Digital transformation technologies are now becoming the talk of the town as many companies in the market are adopting them to improve agility, efficiency, and competitiveness in the present digital era. By deploying newer digital solutions, companies can leverage growth through better productivity and higher customer satisfaction. Overall, this change can add value to your business and make it more efficient.

This blog will discuss the importance of digital transformation technologies and elaborate on the top 12 digital tools to enable in 2023.

I. What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation refers to the process of integrating technology into the everyday operations of your company. It has the potential to fundamentally change how a business operates and delivers value to customers. Such a step involves changing the very working of the company and digitizing it. The process guarantees increased efficiency, faster delivery of services, and happy customers!

In short, digital transformation not only creates an agile structure but also enhances efficiency and builds a customer-focused organization that quickly adapts to the market scenario and customer behavior.

II. Reasons for Digital Transformation

Companies adopt digital transformation for a variety of reasons. Post-pandemic it has become a crucial component of the industry. As per IT leaders, who attended the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium series, the pandemic has impacted customer behavior largely.

McKinsey has asserted through its data that consumers are more inclined towards online streaming and fitness-related businesses. Similarly, the inclination towards the food industry and a knack for ordering food online with just a few clicks has grown rapidly. The benefits of digital transformation speak volumes about the need for it:

a. Accurate data collection: Digital transformation technologies automate all processes and make data collection more accurate. The use of modern tools like sensors and weighing scales can facilitate quality checks.

b. Safer products: With digital solutions, companies can easily track expiry dates and prioritize hygiene. Constant quality checks also add to product safety, especially after the pandemic.

c. Increased profits: Digitalization also streamlines business processes and makes them more customer-friendly. This also fastens accessing data and improves the identification of pain points.

d. Prioritizing customers: Companies can quickly respond to the dynamic demands of customers and enable services like online ordering of food. The instant aid provided to customers is also a result of digital solutions.

Digital transformation surely has multiple benefits and that is why, many companies are keen on expanding themselves by deploying digital solutions at their end.

III. Effect of COVID-19 on Digital Transformation

To be sure, COVID-19 has had an impact on almost everything and digital transformation is no different. As per Mercer’s Swift, the pandemic has made the need for a skilled workforce a reality, or “the only way work gets done.” She has also highlighted some key areas that have attracted the CIO:

  1. Use of chatbots to enhance customer support
  2. Tools of automation
  3. Removal of systems that are no longer needed.

As per McKinsey, COVID-19 has sped up the adoption of digital transformation technologies for several years. It has also helped companies realize the need to stay competitive in today’s world. In short, the pandemic has impacted digital transformation significantly.

IV. Digital Transformation in the Organization

In this section, let us try and understand what digital transformation in an organization looks like. A successful transformation, including the best digital transformation technologies, must focus on the given three areas:

a. Transforming the Business Process

Under this, companies must change their existing procedures to suit the pre-determined goals of the organization. It also gives companies a competitive advantage and leads to better satisfaction of customers. Through this process, companies can easily manage change and develop themselves.

b. Transforming the Business Model

This section focuses on the business model that your company follows, which is inclusive of the everyday operations of your firm. The transformation of a particular business model is meant to add value to your company and create newer opportunities for yourself. Companies can easily improve their productivity and enhance the quality of outcomes.

c. Transforming the organization and culture

It is important to align the transformation with your organization’s culture. You must get all employees on board and help them understand the importance of this change. Once there is consensus on the requirement for change, you can easily adopt new digital transformation technologies. With improved communication and collaboration, this becomes much easier.

V. Top 12 Digital Transformation Technologies

Digital transformation technologies are the tools or systems deployed by the organization to streamline various business processes and enhance customer experiences. Many companies are often confused about which digital transformation technologies they should invest in to gain maximum benefit. In this section, we have listed 12 sets of digital transformation tools that each company must adopt per the set of requirements.

a. Mobile

Did you know that almost 63% of manufacturing CEOs consider mobile technology to be crucial strategically? It has enhanced connectivity and become an inseparable part of our lives. Mobile technology is quite prominent in the telecom industry and it acts as a game-changer in most cases.

