Digital transformation is the convergence of all the digital technologies to transform services and operations by fundamentally modifying existing or replacing non digital & old practices of technological work with the latest trending digital technology. With the digitalization of moving from paper to spreadsheets, records from physical written paper to typed documents & from managing old school business practices to smart applications based interactive communication practices, companies are reimagining & rebuilding their business to engage with their customers with the help of adapting digital technology to leverage the digital transformation.
If we talk about present scenario, companies whether small or large are inescapable from the touch of digital transformation because of everything being online now i.e. from the business management, planning to customer experiences & market demands & requirements. And even companies and enterprises are understanding the importance of this transformation that how their working patterns has reshaped in terms of approaching customer service. Many established companies realized after analyzing their business downfall in comparison to their competitors in the market who are laced with all digital technologies & getting inclining success rates. Earlier in the old school business practices, company had to wait for the customers to search them amongst thousand via yellow phonebook pages, word of mouth or old marketing practices by creating pamphlets, boards and pitching door to door. But with the advent of new media, things are drastically changed in terms of marketing and promotions. Now it’s quite easy to find any company online via search engines and choose amongst the best. Businesses who are embracing new media and the power of social media are getting impeccable customer experiences globally by extending their service offerings by using digital marketing strategies to target their customers and audiences.
As per leading survey company Gartner, 91% of organizations are engaged in some form of digital initiative & according to Intelligencegroup, SAP & oxford Business survey before covid 80% of leading companies has increased their profits after digital transformation.
According to Deloitte & Acquire, 45% of companies reported positive business impact of digital transformation along with higher net revenue growth after transforming digitally. Even McKinsey stated that Companies using digital approach reported faster product launches and better customer experiences which also reduced their tech development costs.
Digital transformation has not only transcended the businesses but also the normal lives of people. Everything is digitalized either it’s the home appliances which we use, or smart Alexa for playing and changing songs, smart phones suggesting you the best need, smart watches to make you fit and reminding you to drink water or walk steps or talking to virtual assistant to solve the queries.
Even cash payments are the gone days after the arrival of payment wallets on mobile to pay directly from the bank without carrying any single amount in the pocket.
The software companies & businesses understood the demand with the time and introduced digital AI technologies in the daily life products which we use to advance the digitalization & therefore we are highly dependent upon these advancements now in the trending functioning world.
After the advent of unexpected pandemic, these digital & internet technologies are keeping this unstable world running now. Business who have already adapted the digital tools didn’t face any problem and running smoothly despite being impacted with covid & global lockdowns, they just shifted their working infrastructure to remote working to maintain the social distancing & safety precautions by using proper planning & anticipation. This has actually helped them to keep the business going together remotely by digital meetings on zoom, google meet, Msn and their own designed video screening apps to coordinate with the team and employees.
According to Dailymail, presently in this covid outbreak every individual or businesses are dependent on digital services for their essential and non-essential needs for their survival and this has also lead the pressure on the internet globally. Also in addition emarketer stated that, the spread of coronavirus is likely to boost digital media consumption across the board as people spend more time at home and communicate in person less.
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With the increasing cases of COVID, government of many countries has announced extended lockdowns and even companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon has given extended or permanent work from home opportunities to their employees to avoid downgrade in production of the company because of the pandemic.
According to emarketer, expanding demands for remote interactions & pressure on internet globally amidst covid pandemic has highlighted a need for 5G technology for faster speed, near instantaneous communication and increased connection without any disruption to flourish the advance robust digital framework.
With the complete lockdown and no service available physically, people understood the need of digitalization and used services to solve their problems.
According to McKinsey, During this 2020 pandemic, there has been 15% increase in use of digital tools for health support by consumers.
Many businesses are creating strategic and effective ways of leveraging technology during this pandemic by creating online platform for all the needs and demands of the people, from household products to groceries by door-to-door policies, keeping safety precautions in mind. Many of the e-commerce companies like Amazon started selling and proving groceries online in an hour, many health sectors started providing medicines on one call or by ordering via mobile app. The food app like Deliveroo and Ubereats also started selling groceries and household products online and these strategies helped their business to grow stronger.
Time is the key, everything happens only on the right time, no matter how good your strategies and plans are, but if it’s not done with the trend or situation, the business is bound to face challenges
Many of the companies tried following these digital strategies before covid also but people didn’t care that much and many startups went in huge loss.
To conclude, the companies that have learnt the biggest and most important lesson to stay ahead in this digital age. The organizations have accepted that the companies which made investments in these digital tools and platforms faced less problem in comparison to those who were not ready with any business plans for sudden pandemic shock.
