Those who keep up with the current trends of big businesses will be aware that digital transformation has been one of the biggest trends of the past 5 years.
After the uncertainties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses became unwilling to make big investments in new technologies and solutions. Now, however, with the future of work looking increasingly bound to remote and hybrid practices, the demand for digital transformation appears to be back in full-force. One IT company in London – TechQuarters – spoke with us about digital transformation, and we discussed some of the reasons why it is important and relevant in the present.
What is Digital Transformation
Digital transformation involves many different processes – from rebuilding a business’ IT infrastructure, to migrating all their apps and data to the cloud, and adopting new, digitally-focused processes and workflows.
The purpose of digital transformation is what defines it – and the purpose of it is to fundamentally change how a business functions, and how it delivers value to clients (and creates value for itself). For instance, when TechQuarters digitally transformed their own organisation, the purpose was to make the business IT support London-based companies receive from them more flexible, more proactive, and more effective, thus delivering greater value to the customer.
But this is not the only way that digital transformation can deliver value in a business. Below are 3 other reasons why this trend is relevant…
1. New Ways of Working
What started as a change out of necessity has proven to be a genuinely viable option for many organisations around the world. When COVID-19 hit, businesses closed their doors and employees began working from home. However, many positives have come from remote working; for example, more and more employees are choosing to prioritize their personal wellbeing over their work – which actually has a marked improvement on productivity (a win-win situation for employees and employers).
According to TechQuarters, digital transformation is the best way to facilitate stable, long-term remote and hybrid working scenarios for businesses. With the right technology and practices, it can be orders of magnitude more productive than forcing all employees to attend the office 5-days a week.
2. Stronger Customer Relationships
With the increased digitalization of markets and consumer shopping habits, the average customer is much more savvy when it comes to choosing which brands they give their business to – thanks to the internet, it is very easy to find the best option on the market. Just as cream rises to the top, a modern, digitally-savvy business will rise to the top of the market, by being able to offer the best value to their customers – both prospective and existing.
Digitally transforming opens businesses up to new tools and approaches. For example, a digitally-native business can harness data from search engines, social media, adverts, and their own website, and analyse them to paint more accurate customer portraits then they ever could before – this in turn allows them to tailor their marketing strategies ever more closely to hit the target.
3. Combating Cyberthreats
On the subject of data, it is of the utmost importance that businesses – especially digitally-connected businesses – keep their cybersecurity up-to-scratch. With the diversity, frequency and aggressiveness of modern cyber security breaches, businesses need modern, layered defence solutions.
When we asked TechQuarters about this, they used their own Microsoft 365 infrastructure as an example. They used Microsoft 365 and Azure to digitally transform their infrastructure, and this opened them up to many cutting-edge security solutions – such as SIEM solutions (with Microsoft Sentinel), advanced privacy and compliance solutions (with Microsoft Priva and Purview), and much more. As Microsoft 365 consultancy experts, TechQuarters are confident in recommending these types of solutions to customers. The options that digitally transformed businesses have are much more powerful and diverse – particularly when it comes to cybersecurity, as it is one of the most invested-in fields in the tech industry.