There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated the pace of digital transformation. Initiatives for leveraging technologies to institute change are in full flow. There is one question that does loom large concerning which digital transformation software solutions a company should choose to support its efforts at transformation.
There isn’t any single right answer here, of course, much as there’s no single definition of digital transformation. Essentially, though, digital transformation is about making an organized, company-wide effort to harness digital assets in the interests of achieving strategic business objectives.
Research studies clearly show that many current digital transformation initiatives are focused on improving the user experience (UX) for employees and customers. Other initiatives are more operational in nature. Empowered by new technologies, businesses are taking advantage of real-time data for improving operational performance and introducing new products, notes George Westerman, principal research scientist for workforce learning in MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab.
Digital transformation technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented reality (AR), IoT, automation, mobile devices, sensors, cloud-based management, and collaborative platforms to increase worker productivity.
What’s The Role of Software In The Digital Transformation Journey?
What roles should software have in these plans for digital change? “It’s important for [a business] to acknowledge what its strategic goals are and implement software that is going to help it reach those ambitions and achieve tangible results,” sums up one industry thought leadership article on the subject.
Every use case scenario is different, however. More specifically, here are five characteristics of software that can be particularly adept at supporting digital transformation strategy.
1. Software for employees should make work easier
In initiatives directed at improving the UX for employees, workers should be able to recognize real benefits from using the software. For example, an employee might see productivity gains from advantages such as better process flows, less time spent on routine administrative tasks, or simplified information access.
For employee software to fully succeed, though, workers must also like using it, a description that hasn’t always been applicable to technology used at work. To cite one example, in a recent survey by front office analyst firm Beagle Research, employees in sales, marketing, and service complained about routinely needing to keep as many as eight windows open at a time to capture and source the data required to do their jobs.
When asked to compare “the onerousness of using their software with other less-than-pleasant activities such as waiting in line at the DMV, jury duty, arguing with their significant others, or even cleaning the bathroom,” an aggregate of 66 percent preferred doing any of those activities to working with their front office software, according to Denis Pombriant, at Beagle Research.
Managing Change for Digital Workplace Transformations
Discover how Yorktel can help your organization build a smarter and more collaborative workplace.
2. Software for customers should positively set you apart
Software used with customers when on a digital transformation journey should make your company stand out in a positive way, whether through ease of use, interactivity, or innovative but useful features.
On the consumer side, there’s a continued emphasis on digital transformation initiatives toward leveraging information collected through engagements with customers to produce personalized recommendations and offers.
As engaging as your software might be, however, effective cybersecurity and privacy controls are absolute musts. Security breaches can erode trust and cast your business in a negative light.
3. Business software should be easily upgradable
Shiny bells and whistles can capture momentary attention but aren’t enough to justify the long-term organizational investment. Digital transformation tools should include “sustainable software that is going to withstand time [and] inevitable digital advances and deliver the requirements of the new normal,” according to TechNative.
When companies are able to keep software up to date and regularly enhance their tools, “employees can remain productive and maintain a high level of communication with colleagues.”
4. Software solutions must play well together
With digital transformation, software siloing due to incompatibilities should become a thing of the past. “Simply purchasing new software isn’t going to make a difference if those tools don’t integrate and work well with one another,” observed Pombriant.
“Forming a cohesive strategy for systems integration and data management is critical for creating compelling customer and employee experiences,” according to the analyst.
5. Software should enable information sharing throughout the organization
To support company-wide digital transformation, software should run in environments that improve employee communications, build a strong corporate culture, and allow for centralized collection and storage of information.
In that way, departments such as human resources, sales, marketing, and IT can work together more smoothly as a collaborative team.
Choosing Software to Support Your Digital Transformation Strategy
When you have your strategic objectives in mind, you might find it difficult to choose the right digital transformation software out of innumerable products which seem like they could possibly fit the bill.
It can be very useful to work with a provider that helps to curate software for its business customers. For example, as an important part of its services, Yorktel resells software solutions from dozens of different vendors, vetting the solutions on the basis of solid functionality and forward-thinking features as well as traits like interoperability, sustainability, and upgradability. Yorktel offers end-to-end solutions across six different categories.
Communication & Collaboration
Communication and Collaboration solutions are targeted at end-to-end digital transformation for the modern workplace. Offerings include software for video and audio communications, email, instant messaging, scheduling, whiteboarding, content sharing and annotation, contact centers, AI-enabled agents and automation, language translation, analytics, and much more.
Now that employees are constrained less and less by the restrictions of a physical office, these tools need to be adaptable to communications with remote, field, and international employees.
Office Productivity
Our Office Productivity solutions include office, ERP/CRM, and database software that helps digital office workers improve productivity.
Modern office suites help employees to meet digital transformation initiatives by managing data, executing important business functions, and organizing activities across the whole organization.
ERP/CRM systems help to automate tasks, analyze and address customer needs, shorten sales cycles, and boost employee retention.
AV, Multimedia & Design
Drawing from Yorktel’s decades of experience with AV and multimedia technology, Yorktel’s AV, Multimedia & Design solutions provide the software you need for streaming events, media recording and playback, screen capture, digital photography, still and video editing, animation creation, CAD, 3D drawing and rendering, digital signage, and more.
IT Utilities & Security
Yorktel’s security solutions protect identities, data, networks, and physical assets. We also offer tools for automating asset management, file compression, scanning, printing, and optical character recognition (OCR), offloading these routine tasks from your employees.
NetOps
What goes on beneath the covers is critical to digital transformation, too. You can transform your IT services and processes with our innovative but sustainable software solutions for data center automation, data storage backup and management, server and application monitoring, network performance monitoring, network configuration management, service management, and management of the endpoint devices your employees use in the office and in remote settings.
Specialized & Other
Yorktel provides specialized software ranging from solutions for software development, modeling and simulation, mapping, and data warehousing. What’s more, if you have software needs in other vertical or horizontal areas, talk to Yorktel so we can help you to locate and integrate specific solutions.
Why You Need A Digital Transformation Consulting Partner
If your company is undergoing digital transformation, you need a partner that extends way past just helping you to choose software. Beyond arranging software licensing, subscriptions, and renewals, Yorktel also offers a wide range of professional services, including installation, commissioning, training, programming, and integration. Yorktel can also help you to strategize around digital transformation and integrate new digital assets within your existing systems.
Yorktel’s Enterprise IT Consulting Services can provide you with as much guidance as you need to fulfill your digital transformation vision, bringing together software solutions and consulting with Yorktel’s Managed Services. To find out more, contact us.