6 ways DX can elevate your business
Digital transformation isn’t just about adding new technologies to keep up with the Jones’. When done correctly, digital transformation can help improve your business. Here’s how.
1. Stay up-to-date with the competitive landscape
If you notice your competitors adopting new technologies, it might be challenging to keep up with them if your company stays with their old, legacy systems. Digital transformation can help your team adapt to changes faster so you can provide new opportunities for your team and stay ahead of your competitors.
2. Encourages innovation
When your team transitions from a more stagnant business model to a new, more efficient one, it can pave the way for more innovation within your business. This could mean new business models, new opportunities, and even new products.
Let’s look at an example. When Netflix first launched, they were a rent-by-mail movie delivery service. This gave them an edge above their competitors like Blockbuster and other video rental stores because it saved their customers a trip to the video store. With the help of technology and digital transformation, Netflix decided to shift their business model and became one of the first successful streaming services in history, eventually paving the way for other streaming platforms. This is a strong example of how a successful digital transformation strategy led to industry innovation.
3. Increases team agility
Technology changes at a rapid pace, and if your team wants to be innovative and use cutting edge technology, they have to be receptive to new changes quickly. As you begin adopting new digital strategies, your team will adapt to those changes. The more agile your team is, the more they can pivot when more digital innovation happens.
4. Provides a better customer experience
Digital transformation was a crucial part of the invention of many digital based technologies that exist today. For example, artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IOT), machine learning, blockchain, cloud computing, automation, and others would not exist if not for digital transformation. The beauty of the digital age is that all of these developments help improve customer experience.
Take Spotify, for example. Spotify uses data analytics to look at a user's listening habits and offers them new music suggestions based on their behavior. This strategy helps make a Spotify user’s experience completely unique to them, which strengthens the customer relationship to that brand.
5. Increases productivity and efficiency
Adding technology to your operation model can increase your business’ productivity and efficiency. Automation expedites more manual tasks that take up a lot of time, such as pushing things through workflows (for example, document approvals or waiting for signatures).
When you automate more of the time-consuming, menial tasks, this leaves your employees with more time to focus on strategic work that can help your team achieve successful business outcomes, and spend less time on work about work.
6. Provides a foundation for scalability
You will often find that start-ups use emerging technologies in their business processes. That’s because digital technologies can help your team create a solid foundation to build on as your companies grow. It’s much easier to implement new digital technologies when your business already has some digital strategies in place.