If you’ve been thinking about how to grow your business using technology, then you’re in the right place. In this blog, we give you the full rundown on what Digital Transformation is – why it’s important, what the major benefits are, and the 8 areas in your business that could benefit the most from it.
What is Digital Transformation?
In simple terms, Digital Transformation is about change, that focuses on 4 pillars - technology, data, processes, and culture. But the overarching term is the integration of digital technology across a business to improve their current processes to align with their future goals. With customers as the focal point of a business, transforming your company provides your customers with value in every interaction and maximises efficiency.
Now you must be thinking - what's the cost? While it's hard to put an exact price on it, there are 4 main aspects to factor into how much it could cost your business - the nature of your industry, the complexity of your business, your people and processes, and your current tech stack.
Does my Business Need Digital Transformation?
Yes, 100%! It’s essentially a case of survival. Digital Transformation, done right, integrates technology to evolve with the industry and improve on your current work processes. Failing to do so will only mean your competitors will fly past you while you’re struggling to recover. Implementing digital technology can, on average, speed up the progress towards your business goals such as your financial gain, workplace diversity and environmental targets by up to 22% according to DeLoitte. So if you're looking to jump on the Digital Transformation bandwagon, get in touch with us today!
Here you can see higher-maturity companies in the same Digital Maturity Report were about three times more likely than lower-maturity companies to achieve annual net revenue growth and net profit margins above their industry average:
If your business needs it but you're not sure how to go about it, get in touch with us today!
What are the Major Benefits of Adopting Digital Transformation?
The Return on Investment (ROI) of transforming your business can vary on a bunch of factors. But with the right technology and processes, you can improve the functionality of business operations and optimise your customer engagement. While there are a million benefits that scream yes to Digital Transformation, here are the most important ones you’ll see in action:
1) Increase in Productivity
Efficiently using your technology can help save you time and money that could go towards onboarding new employees and manually updating digital resources. Having an integrated process in place can take away those repetitive tasks that hamper productivity and expenditure.
2) Enhanced Customer Experience
In our current world of tech-savvy consumers, digital transformation gives your business the platform to reach your customers with an interactive experience at multiple touchpoints - social media, email, live chats, mobile apps, and more.
3) Competitive Edge
You snooze, you lose. It’s you that’s losing out if you choose not to. Adopting digital transformation gives you the edge over your competitors and avoids the risk of falling behind. If you do fall behind, it’s only a matter of time before your customers to switch over to your competitors.
What are the 8 Areas of Digital Transformation?
Digital Transformation can appear to be disruptive at first, but now that you're aware of the potential benefits in the long run, you might be thinking, "where do I start?". We've broken it down into the 8 areas where digital technology will have the most impact on your business’s operations and deliverables. Here they are:
- Marketing Automation
- Sales CRM
- Service Transformation
- Operations & Projects Transformation
- Integrations & Technology Systems
- Exec & Reporting Transformation
- HR, People & Culture Transformation
- Financial Transformation
Marketing Automation
The last 10 years have seen a massive rise in marketing automation tools that help to integrate data and analytics, identify target persona, optimise and track campaign performance, and lead your team to success. Transforming your marketing processes helps with better brand positioning and using customer-centric digital technology to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
What Are The Benefits of Marketing Automation?
- Strong Emphasis on Customer Engagement
- Automated Personalisation
- Differentiated Strategy
- Redefined Customer Experience
- Higher Conversion Rate Optimisation
Examples of Marketing Automation Tools:
- HubSpot Marketing Hub
- Marketo
- Eloqua
Sales CRM
Consumer purchasing behaviour is a driving factor behind the transformation of traditional to digital sales. Today's approach uses a Sales CRM to focus on establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with customers through face-to-face interactions, upselling, and cross-selling - for business retention and future growth. Businesses need to adapt their sales process to recognise that customers have access to more information about products and services before interacting with them.
What Are The Benefits of Sales CRM?
