By: Mohammed Abu Shmais, Sales & Business Development Director
Adopting the latest digital technologies is heavily interconnected with a tremendously successful business, one that could ultimately hit the billboards and gain millions. Digital Transformation is a refreshing concept, not because it is a novel one, but because it flourishes the very roots of an establishment along with its entailed processes.
Research and Markets published a report that projected a 21.1% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) on a global scale in the Digital Transformation Market. The report also expects the market to record USD1,548.9 billion by 2027 compared to the USD594.5 billion registered in 2022.
This is not a matter of technological importance, as its value is clear in this day and age, but a simplified guide on how to properly implement a digital solution that specifically serves your own business needs.
Build The Right Foundation
Building the right foundation for digital transformation is crucial for the success of any company looking to stay competitive in today’s digital economy. Establishing a solid ground for transforming ensures that the company has the necessary resources, processes, and capabilities to support the anticipated changes and achieve their goals.
A recent study revealed that 70% of Digital Transformation projects have been doomed for failure, for the most part because of standing on a weak foundation whether it was identifying the objectives or not being able to properly apply the monitoring process.
Creating a strategic agenda serves as a blueprint for the digital transformation journey and provides a clear roadmap for achieving a company’s vision and goals. It is an essential step for any organization looking to leverage digital technologies and fundamentally change how it operates and delivers value to its customers. A strategic agenda should be formed taking into account the following:
- Change Management
The concept of Change Management while might seem challenging, is quite simple and has a strong purpose. This approach is vital to take on to better manage and control the implications of change that will result from newly introduced solutions. Change Management offers a smooth transformation experience as it also facilitates change and supports other people related to the transformed business from employees to partners to become accustomed to the change.
- Digital Strategy Roadmap
The basis for a successful transformation always aligns with building a tactical roadmap that incorporates grounded plans and priorities for the desired transformation as well as setting objectives and conducting a competitive advantage assessment. Assessing the current state of the business is a critical step in identifying the areas that need improvement and determining the appropriate course of action for the entire digital transformation journey.
- Emerging Technological Advancements
Innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are playing a crucial role in driving digital transformation across various industries. These advancements have the potential to change the way businesses operate and interact with customers, allowing them to become more agile, efficient, and competitive. Organizations are encouraged to maintain an understanding on where technology is moving and incorporate these advancements into their strategic transformation agenda to stay relevant and competitive in an ever-changing digital landscape.
- Gap Analysis
Most experts in the field agree on this: a transformation journey is a futile journey without reliable and exact gap analysis process. Businesses must deeply analyze their different components to recognize their shortcomings and virtues and to highlight their exact focus throughout the transformation.
- Monitoring and Controlling
With all the right elements established, the foundation is still fragile without the correct tools for monitoring, managing, and controlling KPIs and other relevant modules. Many companies think that their transformation journey ends once the implementation begins. Far from it, analytical tools support the most positive results by keeping track of progress, performance, strategy, and by engaging with customer feedback. This step determines whether your transformation is successful and gives you a window of opportunity for continuous improvement.
The Power of Technology
Everyday there are new discoveries and advancements in technology, we went from stone tools around two million years ago to flying cars and robots by 2022.
The rapid growth in modern technology that supports Digital Transformation includes Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Everything as a Service (XaaS), and Customer Data Platform (CDP) among other technologies that revolutionize the industry.
Achieving a partial or complete overhaul of the workflow within companies and organizations gives a key competitive advantage. Based on a report by The Chartis Group, 61% of businesses seek transformation to improve outcomes. Going digital provides benefits more than we can imagine, but we can summarize those features as such:
- Reduce Operational Costs
Each company chooses a digital solution that fits it most, but each do have in common the advantages of technology: a drastically improved operational efficiency, meaning gaining a better way to optimize the use of company resources such as time and equipment. In fact, Zippia monitored a 40% growth in operational efficiency in 2022.
- Enrich Customer Experience
The power of technology is relentless, it supports businesses in their efforts to meet the changing expectations of customers. With innovative digital solutions, companies can provide progressive and interactive means to engage with the customer, build on their feedback, and achieve significant performance improvement.
- Capture Qualitative and Quantitative Data
World-class analytical tools are made available to serve the customer. Companies can now operate according to precise and comprehensive data retrieved from various sources, as such, this form of reliable data will present valuable insights.
- Improve Product/Service Quality
Following all efforts made, companies can benefit from their transformation journey by reinforcing their capabilities to deliver high-quality products and services. The used advanced solutions enable distinct functions that empower quality, while also giving access to a clear and broad perspective and insights driven by data.
- Higher Agility
Digital Transformation leads to an incredible increase in business agility, this empowers the company to operate more flexibly, to run new processes more smoothly and effortlessly, to strengthen decision-making capabilities, and to record a blossoming efficiency.
- Promote Sustainability
The entire world has joined hands for the sake of a more sustainable future. Case in point, most recent technologies have been developed in accordance with the right factors such as processes and logistics. Innovations, like IoT, allow companies to obtain better insights regarding inefficiencies as well as make decisions that optimize operations and develop the use of resources.
To Wrap It Up…
The philosophy behind a thriving Digital Transformation largely depends on making the right decisions by evaluating what the business lacks and what it specifically needs. The foundation of the transformation is what counts in most cases, it should be solid so that you can meet and exceed your objectives while also keeping an eye on your progress along with business components.
Technology Strategies Middle East (TSME) is a Business & Digital Transformation company that dedicated its twenty plus years of expertise to empower clients through a unique journey that offers all clients the chance to reach their full potential. The company has successfully launched hundreds of effective projects and helped clients through an effortless transformation journey to unlock superior capabilities.
About the Author:
Mohammed Abu Shmais is the Sales & Business Development Director of Technology Strategies Middle East (TSME), a leading Consultancy, Business & Digital Transformation company that serves over two hundred trusted clients. He is an entrepreneur by heart and a consultant by mind who is always combining entrepreneurial passion and consultancy skills to drive business outcomes. He opens the line of communication between partners, clients, and all parties to complete a project at the best outcome. Abu Shmais was part of major transformation projects in the UAE and the region, and he believes that leadership means being a guide, an analytical person, and a positive influence on those around him to maintain a content working atmosphere.
