Digital transformation describes the strategic use of digital technologies to accelerate business activities, processes, competencies, and models. Many are feeling the pressure to embrace the digital space.

Eighty-seven percent of companies believe digitalization is a priority, yet only 40% of organizations have brought digital initiatives to scale.

And with technology continuing to accelerate, the risk of not investing in digital strategy keeps getting higher. However, many of these companies are striving to maintain their positions. 90% of Fortune 500 enterprises are trying to implement advanced technologies, such as analytics, cloud, AI, machine learning, and IoT.

For digital transformation in companies to be successful, the solutions rolled out and the technologies adopted must be integrated into every area of the organization. These initiatives should challenge everyone to change how they do their jobs and, ultimately, how value is delivered to customers and other stakeholders.

Here are a few ways to drive a successful digital transformation :

Decide the Focus Areas of Technology

It is crucial to determine which processes are the most important to take digital-first. Focusing your initial efforts on areas that need digital transformation first saves time and money. A survey revealed that customer experience, operations, sales, and marketing possess an enormous potential for early payback in digital transformation.

For example, companies intending to transform sales can integrate a sales enablement platform with their existing sales processes and improve their sales outcomes.

Customer Experience Matters

The ultimate goal of digital transformation is not just smoothening operations but also smoothening the customer experience. To meet the demands of the digital age, focus on your customer and their journey. Map out the entire customer journey, and then determine how going digital can make each touchpoint an improved and more efficient experience.

More than 40% of spending on digital transformation comes from customer targeting, engagement, personalization, targeted promotions, and omnichannel experiences.

AI is widely used in enhancing customer experience as companies move digital. Usage of ChatBots to solve queries and prospecting tools to understand customer needs are some of the examples.

Create a Digital roadmap

Most organizations attempt digital transformation without proper planning, which results in financial and operational losses. Planning a digital journey allows you to set tangible goals and envision the steps you need to take to reach a certain level.

What functions would you like to be able to integrate into your business? What processes can you streamline? How soon do you think you think you’ll be able to achieve these things?

Knowing where you want to go will help you to figure out which emerging technologies are most important for you to pay attention to, and having a firm timeline for your progress will help to keep you from becoming complacent.

Innovate and Adapt Consistently

There is a start to digital transformation, but there isn’t an end. It’s a continuous process that needs to adapt to innovation and changing customer behavior. Think often about how digital solutions can improve in-house operations or customer interactions. Make it easy to do business—for both your employees and your customers.

When something new comes along, you’ll want to implement it as soon as possible to make sure that you’re keeping up with your peers. Staying alert to what’s going on with technology will give you the advance notice you need to make this happen. Never take your eyes off the future, and you’ll never be caught by surprise regarding emerging trends.

Sales enablement tools come with features to avoid this exact scenario. By bringing together data from disparate data sources and categorizing them under an intuitive tagging mechanism, sales teams can find relevant news & trends from a single dashboard.

Service Provider Opportunities in Digital transformation:

Service providers can target specific technologies that appear to be the most dominant in digital transformation. Organizations are looking to outsource on particular technologies, and service providers can utilize this opportunity.

The most in-demand technologies for digital transformation include:

• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Cloud systems
• Database management
• Big data and analytics
• Internet of things (IoT)
• Cross-platform App development
• API-based integration
• Robotic process automation (RPA)

With organizations rapidly turning digital, the demand for these technologies accelerates.

Sales teams can use a sales intelligence platform like Draup for sales to track the digital intentions of enterprises and understand their tech stack. This will enable them to approach their prospects with the proper understanding of their needs at the moment. Draup also provides insights on outsourcing footprints and business intentions, enabling sales teams to identify and deliver on the prospect’s needs.