day by staying relevant & thriving in an interconnected world.
But, it begs the question, has digital transformation really become a must and not a maybe?
Let’s find out.
Thriving in the Digital Age – Why Embracing Change Is Key to Success?
Living in a fast-paced world of today where smartphones take center stage, we have realized how adapting to digital changes has benefitted us all, as a whole. It’s no secret that business strategies have evolved and putting forth a digital-first mindset, we have finally streamlined processes to enhance customer experiences and unlock new revenue streams. Businesses which fail to embrace the digital shift often fall behind in the competition whereas others take up and earn the largest market share.
In fact, businesses that have embraced digital transformation are growing 26% faster than their industry peers. For instance, Starbucks revolutionized its customer experience by integrating digital payment systems and mobile ordering, which now accounts for 24% of total sales.
Today, consumer expectations are growing and it has led many markets to come up with personalized services giving businesses a chance to continuously innovate & embrace the change.
What Is the Driving Force Behind Digital Transformation?
Digital businesses are dependent on various forces that are codependent on each other. Most business operations are agile, often taking paths to unexplored territories, which can lead to business demise.
However, this can be best overcome by implementing digital transformation.
As McKinsey & Company notes:
impact
“Digital transformation is about more than technology—it’s about ensuring that organizations are structured to leverage new technologies in a way that drives growth and keeps them competitive in rapidly changing markets.”
When organizations are equipped with the right tools, they deliver better value, leading to growth and scalability.
Platform-based business models are driving this change, with companies like Amazon generating 50% of their revenue from platform services.
And so do many subscription-based services that have proven successful, with Netflix increasing its subscriber base by 25% over the past year due to its innovative content and user-friendly platform.
How Market Demands Shift & How Businesses Adapt to Changing Consumer Behavior?
Market demands are constantly changing and consumer behavior plays a central role. Today, consumers expect more personalized and immediate experiences from companies, and those who fail to deliver such often fall behind in the fierce competition. With this expectation shift, it has become extremely evident that customers are looking for more engulfing and immersive product experiences. This in turn, impacts how the market moves, and the demand gap significantly fills with increasing demand.
For example, Nike has leveraged digital transformation by launching its Nike Fit app, which uses AI to recommend shoe sizes, resulting in a 20% reduction in returns and an increase in customer satisfaction.
Whether you’re an online shopping store, or you’re running a service-based or product-based website solution, the changing consumer behavior is well met when you are well equipped to better predict consumer preferences. With highly precise data-driven solutions and more powerful algorithms working behind the scenes, businesses can easily meet the desired growing needs of the market.
Digital transformation in business, in its essence, drives innovative change leading to incredible breakthroughs.
What Businesses Are Doing to Adapt Such Transformative Shifts?
As consumer behavior shifts, so does the widespread adoption of solutions such as mobile devices and social media integrations. It’s no secret how consumers are now engaging with their favorite brands across different channels and platforms. Those expecting consistent and high-quality experiences throughout their journeys, often get their expectations well met when organizations integrate physical products profoundly with different digital touchpoints. This easy transition between personalized service offerings & crafting unique experiences is what’s adding more value to internal & external operations.
Companies which remain static in such volatile markets are often thrown under the bus. Those that adapt to change earn the competitive edge and here’s what some of them are doing to earn such a feat.
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Adoption: According to Gartner, 25% of all businesses will adopt NaaS by 2024 to streamline operations and reduce infrastructure costs. As the complexity of enterprise networks increases, so does how businesses take a more profound approach to adapting to newer methods. Businesses today are shifting towards NaaS-based solutions to increase business agility and scalability. This allows companies to consume network resources on-demand without maintaining their infrastructure, making it easier to adapt to the ever-growing business needs.
Cloud Security Prioritization: Cloud security has become a thing with more and more organizations adopting a cloud-first approach. Today, we have a heightened focus on cloud security, particularly through robust solutions such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions have seen a 33% year-over-year growth as companies prioritize centralized control and visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, offering better protection against cyber threats. The integrated approach offers the best visibility which is more centralized & offers better control across hybrid & multi-cloud environments, one that is more prevalent for creating the perfect protection against all cyber threats.
Collaborative Cybersecurity: Many companies are now recognizing the importance of introducing collective defense strategies. By taking charge of threat intelligence and implementing such solutions within different industry touchpoints, businesses are now effectively collaborating to protect digital ecosystems from potential cyber threats. It creates a much more robust, secure, and resilient environment leading to a well-organized and thoroughly protected network infrastructure. By integrating threat intelligence solutions, companies like Microsoft have reduced security breaches by 60% in the last year.
Personalization and Customization: Today, many organizations are leveraging AI and data analytics which offer highly personalized experiences to most end-customers. Amazon is a prime example, using AI-driven recommendations to account for 35% of its total sales. With so many products, services, and marketing messages circulating the Internet, it often becomes difficult for individual businesses to achieve the desired customer satisfaction. However, by leveraging AI and data analytics, businesses can offer highly personalized experiences, one that’s tailored significantly to beat the competition.
Growing Competitive Pressure & Constant Need for Innovation
Companies face intense market competition in this ever-growing digital landscape.
It leads to a constant push towards innovation. If businesses are not working towards coming up with more robust ideas and launching digital products that are worth the customer’s while, they will face the brunt of the competition. However, with superior products, relevant services, and better customer experience, businesses can overcome the growing competitive pressure. Digital transformation carves the path toward achieving digital success for many organizations. It reduces costs, increases business efficiency, and offers better growth delivering the best value to customers overall.
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, then a digital transformation agency is the answer to all your problems. We urge you to take the first steps towards digital transformation.
