Survive and thrive in the post-pandemic period digital transformation
The ongoing pandemic has brought us one of the primary crises we have ever faced in conditions of health insurance and safety, employment and the overall economy.
That is an unprecedented situation also to win this battle, our leaders in both public and private sectors need to think differently, exceed the original means, and bring about digital transformation in both public and private organisations to survive and thrive in the aftermath of coronavirus.
But what's digital transformation? Digital transformation is about applying technologies to drastically change traditional processes, products and services into data-driven, highly linked solutions that can be monetised through extreme efficiency gains and home based business models.
The pandemic has displayed us a business cannot await the transformation it knows it needs.
In a recently available survey conducted by Forbes among the Fortune 500 companies, 75 % of their chief executive officers mentioned that this crisis will accelerate the pace of technological transformation within their companies and across industries.
We are already seeing an increasing number of organisations buying technologies -- from business intelligence and demand forecast to marketing, customer care, supply chain and back office transformation.
However, there exists a caveat to optimise the profits on return of IT spending by the companies. Many IT departments work reactively.
They are executing random projects with short-term goals instead of proactively steering the strategic make use of technologies within the company.
Given that enterprises are working with more IT initiatives than ever before, such a reactive approach reaches best ineffective and at worst detrimental to growth.
Instead, there must be a thorough digital transformation technique to guide different projects, providing a holistic and long-term vision to the organisation's technological needs.
The transformation theme for the next era will be centered on six key areas of business: (i) understanding customers -- how exactly we design and sell products; (ii) supply chain automation -- how supply chain networks become section of the digital ecosystem; (iii) operational efficiency -- how exactly we improve businesses and leverage new technology options; (iv) modern workforce -- how exactly we re-energise and manage our persons remotely; (v) accelerating digital investments -- how we prioritise and implement digital initiatives; and (vi) business design evolution -- how exactly to leverage digitally modified business.
We have seen that when physical distancing and home quarantine were enforced around the world, companies which were already utilising digital method of running operations or quickly adopted solutions like remote work tools stayed productive amid this pandemic.
Alternatively, companies without technological adoption struggled the most.
We are lucky to be living in the "Industry 4.0" era.
With the integration of tools, re-engineered processes, and emerging technologies such as for example internet of things, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies etc., almost all of the firms across industries can automate as much as 90 % of their workflows.
Short-sighted executives will still search for ways to decrease IT costs believing that it can help them survive.
However, it's the traditional thought process, and our traditional method of running a business has already failed us.
The giant mammoths could not survive the ice age with almost all their might by not adapting to climate change, but those that evolved did.
The evolution for our enterprises in the upcoming days translates to digital transformation and the visionary long-sighted leaders just like the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have previously understood the importance of allocating their limited resources to invest in IT solutions and automation.
The very first step towards attaining that evolution is to get ready an electronic transformation roadmap for the organisation.
So, exactly what is a digital transformation roadmap?
An electronic transformation roadmap is a long-term, detailed group of documents that encompass the business's vision and strategic planning technological transformation.
It will provide a unifying method of implement tools and technologies across the company that will increase efficiency, reduce duplication of work, enhance collaboration, and in turn, will minimise errors and operational costs to a great extent.
Moreover, it will make sure that the business enterprise remains operational through the pandemic and prolonged lockdowns.
A well-designed digital transformation strategy must have some essential elements such as for example alignment with business objectives, mission and vision; defining IT requirements and scope; auditing current functions and infrastructure; defining overall architecture; mapping business processes within the IT architecture; defining objectives and key results; validating budget and identification of the proper resources.
Our company eGeneration with this world-class productivity solutions and deep expertise in emerging technologies is proud to help many leading global and local organisations formulate their digital transformation ways of thrive in the next era.
To ensure success for the reason that digital-first world, we must create a shared transformative vision of digital future, engage employees at scale to help make the vision possible, establish strong digital governance to steer the course, and fuse IT and business to build digital skills and transform technology platforms.
When the Industry 4.0 revolution started, it allowed us to embrace technologies inside our workflows.
Some people took that opportunity but many of us waited.
This pandemic has feature a new reality that won't allow us to hold back any longer.
Companies that will embrace the new normal with digital transformation will opt for the road to prosperity post-pandemic and beyond.
However, the companies that won't integrate technology within their business functions, who are still hostile to technology, will have a very hard time conducting business in near future for the reason that technological transformation over the industries will be massive and mind-boggling.
This is the time to think bravely, plan boldly and act wisely.
