With the rise of digital disruption, the world of business is changing. Digital transformation is not new, but it has become a critical component of many organisations’ strategies since the pandemic of 2020.
The need to make fast and effective decisions without negative impact on business required organisations to reconsider their digital transformation strategies. 70% of organisations accelerated their use of digital technologies by 2022, transforming their existing business processes to drive employee productivity, customer engagement, and business resiliency.
As digital technologies continue to evolve, businesses of all sizes are struggling to stay ahead of the curve. To succeed in this increasingly competitive world, your business must be able to capitalise on new opportunities. This requires a strategy that allows you to quickly adapt and respond to changing conditions; one that takes into account your unique business goals and growth.
Digital business acceleration is a critical component of your strategy to ensure your business is more efficient, agile, and responsive in today’s increasingly digital environment.
What is digital business acceleration?
Digital business acceleration is the process of expediting your business’s digital transformation, through the use of digital technologies, whether that is automating processes to improve efficiency or increasing the number of technologies used in your company.
Digital acceleration is a business strategy that guides the company’s future. It shifts the focus from digitising a process to adopting the latest technologies. Instead of an end goal, digital acceleration is continuously striving to gain from emerging technologies and keep an eye on what is in the future.
To stay ahead of the competition, digital acceleration takes advantage of technologies that are currently developing and expanding rapidly. By keeping an eye on what is in the future and using these new insights to improve existing processes, products and services, customer experiences, or operating models, your business can keep up with others who are working hard to innovate their businesses.
Digital technologies can change how businesses operate, from the way you interact with your customers to how you manage information and data. By using digital technologies in a strategic way, business owners can improve customer service, increase productivity, and drive down costs.
How do I use digital technologies in my business?
The process of digital business acceleration is all about using digital technologies to make your business more effective. Several technologies are driving digital acceleration, such as automation, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics.
You can use digital technologies in many ways, including:
- Marketing and sales. Using technology to make customer service easier, increase sales, and improve marketing.
- Operations and logistics. Using technology to improve customer service by automating processes, streamlining the distribution process, and increasing efficiency.
- IT operations. Improving IT operations by making it easier to manage information and data, improving security, and optimising costs.
You can also use digital technologies strategically. Digital technologies are more than just cloud computing, applications, or software; they are about how you use them for your business goals. Digital technologies are a strategic tool for creating a competitive advantage through increasing digital channels for customers to interact with your company as well as creating a working environment that benefits employees.
How to manage digital business acceleration?
Digital business acceleration is a critical component of your digital transformation initiatives and it encompasses three phases: planning, execution, and evaluation.
Your business digital transformation requires each of these phases to ensure its success:
Step 1: Planning
Planning is the first step in the digital business acceleration process. In this phase, you create a plan that outlines what you want to achieve in terms of new capabilities, new markets, new customers or new revenue streams, and how digital technology can be implemented to achieve these goals. This will also inform the last step, creating metrics by which you can identify the success of your digital transformation.
You identify these key objectives by assessing the current state of your organisation and identifying opportunities to improve it by leveraging technology to meet customer needs or operational efficiency. These can include developing a better user experience, enhancing productivity, improving communication channels with customers, or automating processes so that they are faster and more accurate. This might involve solutions such as Microsoft’s Modern Workplace, which enhances employee engagement and productivity to improve efficiency and collaboration, at the same time as streamlining business processes.
Step 2: Execution
Execution is the second phase of digital business acceleration. In this phase, you put your plan into action by implementing the capabilities that you identified in planning. You implement new systems, processes, and applications that allow your organisation to deliver on its mission and strategy. You also create new business processes to support the growth of your organisation.
Your organisation’s success depends on the quality of your systems and processes, as well as the accuracy and completeness of your data. Your success will also be enhanced by the use of new applications that support or improve existing systems.
Step 3: Evaluation
Evaluation is the third phase of digital business acceleration. In this phase, you evaluate whether your plan was successful or not by assessing whether it met your key objectives. Important considerations include how well the key objectives were met, such as increased productivity, what the adoption rate of digital tools was like, customer experience feedback, and impact on business operations and processes. It is also useful to consider whether any unexpected challenges required special attention and how this could be better managed for future projects.
Digital business acceleration is a process that requires careful consideration, planning, implementation, and analysis. Speak to the experts at INTELLIWORX who offer innovative and practical solutions to accelerate your business digital transformation while guaranteeing success.
