Streamlining Operations with Digital Transformation

When discussing digital transformation and operational efficiency, many people fall into the trap of treating them as oppositional or interchangeable forces. In reality, one enables the other.

Let’s explore the relationship between digital transformation and operational efficiency, how this relationship helps businesses, and what resources you should invest in to future-proof your business.

What is digital transformation? 

Digital transformation is a business’s integration of digital technology to create and modify its services, products, and operations to deliver value to customers. This can include any number of digital tools, such as:

• The cloud
• Data analytics
• User experience tools
• Cybersecurity solutions

Digital transformation aims to innovate and improve the experience for both your business and your employees. This goes hand in hand with the greater goal of operational efficiency. Bringing more technology and automation into processes results in less wasted time and labor across the board.

How to achieve operational efficiency through digital transformation

• Perform an honest self-assessment

It’s easy to fall into the trap of one-size-fits-all when it comes to digital transformation. While there are certain aspects, like cloud migration, that will be almost universal, you need to know where your gaps are and how your efficiency can be improved. This is why one of the most important first steps toward digital transformation is reviewing your processes and your tech stack to determine what is holding you back the most.

• Prepare for cloud migration

Cloud migration is one of the most significant shifts a business can undergo to improve overall operational efficiency. The self-assessment will help set the stage, but you will also need to evaluate cloud providers, establish a migration plan, and do intensive testing and troubleshooting when the migration is complete.

• Embrace automation

By implementing automation tools, including artificial intelligence, to handle repetitive tasks, you’re saving time and energy for bigger projects and tasks that need a human touch. This boosts efficiency twofold by streamlining data entry, reports, and other time-consuming tasks while ensuring there are fewer errors.

• Integrate systems

A key step in digital transformation is ensuring all the new systems and technologies you are upgrading or implementing can work together in harmony. System integration can be time-consuming, but freeing your business from siloed operations can be well worth it.

Software solutions to support digital transformation 

As with any new venture, exploring the ways digital transformation can aid your team is not without its challenges. Internal resistance from your team, added cybersecurity risk, compatibility concerns, and managing the training learning curve all pose potential issues. Some baseline options to overcome them include:

• Adding gradual migration to transform different aspects over time.
• Upskilling your teams so they know how to adapt to new processes and tools.
• Implementing policies and standards to ensure different teams are all following the same best practices.
• Staying informed about regulations to avoid any compliance issues.
• Maintaining a flexible project management approach, as your company’s needs may change.

When it comes to embracing your own digital transformation, Yeo & Yeo Technology is here to support you with best-in-class business management software and solutions. Get in touch with us today.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at ConnectWise.