- Improved Customer Experience
- AI Optimisation
- Increase in Productivity
- Cloud Storage
- Sales Automation Tools
Examples of Sales CRM Tools:
- HubSpot Sales Hub
- Zoho CRM
- Nutshell
Service Transformation
The tech-savvy creatures that we are, we instantly want a solution to our problems. Digital technology has given birth to a platform for effective communication across multiple channels, 24/7 customer service support, brand transparency, and a unique tailored experience to cope with your customers’ changing expectations. An automated customer service solution is essential to providing good interactions with your customer during their buying journey.
What Are The Benefits of Customer Service Transformation?
- Omni-Channel Customer Interactions
- Data Analysis and Insights
- Building Loyalty
- Nurturing Leads and customer groups
- Engaging User Experience
Examples of Service Transformation Tools:
- HubSpot Service Hub
- Olark - Live Chat
- MobileMonkey
Operations & Projects Transformation
Transforming your business with operations and project management software will help you with team management, efficient organisation, meeting deadlines, and delivering projects without the constant back and forth of over-communication.
What are The Benefits of Operations & Projects Transformation?
- Effective Teams Communication
- Efficient Collaboration and Project Ownership
- Results-Focused Approach
- Advanced Analytics For Improvements
Examples of Digital Operations & Project Management Tools:
- HubSpot Projects
- Wrike
- Trello
Integrations & Technology Systems
Transforming your integrations and technology processes is essential when it comes to restructuring your business strategy. Having your internal systems talking to each other creates less room for human error and more room for accuracy. With the dynamic market, you need to adopt digital transformation to keep up with the demand of your customers’ expectations.
What Are The Benefits of Integration & Technology Systems?
- Big Data Analysis
- Automated Processes
- New Service Offers
Examples of Integration & Technology Systems:
- HubSpot Operations Hub
- Zapier
- IFTTT
Exec & Reporting Transformation
If you’re still having meetings over clunky shared spreadsheets and outdated PowerPoint presentations, it's time to transform your executive and reporting processes. By transforming these processes, you’ll be able to create reports using intelligent, interactive, and in-real time data for better decision-making. You may also benefit from a dashboard to track everyone's tasks across the company and have access to high-quality data to make informed business decisions.
What Are The Benefits of Exec & Reporting Transformation?
- Decrease in Cost
- Comprehensive Information
- Informed Decision-Making
Examples of Executive & Reporting Tools:
- HubSpot Marketing Analytics
- Zoho Analytics
- Microsoft Power BI
HR, People & Culture Transformation
Good company culture is crucial to achieving business success. Making everyone feel included and valued boosts company morale, productivity, and employee retention rate. An internal communication system is a good paper trail for real-time communication across the departments for progress checks on ongoing projects. Transforming your Human Resource processes protects both the company and its employees if any issues arise from employment contracts. For example, Cinch HR's software system auto-updates company policies and documents, with legal updates and law changes to ensure contracts are legally accurate.
What Are The Benefits of HR, People & Culture Transformation?
- Encourages Customer Engagement
- Delegation and Ownership of Tasks
- Rewards Risk-Taking
- More Action, Less Talk
- Team Family Values
Examples of HR, People & Culture Tools:
- Cinch HR Software
- MyHR
- EnableHR
Financial Transformation
eCommerce has become the ‘norm’ for almost every business, with some even offering their customers the ability to shop on social media. Transforming your finance processes can help integrate tools like Xero or MYOB to save time on mundane tasks, improve accuracy, simplify financial reporting, build more trust in your system, and boost efficiency.
What Are The Benefits of Financial Transformation?
- Real-Time Data Capture
- Digital Automation Process
- AI-supported Analytics for Business Decisions
Examples of Digital Financial Tools:
- Xero
- MYOB
Where does Hype & Dexter come in?
Speaking of digital transformation, that’s something we can help your business with. We’ll help you save time and make money by transforming your processes right across the business. We don’t simply hand over the keys to the truck and wish you luck - here, we do it differently!
We’ll work with you to understand your current situation and future goals, show you a path on how you can reach those goals, and educate you to progress yourself for the future. At the end of the day, we’re all about change and growth, and your success is our success.