Why is Digital Transformation Important for my Business?

One question we’re often asked by prospects is ‘why is digital transformation important for my business?’

The pandemic forced the consumer online, and businesses around the world were forced to adapt accordingly. Now we’re firmly in the new normal, one thing has emerged; just being online is not enough. 

To create the user experience your ideal customer now expects, you need the right processes in place to track data, manage expectations, and make vital changes to your business. Companies need to digitally transform their outdated process, with a simple, easy-to-understand system that creates a cohesive experience from pre- to post-sale for both your customers and team.

To help you understand more about how digital transformation can benefit your business, we’ve put together this handy guide.

So, what is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the process of using technology to modify & simplify your business procedures, transform your company culture, and heighten customer experience.  

For businesses of all shapes and sizes, this typically means moving away from traditional forms of tracking and information, such as spreadsheets and physical documents, to a single source of information.

As Gartner defines it, digital transformation doesn’t just update processes to ‘change a business model’ but ‘provides new revenue and value-producing opportunities’.

But why is digital transformation so important? 

Whether your business is a small, medium or large enterprise, evolution is vital to remaining competitive in every industry. 

Digital transformation allows organizations to adapt to ever-changing industries and improve how they operate, by consistently improving end-user experience, offering improved on-demand training, migrating data to cloud services, leveraging artificial intelligence, and more. 

While easily accessible and accurate data is vital for every business, compliance and technology companies have seen astronomical growth in the last few years, with a completer overhaul in how they work. 

Digital transformation helps you create a user experience based on your ideal customer while creating processes that are designed around your team's needs. With a single source of truth holding all of your valuable information, it’s easier for your team to see what’s working, what’s not, and what change needs to be made both internally and externally to help drive growth.

But, what benefits can it bring to your organisation? Here’s three that can help drive change within your business.

1. Digital transformation adds value to customer interactions

Did you know the #1 reason customers switch products or services is because they feel underappreciated?

Throughout their journey, customers want to know their issues are being addressed, whether it’s through a blog, a webpage, or talking to a member of your team. They want insight into your offering, and how it will address their specific needs.

Putting all information in one, easily accessible place, can help your customer feel appreciated. How? Whether they’ve downloaded an eBook, requested a demo, or spoken to customer services, every member of your team will have a high-level view of the customer’s personal needs, previous conversations and stages of their journey. 

With 70% of customers believing a company should collaborate on their behalf, so they don’t have to repeat information to multiple members of your team, digital transformation and the use of a CRM can help reduce customer frustration.

Understand the importance and power of data and how you can prepare for user adoption in our free guide, 'The 5 Stages of Successful CRM Implementation'.

2. Digital transformation automates time-consuming processes

A survey by Smart Sheet found that workers spend at least a quarter of their time completing manual tasks. Often, these tasks are time-consuming, filled with errors and, most importantly, can be automated, such as:

• Interactions with clients. Through the use of workflows or chatbots, some frequently asked questions and conversations can be automated, reducing the amount of time your team need to have with clients.
• Data input. With a single source of truth, this minimises the amount of time your team need to spend logging information while maximising the accuracy of the data, with no human errors.

For both technology and compliance companies, automating these interactions creates richer data for your business. 

For example, technology companies can benefit from automated interactions with clients. Self-serving chatbots or video asks help your customers access the information they want when they need it. If it’s a more complex question, your team will be able to reply to your customer quicker as they’re not stuck answering the same questions over, and over again.

Similarly, compliance businesses can benefit from automated, bespoke deal boards. These allow you to easily see what business your team are trying to win, where they are in the process, and if they have won or lost the deal. 

3. Digital transformation helps you make better decisions, faster

At its core, digital transformation is about data.

No matter your industry, your new process allows you to easily track what’s working and what’s not for both your customers and team. 

With all of your data in one place, this creates a single source of truth. You’ll easily be able to see how marketing efforts have impacted your business growth, or what web page your customers are most interested in. 

From here, you’ll be able to make smarter changes.

For example, compliance businesses have complete oversight into deals with the deals board, which shows how many you’re winning or losing, and where during the process potential customers declined. From here, you’ll be able to have more insights into why they chose another supplier, helping you to strengthen your business case.

Similarly, for a technology company that automates interactions, your team will have better insight into the volume of questions asked. If they notice a significant amount of emails from customers about a certain topic, you can create a marketing plan answering that question, helping you easily bring in more customers who may be googling that term and close more business.

The first step to digital transformation? Preparation. Learn everything you need to know about our first stage - implementing a CRM.

Why digital transformation is important for scaling businesses

Ultimately, digital transformation makes it easier for businesses to grow.

By implementing these changes, minimise human error and maximise the amount of viable data you have to use. 

With all of your data in one place, this helps businesses of any size to see how they’re growing, where their customers are exiting the user journey, and what they need to change.

Both technology and compliance are two major growing industries in the UK, and to scale your business you’ll need to digitally transform your processes in order to gain and retain customers.

Making processes easier for your team and having all data in one place will help them to create a better experience for your customers. And, as HubSpot has found, 93% of customers are more likely to make repeat purchases with a business that offers excellent customer experience, helping you grow by turning one-time buyers into repeat customers.