The disruptive impact of technology in business is undeniable. In an increasingly modernized economy, it is crucial that business leaders take the necessary measures to digitize their analog workplaces to keep them performing efficiently and effectively.
If you have been considering digital transformation of your business, you’re not alone. According to a recent JDA report, over 78% of supply chain leaders consider digitization to be a key initiative in the success of their business. The pivotal decision to reengineer outdated business processes and switch to digital and mobile platforms offers extensive benefits in four key areas: quality, cost-effectiveness, accuracy, and efficiency.
1. Quality
Your business processes an incredible amount of information each year—why not use that data to improve quality and streamline business processes in real time? A digitizing business can transform its information base from a potential liability to a valued asset that gives it a competitive market advantage simply by capturing big consumer data that may have been overlooked and performing advanced analysis to improve processes or goods. As former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald stated, “With digitization, our goal is to standardize, automate and integrate systems and data so we can create a real-time operating and decision-making environment.”
In a world of demanding consumers, great products and services are no longer enough in and of themselves. Customers expect these same quality goods and services with a similarly excellent user experience. It is becoming increasingly difficult for traditional companies to meet these demands and expectations, causing disruption in the market. New businesses convert consumers with the promise of both excellent goods and a superior user experience, backed by digitization, advanced algorithms and software, and a visible supply chain. Ensure that your business remains competitive by digitizing.
2. Cost-Effectiveness
Digital transformation of your business can save you money. When implemented correctly, not only will consumers enjoy a refined user experience, businesses will also achieve reduced storage, management, and access costs. Take a look at these paper statistics that speak for themselves.
- “The average company spends $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to find a misfiled document, and $220 to reproduce a lost document. Meanwhile, companies lose one out of every 20 documents, and spend 25 hours recreating each lost document.” - Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers)
- “Paper reduces office productivity. Of a total 8 hours wasted per week in paper management, finding documents wastes 1 hour, difficulty sharing documents wastes 1 hour, distribution & storage wastes 1 hour, and archiving and retrieval wastes half an hour. The average employee spends 400 hours per year searching for paper documents.” - Datapro/Gartner Group
These numbers only address the inefficiencies of one facet of analog processes - the paper document. Complete digital transformation can uproot far more of these productivity killers and capital drains, ultimately reducing waste and cost for your business.
3. Accuracy
Get your facts straight. Digital transformation automates information-intensive processes and significantly reduces the potential for human input error. Digital technologies also improve accessibility to information and take advantage of communication and mobile platforms that improve business processes. Digital transformation enables organizations to implement security protocols, automated measures of success, and workflows with audit trails. Additionally, the creation of a single point of truth, in which data elements are stored in exactly one place, ensures that references and updates to data are consistently accurate and up to date.
The growing trend of Internet of Things (IoT) allows physical assets—mobile devices, vehicles, buildings, products—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity to collect and exchange data, creating a more accurate and visible value chain.
What does this mean for you as a business?
- A better understanding of the value chain with more accurate data from top to bottom
- Better knowledge of your consumer and market demand
- Reduction of miscommunication between parties
- Remote access to complete, accurate information on mobile platforms
- More transparent governance arrangements and built-in risk reduction
4. Efficiency
Faster is better, as long as you maintain accuracy, of course. Digital management of workflows increases both productivity and efficiency while maintaining a high level of accuracy. With improved digital technology, employees are freed up from information-intensive data entry that can be auto-populated or synced and are instead redeployed to use discretionary effort on more brain-intensive activities.
Digital technology has also fostered the global business, made possible by enhanced communication through both internal and external systems integration. Faster response times, and openly visible workflows made possible by a robust digital transformation program reduce frustration, promote greater staff flexibility, and simply, get more work done. Your business will become more agile and responsive, which both you and your consumers will appreciate.
