Digital transformation is a buzzword in today’s business world. Over 70% of organizations either have a strategy for transformation or currently focusing on creating one.
The reason behind the popularity of digital transformation is its ability to help businesses thrive in uncertainty and make quick changes. As per Zippia’s research, adopting a digital model has increased operational efficiency by 40%, sped up time to market by 36%, and helped meet customer expectations by 35%.
A digital transformation integrates digital technology into all aspects of your business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver customer value. During the COVID outbreak, organizations that had already embraced digital transformation could thrive and adapt to changes.
So, if you want to adopt digital transformation but need extra convincing, we’ve compiled a list of benefits for you. With this list of the top 8 benefits of digital transformation, you can start your journey to digitization.
- Cost Reduction
According to Gartner, the most common beginning point for digital transformation is cost reduction; approximately two-thirds of digital transformation efforts begin with cost-related goals. Companies are adopting digital to increase asset efficiency, support workers ’ productivity, cut overhead and manufacturing costs, and expedite after-market service while keeping costs in mind.
The incredible thing is that when firms start here, they frequently bring with them additional quantitative advantages. If you can run a more effective manufacturing floor, you can minimize expenditures associated with wasteful energy consumption, extended downtime, and other factors. If you are capable of dealing with customer service concerns
- Improve Product and Service Quality
Quality of products and services is a distinct differentiation in every market, regardless of industry. Businesses may achieve closed-loop quality by using strategies and technology that decrease rework and scrap, boost traceability and consistency for data management throughout the value chain, and enhance first-time repair rates.
Businesses may optimize product development processes while giving stakeholders across the organization (or product lifecycle) access to the most precise figures relevant to their position by driving quality improvements with software such as product lifecycle management (PLM).
- Improve Time-to-Market
Businesses (and change) are moving at a faster speed. Customers anticipate new and improved products regularly, and there are growing obstacles regarding timely manufacturing and supply chain management. As a result, there are two areas where digital transformation activities may aid in time-to-market: product development and production acceleration and supply chain execution.
Establishing an authoritative source of product and process truth across the company, which can extend to suppliers, customers, and field service, can help on both counts. Businesses may guarantee correct product and process information is available to the appropriate person, at the right time, in the proper context, by providing data continuity with a digital thread.
Agile approaches and tools are being used to accelerate innovation and reduce time-to-market. It is critical to employ collaborative tools that enable flexible and rapid product development; technologies such as Onshape and Arena leverage a cloud-native architecture that simplifies user access, eliminates bottlenecks early and streamlines communication.
- Growth-oriented
Growth efforts, which are frequently linked to product innovation, can alter a company. Digital transformation isn’t only about incremental enhancements to existing goods and processes; it’s about discovering new profit streams within the organization. This might include new items, new business models or income sources, or increased throughput and yield.
- Improve Customer Experience
Often, digital transformation headlines focus on internal advantages, but in the end, businesses must assess (and prioritize) how their efforts will impact the consumer experience. How will the business’s revolutionary changes benefit the consumer – improved service? Better quality? More unique items or features? Quicker delivery? These are only a handful of the possibilities. Businesses may find a strong beginning for digital transformation activities by examining client pain concerns and feedback.
Another option is to use digital transformation to allow closed-loop engineering, which involves providing real-time product performance and usage data back to product developers to make design modifications faster and better aligned with consumer preferences and demands.
- Enhance the culture of the company
According to a recent poll of executives and end users, 90% would prefer to work for a company that embraces and invests in digital transformation technology. It discusses how digital transformation might influence the work experience and aid retention and recruitment efforts.
Being a part of a firm that is not static but is constantly searching for ways to enhance its business practices is motivating. Furthermore, many DX attempts to simplify, streamline, or improve employees’ regular responsibilities. It can also provide employees with additional flexibility in their day-to-day tasks, such as the ability to work remotely.
- Efforts to drive sustainability
Digital technologies are being used to promote a more viable future, which begins with product design and engineering. Digital transformation is influencing two main areas.
First, engineering decisions have a downstream influence on carbon footprint in manufacture, usage, servicing, and disposal. Engineers employing digital technologies such as CAD, simulation, PLM, IoT, and others are more carefully evaluating materials, processes, and logistics. The result of this upfront work is a decrease in material and energy usage, reduced emissions, and less waste throughout the product lifespan, from manufacture through servicing to the end of its useful life.
Second, there is a greater emphasis on sustainable production and service – how can businesses cut emissions across all corporate operations? Companies are gaining deeper insights into inefficiencies and making data-driven choices that optimize operations and enhance resource utilization thanks to technologies such as IoT and digital performance management.
- Boost internal and cross-functional collaboration
Siloed companies (and data) have several negative consequences, including inefficiency, stifled growth, higher mistake risk, and diminished competitiveness in a volatile market. Many digital transformation techniques and technologies exist to promote cooperation between teams, partners, and vendors.
Companies become more flexible and responsive and offer higher-quality goods in less time by establishing enterprise-wide continuity, generally via a digital thread. Better collaboration benefits both the business and the customer.
Another strategy to boost cooperation with digital transformation is to use cloud-based solutions mainly built to allow for more frequent and adaptable communication. SaaS solutions make distributed and remote teams more accessible, enabling real-time communication and decreasing departmental friction.
Conclusion
With all the uncertainty in the market, there’s always room for making a mistake. Switching your business strategy is the only way your organization can solve these mistakes. Being ready for what comes next is crucial; this is where digital transformation can save you.
While not exhaustive, the list above reflects many of the most significant advantages of digital transformation today. A successful digital transformation plan results in quantifiable improvements in one or more of the advantages listed above.
Author’s Bio
Businesses transform when they realize that the current ways of working can no longer address the fast-changing market dynamics and rising user expectations. Agilemania, a small group of passionate Lean-Agile-DevOps consultants and trainers, is the most trusted brand for digital transformations in South and South-East Asia.
