There's no way of knowing how far digitization will go. The era we live in might have a determinable beginning, but no one in their right mind would dare to predict its end. It's propelled by the constant evolution of technology which, after all, keeps accelerating at record speed. It's up to industrialists to either adapt or lose it all. With digitization no longer being an option, these are the key areas to stay focused on.
Cultural Transformation: Let's Keep Innovating
Technology doesn't only speed up everything it's applied to but also dictates the pace of our everyday lives and business operations alike. Take smartphones for instance - with them becoming more intuitive with smooth UXs, responsive designs, and 24/7 accessibility, they're now inescapable.
When you add digital assistants and AI to the equation, it's quite clear that today's businesses must stay vigilant on two fronts. The first implies keeping up with the pace of current tech developments, while the other requires them to stay one step ahead of their competition. Innovation is, therefore, the key to it all.
But, innovation cannot be sporadic; instead, it must be precise and continual. To stay relevant and competitive businesses must keep digitizing their culture, both internally and externally, and in a way that promotes innovative problem-solving.
Experience Transformation: Controlling All Channels
External digitization is a must, to put it lightly. Generally speaking, it focuses on creating a customer-oriented culture in the company. Modern-day businesses are expected not only to provide a top-notch service but also to do that anywhere, anytime. The 24/7 accessibility is crucial if you want to succeed.
This means that every single part of the customer journey, from the first personalized ad to the actual on-site purchase, must be available on all channels including websites, emails, and social media. It also means that businesses are in need of omni channel management tools and monitoring systems.
Security Transformation: Protecting the Edge
The best and most powerful business automation tools are stored in the cloud, which guarantees three crucial things: 24/7 accessibility, flexibility. Cloud computing is the essence of digitization - it costs less to implement, and at the same time makes businesses much faster.
Since the only possible concern about moving to the cloud could be related to cyber security, company-wide safety measures are deemed as another vital part of the digitization process. Luckily, the foolproof security protocol can be established with the implementation of VPN on internal business networks.
The vast majority of companies are relying on virtual private networks to protect both, their intelligence and their customers' sensitive data. By creating an encrypted connection, VPNs ensures the safe exchange of information, documents, and ideas, thus promoting in-house and remote teamwork simultaneously.
Operational Transformation: Leave It to the Autopilot
However, external digitization enabled by friction-less website design, on-site customer support and payment systems, chat bots and other AI assistants, means little if there's no internal infrastructure to support it. This calls for operational digitization, a.k.a. the adoption of autopilots.
Process automation tools are no longer optional. For each aspect of a business, there's a piece of software that brings both, ease-of-use and accuracy. With systems such as BPMs and CRMs allowing companies to stay on top of their game with less time, effort, and money, manual tasks are already a thing of the past.
Information Transformation: Gathering Knowledge
Digitization is also a data-oriented process - it gives businesses an opportunity to collect, store, and analyze raw information that would be impossible to harness manually. Every notable technological trend has something to do with big data, be it the Internet of Things, AI bots, fin tech, or block chain.
Without knowing the best practices, consumer habits, and market fluctuations and trends, a modern-day business can hardly stay in the race. Digitization allows you to gather that knowledge extremely fast, so enabling informed decision making, which provides a competitive edge and boosts business growth.
Innovation, customer and user experience, business processes management, cyber security, and IT may be the most obvious areas for digitization, but let's not forget that this process is all-encompassing and continuous. The fact of the matter is that virtually every aspect of a business can be digitized and automated to perfection.
