The idea of digital transformation in companies involves many more elements than that and it is necessary to be careful not to throw investments in the trash.
In this article, we will understand the meaning of digital transformation, a concept that is becoming increasingly popular in the business world.
We will see all the benefits that this strategic choice can offer for your business and its importance for the corporate universe. Finally, we will learn about some successful examples of digital transformation that have taken place in recent decades.
What is digital transformation?
First of all, we’ll talk about what digital transformation is not, even if you’ve heard the opposite.
Investing in technologies, such as adding technological resources or smart tools, alone does not provide a digital transformation in a company.
You can invest in tools, but if you don’t transform the entire mindset of the company and its employees, these transformations will not happen at all.
Thus, digital transformation is a process that involves strategic planning , a culture of innovation and the construction of an entire corporate environment based on the idea of technological innovation and corporate solutions based on that.
Technological tools must be the foundation for a solid and long-term project in the company, which must involve some pillars, such as people, processes, technology and workplace.
The pillars of digital transformation
We then realized that digital transformation does not only involve the use of technologies. We can list four major pillars of digital transformation in companies.
People
Yes, people are at the center of any technological revolution or digital transformation that a company wants to implement.
It is necessary to train the team of employees so that they provide customers with the best possible experiences.
The customer is the basis that sustains a company, and therefore humanizing company/customer relations is a key factor for digital transformation to happen, generating only benefits, both for the company and the team of collaborators, as well as for customers.
Thus, the use of technologies in a company must aim to improve the end customer experience, but not only that.
Law Suit
Digital transformation involves structuring new processes within the company’s strategic planning.
The use of new technological tools will only make sense if there is a change in mentality, an update of processes so that there is optimization of work, production and results.
Each company needs to seek to improve all processes involving production and management, using technologies as the basis for these structural transformations.
Technologies
With the change of mentality and the construction of new processes, new technologies can be inserted and provide results in companies.
It is necessary to understand the new technologies and tools as great allies of all the management and production work of your business, but mainly as an element that will provide your customers with a much clearer, more direct, interactive and beneficial final experience.
Workplace
The workspace is another pillar of digital transformation. Managers need to build intelligent workspaces, often balancing the physical space with the virtual space, increasingly present in companies that adapt to the needs of today’s world.
Thus, it is necessary to promote the creation of the smart workspace, a concept that has been gaining popularity for preaching the need to build a smart workplace.
Customer and consumer focus
We have already mentioned that one of the main objectives of digital transformation is to provide an increasingly pleasant experience for the customer, and technology has come to make people’s lives easier, so improving the consumer experience is fundamental and guarantees several benefits for your company.
Constant feedback culture
It is necessary to build a relationship based on constant feedback and interaction, whether in the internal work environment, between managers and employees, or in the external environment, creating an ideal relationship with the consumer and the customer.
Frequent adaptability
Digital transformation involves a culture of innovation, and this is based on the ability to adapt to constant changes in the technological world. Being aware of how consumers arrive at your company, how they prefer to buy, etc. is to be ready to change whenever necessary.
Benefits of digital transformation in companies
Putting the concept of digital transformation into practice in a company brings many benefits, and we can list a few:
Improved customer experience
Yes, we already said that customer satisfaction is not the only objective behind the digital transformation, but it is something that matters a lot.
Thus, creating technological solutions that improve sectors such as sales, marketing, customer relations or finance will ultimately provide a much more beneficial and productive relationship with the company’s customers.
Nowadays there are technological solutions that companies use to get to know their consumers in depth and from that create tools and actions that improve and optimize the relationship between the company and the consumer.
Using digital transformation to create solutions that make life easier for consumers is one of the most efficient strategic choices from a corporate point of view.
Competitive advantage
We live in an age of technology and information. Thus, a company that builds an up-to-date environment adapted to this new era tends to gain space in the market and increase its competitive advantage.
Building a strategic plan based on the concept of digital transformation will allow the company to optimize its internal processes, improve its relationship with the consumer and, as a result, will gain competitiveness in the fight for the market.
Process optimization
We have already seen here that one of the pillars of digital transformation is found in the improvement of internal processes.
In fact, a company that uses this concept seeks to create a modern, current, and technological corporate environment, using digital tools to improve all structural processes.
The implementation of these digital resources and these tools streamline internal processes, generating greater production, optimizing results and, above all, improving the company/client relationship.
cost reduction
One of the focuses of digital transformation in companies is the addition of tools and technologies that optimize processes and develop solutions with more efficiency and less waste.
In this way, a company that puts the idea of digital transformation into practice tends to reduce costs over time, above all, by reducing the possibility of errors within processes, which become more agile and optimized.
Among the many actions that generate cost reductions, there are those that are more direct, such as, for example, storing files in the cloud, which provides immediate savings in paper, ink, printers and physical space to store documents.
increase in production
If you create a work environment with optimized processes, with intelligent and technological solutions, then this context will certainly generate not only cost reductions, but also increased productivity , since the environment will be conducive, and the training of employees tends to generate engagement, good work environment that generates an increase in production.
We can see other benefits in adopting digital transformation in companies:
- Less risk of errors and greater safety in the work environment
- Improve the company’s relationship and communication with the customer
- Creation of new business models that provide company expansion
- Decrease in operational failures
- Strategic management
Mistakes we make when talking about digital transformation in companies
It is always necessary to demystify some concepts that we sometimes see about the idea of digital transformation.
The focus of digital transformation in companies is the consumer
We have already seen it here, but it bears remembering: the concept of digital transformation aims to optimize processes, reduce costs, increase productivity and improve the entire corporate structure. As a final result, customer and consumer satisfaction increases, but it is an effect.
Digital transformation only applies to technology companies
Elementary error. Digital transformation can and should be instituted in any and all companies, as it works much more with strategic planning and structural processes than with technology alone. Technology here is the basis for changes in the business vision.
Just use digital tools and develop initiatives
Another basic error, which we have already dealt with here as well. It is not enough to develop technologies or invest in current tools, if there is not a change in mindset throughout the business.
Digital transformation takes place through complete strategic planning, which also involves the use of digital tools, intelligent solutions and technological initiatives.
Examples of digital transformation in large companies
When we think of companies that have used the concept of digital transformation to grow and gain market share, the main examples we have are large corporations, not least because we follow them more directly.
A very significant example that we can use is Netflix.
Netflix started out as a traditional movie rental service that shipped a three-pack of DVDs to your door each month for you to watch and then return.
Well, with the evolution of technology and the emergence of technological initiatives, the company remodeled its way of thinking about the business, invested in a technological solution, which was the use of streaming technology, and started to offer the content subscription service online.
This complete change in the company’s mentality led to its growth and market conquest, becoming one of the largest companies in the world today.
If we stop to observe, the Netflix case involved three principles of digital transformation:
Operations, which involves the entire team of employees, in addition to processes.
Customer Experience, which is one of the most important goals of the digital transformation concept
Business Model, since it needed to change the entire mindset of the company.
Conclusion
We have seen how digital transformation is already embedded in our daily lives without even knowing it. All the facilities that companies offer their customers today are the result of changes in processes and the modernization of digital tools.
Digital transformation is no longer a strategic choice, it is a necessity that each and every company has in order to maintain itself, grow and gain market share in the corporate world.
