Everyone is talking about digital, and digital transformation. But what does that really mean for business leaders and why is it important?
If you Google “define digital transformation” you’ll find there are many different ideas and explanations as to what digital transformation means.
So here’s our definition.
Digital Transformation – our definition
Firstly, digital transformation is primarily about business strategy. Of course technology plays an important part, but it’s not just about technology, and it’s different from traditional IT.
We think digital transformation is about three things:
Customer experience
Rapid automated processes
Creating new things never possible before
The first part of the digital transformation is to redesign key processes around the customer experience.
Then we need to ensure that those processes are driven as quickly and efficiently as possible. This will involve the creative use of digital tools.
The most advanced transformations occur when you can deliver products and services or ways of working that were never possible before.
We’ll discuss each of these in more detail in other posts.
Why it’s important
Put simply, digital businesses are better. They are more competitive, more profitable and have stronger growth. This has always been the case since the first digital technology was developed 70 years ago.
In New Zealand, we discovered in 2020’s Level 4 Lockdown, that digital businesses are also more resilient.
Those that were rapidly able to change to everyone working from home instead of from a premises did better. Those that already had online sales channels, were able to keep selling, while those that didn’t had to scramble to install them, and probably lost business while doing so.
Those that were already using digital meeting tools, simply continued using them from home, while others had to go through a big learning experience just so they could keep doing their jobs.
Those that were able to figure out how to quickly pivot the business in a different direction, quickly found new products and services as well as new ways of delivering what they’d always done.
Digital business survived better through lockdown because being digital made them more resilient. None of that would have been possible without a keen understanding of what digital business is about, combined with experience of innovating with digital tools.
How we help you figure out your transformation
Every business is different, and there is no one size fits all digital strategy. Our MyCIO services provide a new way for you to implement enterprise-quality digital transformation to improve your business at a price point you can afford.
We provide you highly skilled resources, with lots of experience of making things happen in businesses just like yours.
Our people combine years of practical experience with the latest digital tools to help you discover what your business needs and how to get it.
Our experienced consultants will step you through a structured process that gives you immediate feedback on where you are at today, and gives you some idea of where you could go.
How to get it done
Once we get your agreement on the current state and recommended way forward, we help you to decide what the priorities should be, and work out a roadmap to get you where you want to go. We’ll make real contributions and ideas, but you’ll have the final say in what goes in the plan so you can stay in control at all times.
Once the plan is agreed, we work with you to ensure that it’s implemented successfully, and you get the real benefits promised.
During the implementation, we’ll be your trusted advisor on all things digital. We assist you with choosing products and services, dealing with service providers to ensure they are accountable, and keeping track of progress objectively.
Summary
Making your business more efficient through use of digital, has never been more important.
Our process gives you a unique opportunity to access world-class digital business techniques at a price your business can afford.
We do this by improving your customer experience, making your processes more efficient and finding ways to do things that were never possible before.
Ray Delany is the Founder of CIO Studio and has been doing this for a while. Why not ask for a no-obligation discussion to help plan your change?
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