what is digital transformation

From Paper to the Cloud: What Is Digital Transformation?

The blistering pace of technology change over the last decade alone creates a lot of opportunities for businesses to solve customer pain points. It’s also a golden opportunity to streamline routine business processes with an eye toward cost savings and efficiency.

For businesses that lack a lot of tech-savvy, though, it’s also a stumbling block. Consider that nearly a third of small businesses don’t even have a website. These businesses often recognize the need for integrating tech, yet end up baffled by phrases like digital transformation.

Have you ever asked, “What is digital transformation?” Keep reading and we’ll give you an overview of what it is and how to better prep for tech trends.

What is Digital Transformation?

On the surface, digital transformation may just look like converting paper documents into computer files. While that’s a good start, it’s not true digital transformation. It’s simple digitization.

If you then convert those files so they can go into a searchable database for customers or employees, that comes closer to the mark.

At its core, digital transformation leverages technology to fundamentally alter how you do business, execute processes, or interact with customers. Let’s take the fact that a third of small businesses lack a website as an example. In fact, let’s say you don’t maintain a website for your business.

That means all of your customers must either find you in a phone book or via word-of-mouth. If you launch a website with an e-commerce component, that becomes digital transformation. A digital resource changes how your customers find, interact, and shop with your business.

IT Modernization

One major component of digital transformation is IT modernization. Many small and even medium-sized businesses still operate using outdated technology or outdated tech strategies.

Let’s say you were ahead of the curve and launched a website. Have you updated it recently? Do you host it on a local server?

If you haven’t updated that site recently, you are minimally behind the times in terms of SEO. For example, you probably don’t use the best image optimization strategies, such as:

  • Size reduction
  • Descriptive names
  • Appropriate file types

If you host your site locally, you’re missing out on opportunities in cloud technology. You can host your site in the cloud and run much less risk of the site going down because of some local disaster.

Integrating Technology

Digital transformation means integrating technology into your daily routines. Even if you don’t deploy a lot of tech assets, you likely still maintain digital files for customers and finance. Sure, you can create local copies of that data, but it’s still subject to local disasters like a fire.

Backing up crucial files with cloud storage creates a nearly foolproof failsafe for any files you cannot afford to lose. The Covid pandemic lit a fire under a lot of people in terms of remote work. For some businesses, it was the possible path for staying in business.

Getting a remote work framework up and running takes tech integration with things like project management software, video conferencing software, and virtual private networks. These tools let your employees keep working and access company files safely, despite not occupying your office space.

AI

Artificial intelligence probably won’t prove a first-line concern for many smaller businesses. For medium-sized and large businesses, though, it’s an increasingly necessary component of business-as-usual.

On the customer-facing front, many companies use AI chatbots to field customer service inquiries, find resources and even help people make orders. These chatbots take advantage of natural language processing that lets a chatbot grasp the meaning of human language. This means the chatbot can answer questions, even if you don’t use a specific keyword phrase.

An AI chatbot can streamline customer service processes by eliminating more of the more routine issues and only elevating problems that need a human being. That lets your customer service people focus more on providing good service and less on processing as many calls or emails as possible.

Employee Training

Digital transformation isn’t just a matter of buying a lot of shiny new tech toys. It’s also about creating a business culture that embraces technology and what it offers. That means bringing your employees into the digital age, at least in terms of the technology you want to use.

This translates into employee training centered on upskilling and re-skilling. Upskilling focuses on teaching employees how to adapt their current skills for some kind of technological advancement.

For example, that might mean getting your in-house bookkeeper trained on Quickbooks. If you have an IT person, you may pay for them to get AWS training or certification before you move processes into the cloud.

Re-skilling for digital transformation focuses on training employees for new, tech-based roles.

Let’s say you employ a young woman for a low-skill role, but everyone recognizes her natural intelligence. You might get her training in back-end programming, so she can manage databases that support new web functions. If you already have a database guru, you might get her training in front-end development, so she can develop and support a custom website.

This training also helps prepare your employees to recognize and stay ahead of new digital trends.

Upgrading Customer Processes

The online customer buying process is a notorious failure point for businesses. In some industries, cart abandonment rates exceed 80%. The reasons behind cart abandonment can vary, but process complexity plays a key role.

For example, make shipping costs obscure until the final moments of checkout and you’ll see high abandonment. Upgrading customer-centered processes to address pain points can boost your bottom line.

Leveraging Digital Transformation

Now you have an answer to the question of what is digital transformation. So, how do you leverage digital transformation with your business?

Honesty is your first step. You need a clear view of what technology you have, don’t have, and need.

Create a digital transformation framework that focuses on achievable goals. If your tech infrastructure is non-existent, focus on the low-hanging fruit. Get a website up and running and launch cloud backups.

Then, move on to the more complex tasks.

Need file conversion help for your digital transformation? Check out our blog for helpful file conversion tips.