You would be hard-pressed to have missed hearing the words ‘digital transformation’ circulate in recent years. It has sat high on the priority lists of business leaders as hybrid work has pushed many of us further onto digital platforms.
I have previously written about digital transformation basics and why you should put it on your radar. After people ask me what digital transformation is, they often follow it up with, ‘How do we start our journey?’
There are a few digital transformation tools that I recommend starting with:
Consolidate your communication platforms
I recommend beginning your digital transformation by consolidating your internal communication platforms. As hybrid work models become commonplace, digital communication has become the foundation of collaboration. Yet, too many people cite application switching as a key cause of fatigue in remote workers and a significant time-waster at an organisational level. If you have ever spent your day switching between Slack, Zoom, and Outlook, you will know what I am talking about.
Consolidating your communication platforms is about using as few applications as possible. Such an approach may seem counterintuitive, but you should find one platform that enables people to send instant messages, make video and voice calls and share documents in one place.
At Wyntec, we use Microsoft Teams due to the application’s numerous capabilities and its integrations with the rest of the Microsoft 365 suite. When you bring communications into one place, you mitigate time wasted on application switching, improve employee morale and increase overall productivity. It also means that essential organisational information is accessible and easy to locate, rather than scattered on various applications.
Enhance your project management capabilities
Project management tools drive processes across your organisation, but you can also leverage them to plan and track the progress of your digital transformation.
There are a few ways to enhance project management throughout your digital transformation journey. Automation is one method you can leverage for automating repeated tasks and improving efficiencies as people no longer need to enter data manually.
Modern project management tools also serve as hubs for sharing relevant documents and sending messages. Rather than sending someone a task with document attachments via email, you can assign a task to someone with the documents and details needed for it to be added automatically to their task list. These tools also provide overviews of where projects are at so that leaders and managers can monitor progress. No longer will individuals rely on personal, paper-based to-do lists that provide no visibility over the organisation.
To expand on my earlier point about consolidating communication, Microsoft 365 also offers robust project management capabilities that allow you to share tasks and documents within Microsoft Teams.
Migrate part or all of your infrastructure to the cloud
Cloud adoption has increased significantly in recent years and will continue growing, with cloud spending predicted to take up 45% of IT spending by 2026.
Cloud infrastructure delivers many benefits such as flexibility, scalability and cost efficiencies. Of course, you should keep a few things in mind before moving to the cloud. I recommend assessing which workloads best suit the cloud and which you prefer to keep on-premises. Security is also a critical consideration. Public cloud companies offer some cyber security measures and when you add your own protections, this makes for stronger protection and minimises your risk of a breach.
The cloud is not simply a place for storing assets and documents; it also has capabilities to host processes such as voice calling. Desk phones have remained key to many businesses for a long time, but hybrid work means we need new communication methods. Landlines are becoming old school, and the cloud hosts calling alternatives such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) which processes calls through the cloud rather than through cables.
Upgrade the platforms your customers use
Customer platforms provide you with capabilities such as collecting customer feedback and data, creating FAQs, and collating support tickets and other customer communications. When your customer-facing platforms are too difficult to use, people can become frustrated with your business, and you may lose current or potential customers.
It is time to take a fresh look at your customer service tools. I recommend assessing whether your current platforms fit their purpose in the digital world. If they do not, then it is time for an upgrade.
When implementing your digital transformation project, you should consider reviewing the internal systems (such as your CRM) that your team leverage when serving customers. Upgrading these platforms puts you in a good position to serve your customers and ease your team’s struggles battling legacy systems.
Leverage analytics to monitor your digital transformation
Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. And like any journey, there are well-marked milestones along the way. As a leader, it is important to leverage analytics to monitor your team’s progress and ensure you are on track to reach your digital transformation goals.
There are a few key metrics you should focus on when monitoring your digital transformation progress:
- Track the number of digital touchpoints to determine how well your team integrates digital tools and technologies into their workflows.
- Measure the percentage of customers or clients using self-service channels such as chatbots or online portals.
- Track the number of people leveraging mobile devices to access work applications and data and monitor the health of these devices to ensure you have the right hardware for your needs.
Tracking these key metrics ensures you are on track to reach your digital transformation goals.
Start your digital transformation with Wyntec
Wyntec enables business transformation by combining our knowledge of your sector and business with our technical expertise. Our goal is to create solutions that increase your ability to grow and sustain profits. Visit our Modern Workplace Transformation page for more on our capabilities and offerings.
