“We’ve been helping companies with Digital Transformation for the past 20 years” he said as we sat in his office, adopting that grin that only people like Martin Olsen, Owner of eOne Integrated Business Solutions can adopt and not get slapped.

Which of course got me thinking, as Martin so often does.

There has been a lot of to do about the phrase “digital transformation” lately.  But what is it, and where does it come from?

I did a little research, and Wikipedia reckons that what I grew up knowing as the Information Age has been relabeled as the Digital Age (among other names).  Wikipedia went on to tell me that the information age started with the Digital Revolution – the sequel to the Industrial Revolution.  It turns out that the Digital Revolution is estimated to have started somewhere between the late 1950’s and the early 1970’s.

So Martin is wrong.  We haven’t been selling Digital Transformation for 20 years.  It’s been as much as 60 years!

Why all the fuss?

In my opinion, there are two key aspects to the modern definition of ‘digital transformation’.

The first is using technology to automate various processes, especially those not adding real value to your business. By automating routine processes, you can spend your time and resources on areas that will help you grow your business, as opposed to wasting them on non-value add processes.

The second aspect is identifying some of the data points available to you that you may never have looked at before (or were likely not available before), and then incorporating them into your existing processes. By combining various data points and using them to empower business intelligence, you’ll be in a better position to make strategic decisions about the future of your business.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how digital transformation has benefitted some of our clients:

Streamlined processes

A large multinational customer of ours had a very complex and time-consuming manual process for issuing customer refunds.  Under their existing process, customers could wait weeks to receive a refund.  By applying a couple of automation tools and removing all of the manual steps, refund requests are now being processed within just a few days. This results in less stress for personnel and happier customers who are much more likely to deal with this company again.

Outstanding BI

A fishery customer of ours receives 2 key pieces of data every day:

• They receive a listing of where all of the boats in their area a currently fishing.  This includes not only their own fleet, but also vessels that this fishery does not own.
• At the end of each day, the captains from each of their own vessels provides an update on what was caught that day.

By combining this data and pushing it into Power BI, the fishery can show on a map what vessels are fishing and make an educated guess as to what they’ve caught.

If the company is ever short of a particular product to supply to a customer, they know which vessels on the water are most likely to have what they need.  They can then approach those vessels and purchase product directly from them.

Though it might be new as a marketing term, digital transformation continues to change the way we do business today.  The more information you have and the more expertly and efficiently it is applied, the better equipped you will be to remain competitive – and grow – in your industry.

For information about how digital transformation can benefit your business, download our whitepaper.

 

Contact us at 844-BRIWARE or rod@briwaresolutions.com.

By Briware Solutions, www.briwaresolutions.com

Follow me on Twitter: @Briware_Rod