A lot of companies have also empowered their employees to use one of the best digital transformation technologies to manage work at retail stores. With the emergence of the 5G network, there is bound to be an increase in connectivity in automation and robotics, thereby enhancing the need for mobile tools.

b. Cloud

As per The Economist, 78% of the respondents have claimed that cloud technology in the manufacturing industry will become a decisive factor in the future. With the use of cloud-based technology, companies can easily manage, store and access all their data without fearing its loss. The adoption of this technology brings a higher level of flexibility, as well as agility thereby enhancing the overall performance of the company.

c. Internet of Things

The Internet of Things or IoT is one of the major digital transformation technologies. This is evident in the fact that almost 75% of large-scale manufacturers are planning to update to IoT on account of higher awareness. It helps users grasp a better understanding of the business operations and improve as per statistics.

IoT has also enabled companies to achieve pre-determined goals of digital transformation through increased flexibility, agility, and a more innovative work culture.

d. Digital Twins

Digital Twins technology was ranked in the Top 10 Strategic Technology 2019 by Gartner. It also said, “The rise of digital twins coincides with the rise of IoT.” This is one of the finest digital transformation technologies that can practically speak for products, processes and even predict the future course of action.

It provides the ability to foresee the condition of products and visualize operations for improvement. The best part is that it can be amended as per one’s needs, thereby making it more impactful.

e. Robotics

Robotics is the future of digital transformation technologies. As per 451 Research, one out of four manufacturers has deployed robotics to date. Also, as many as 33% will do the same in the next two years. Companies can do repetitive and monotonous tasks through robotic process automation (RPA). This digital tool is not just innovative but also more efficient and faster.

f. AI and Machine Learning

According to Research and Markets, many companies are adopting AI and machine learning (ML), as the market for the former is expected to grow from $1 billion in 2019 to $17 billion in 2025. With the help of AI, analyzing data and business operations becomes easy and better insights lead to higher performance.

Digital transformation technologies like AI and ML help companies develop a vision for themselves and use predictive analytics as well as speech recognition. It brings about a more action-oriented approach for the company.

g. Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is known for its ability to establish streamlined connections between the real and the virtual world. Jim Heppelmann, the President, and CEO of PTO captures the essence of this idea in his statement, “AR is IoT for people.” One of the major digital transformation technologies, AR is about to reach an installed base of about 3.5 billion. Within the next 5 years, its revenue is estimated to reach $85 to 90 billion!

h. Additive Manufacturing

McKinsey has predicted that additive manufacturing is estimated to grow by $250 billion by 2025. This technology, also referred to as 3D printing, enhances the quality of manufactured products, thereby adding value to the same. It improves the productivity of employees, increases customer satisfaction, enables the transfer of knowledge, and facilitates training.

Additive manufacturing also takes advantage of computer-aided design (CAD) to develop designs that can also be personalized as per the demands of the customers.

i. Data

Data is quite important for any company as it has the potential to expand the growth opportunities for them. This part of the company is huge and extensive and includes structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data. Companies can use this information to their advantage for forecasting the future course of action and analyzing the same.

Through digital transformation technologies, companies can cite extensive data and access information related to practically anything. Such tools can also help them create foolproof strategies.

j. Instantaneous Analytics 

The best part about digital transformation technologies is that they enable companies to extract and analyze data instantaneously. It helps them use this to their advantage and access data in real-time. Moreover, companies can witness better performance and faster business operations. The usage of robotic process automation (RPA) reduces the burden of doing repetitive tasks for employees as well.

k. API-based Integrations

API-based integrations link several systems to enable streamlined data transfer between them. Through this integration, companies can organize a central hub through their respective APIs. When a system in the company tries to develop or even amend a service, this digital solution locates the required app.

This is one of the most valuable digital transformation technologies that can synchronize data, enhance productivity and lead to a growth in revenue. It also cuts down on unnecessary costs and comes out as a cost-effective method.

l. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

With RPA, companies can enhance customer satisfaction through the deployment of AI-powered chatbots that are available 24×7. This provides more streamlined business operations, reduces errors, and enables a higher level of system management. This is also another one of the major digital transformation technologies, that can audit and migrate data.

Using extensive data analytics, organizations can access information about practically anything related to the company from anywhere and at any time. This gives rise to better strategies for the future course of action of the company.

VI. Conclusion

In this blog, we have highlighted 12 digital transformation technologies that are rapidly changing the way organizations operate and why they play a crucial role in the overall shaping of the business landscape.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *