Digital transformation in business: inevitable for growth?

Credibility, vitality and competitiveness are just some of the challenges involved in integrating technological tools as part of a company's digital transformation. These require a profound overhaul of internal organization and processes, in order to adapt them to customer expectations. Find out more about the key stages in a company's successful digital transformation.

What is the digital transformation of companies?

Digital transformation is the process of digitizing a company's entire activity by integrating and using available technologies (CRM, automation marketing, etc.), with a view to maximizing performance. Today, digitization is at the heart of corporate priorities, but its implementation remains a major challenge: it requires far-reaching changes in terms of operations, sales and, above all, human resources. It fundamentally restructures organizational culture, operations and business models. By definition innovative, digital transformation breaks with the past and overturns established processes, as well as the relationship with customers.

It is based on four essential pillars that have a direct impact on the internal organization and its external relations:

• the omnipresence of the Internet: prospects now have a multitude of channels through which to approach a company and its offering. The emergence and multiplication of available tools has led to a strong digitalization of prospect usage, and the company must be able to keep pace with this trend and respond to their new expectations;
• the abolition of spatial and temporal constraints: the development of digital technology has seen the disappearance of the limits of distance and temporality;
• dematerialization: keeping you connected and alert at all times, even when you're on the move. This advance has seen the rise of telecommuting, a trend that has become a right for employees eager for freedom, and more concerned than ever about their quality of life;
• the notion of the Internet of Things: physical objects are now connected to the Internet and able to communicate, creating bridges between the material world and the digital and virtual sphere.

However, digital transformation in business is not just about adopting tools and technologies to improve existing processes; it involves a global change, requiring companies to constantly innovate and question their business model.

The objectives of digital transformation for businesses

Improving, consolidating and harmonizing processes is at the heart of the digital transformation of companies. These structure management and define the flow of activities in line with customer expectations. The use of new technological resources is intended to streamline internal organization and facilitate the work of teams, with the aim of enriching the customer experience and impacting the company's bottom line. A successful digital transformation should include the integration of tools to meet the following objectives:

• Establish operational agility, fluidity and transparency: the use of management tools designed to fluidify processes improves the quality of exchanges between associates to foster collaboration. They also help us to be more responsive, to speed up sales cycles, changes and decision-making;

• Harmonize and optimize the organization: redefining processes boosts team efficiency, facilitates the integration of new recruits and saves time thanks to automation;

• Enhance the customer experience and convey a strong corporate culture: knowledge of your target audience enables you to offer them a better customer experience, which is further enhanced by a well-oiled system of exchanges. High-performance tools boost team responsiveness and increase visibility, so you can serve your customers even better: the company gains legitimacy, which has a positive impact on its brand image.

The digital transformation of companies meets a need for performance and growth, with the aim of expanding, increasing sales, listening more closely to customers and establishing credibility. It implies the creation of a global ecosystem, which challenges the established order and requires a review of corporate strategy.

Enhancing performance

Automating sales processes is one of the cornerstones of business transformation. This involves not only internal reorganization to encourage collaborative working, but also the implementation of high-performance dedicated digital tools, such as CRM. At a time when immediacy is appreciated, the company needs to process a customer's request instantly and therefore automatically. Automation promises considerable opportunities, a fact highlighted by Mckinsey's study, which reveals that the European companies most advanced in terms of digital transformation boast growth rates almost 5 times higher than those who have undertaken no change at all. These figures illustrate the importance of outsourcing time-consuming, repetitive and tedious tasks to machines as far as possible. Accelerating processes with the help of technology frees up valuable staff time and improves competitiveness.

Relieved of a tedious workload with little added value, employees can concentrate on tasks that will bring added value to the company, according to their skills. The company thus capitalizes on its associates, who gain in fulfillment, and can make significant savings on hiring and avoid sudden turnover problems. Automation also offers a higher level of quality: the automated machine approaches infallibility. Finally, the renewal of processes translates into a change and dynamism that boosts team motivation tenfold and brings concrete results for the company.

Building credibility

Regardless of the field of activity under consideration, a company's credibility and attractiveness on the market are measured by its degree of digitalization. An active presence on social networks convinces prospects of its solidity and seriousness; a company must be connected to exist. Even before any consideration of lead acquisition, a brand's visibility serves its image and reputation, and instills a sense of trust in prospects. In the same way, a website will forge a prospect's first impression; it's the first point of contact to discover the company's world. The use of digital tools demonstrates a company's ambition and ability to adapt to maintain its innovative image. This is particularly important in the field of customer relations, with the almost essential use of a CRM. These platforms are designed to collect and store data for analysis, known as Big Data. Exploiting this information provides in-depth knowledge of the customer, particularly in terms of their purchasing path. This makes it easier to offer personalized advice and a tailor-made service, guaranteeing quality service . With increasingly discerning customers, the company can meet their requirements and prove its credibility by offering services that live up to their expectations.

Stand out from the competition

Despite its inevitability, not all companies have yet opted for digital transformation. This can be a major competitive advantage, enabling you to stand out from the crowd and become a benchmark in your market. Using available technologies and tools is certainly a first step; but taking the initiative to create new uses in order to continue to offer a unique, attractive and innovative experience, offers the possibility of attracting more prospects and putting customer relations back at the heart of its concerns. The technologies of the future promise significant growth rates, and respond to the gradual withdrawal of physical reality in favor of the virtual. Humans are connected, objects must be too, and they must be able to interact ever more strongly. Meeting the challenge of digital transformation in business requires rapid implementation, because it's better to test a strategy and fail than let the competition get ahead by delaying the deadline.

Stages in the implementation of digital transformation

Developing a strategy may seem easy, but the operational implementation of a digital transformation is not. You need to be agile in identifying and exploiting growth levers, and regularly challenge yourself in the face of this major undertaking. The exercise calls for a methodical approach, while remaining attentive to new uses and consumer behavior, which will intuitively cast doubt on companies' marketing and commercial strategies.

Assessing needs

An analysis of the resources used is essential to assess the company's level of digitalization, and to develop a strategy based on relevant deployment axes. The challenge of digitalization is not just to acquire new technologies without any real reflection or clearly defined objectives, but to transform systems. What are the problems we face today, and why will this tool help us to do better? If the main objective is to improve the customer experience, a CRM system will enable you to improve your customer relations and increase your responsiveness and productivity. The use of such software also makes it possible to collect and store valuable data on prospects and customers, in order to understand their purchasing path. What's more, harnessing data is a prerequisite for increasing sales and performance; customer relationship management and measurement tools are essential for achieving company objectives.

Implementing a strategy

Digital transformation is not a single, established structural model; it will necessarily vary according to the company's needs and objectives, and continue over the long term. It is based on an innovative vision that combines the use of new tools and process alignment with an agile, tactical approach to achieve better results. The fungibility aspect is also at the heart of the challenges of a digital transformation; the tools put in place must constantly adapt, in order to respond to ever-changing circumstances.

Because while a few tweaks and renovations can improve certain aspects of a company's business, other areas need innovation to achieve results and generate major opportunities. Deploying an omnichannel communications strategy is one of these powerful growth levers for companies. Multiplying the points of contact with consumers helps to offer them a unique, global experience that puts them at the center of it all. Such a strategy marketing attracts more qualified traffic that will more quickly become customers, and quite simply increases the power of its message. Digital signage is a new communication tool that companies can use to adopt this innovative and attractive approach. Whether for customers at the point of sale or in-house, digital signage boosts the effectiveness of communication campaigns tenfold. Thanks to strategically placed screens, companies can broadcast relevant multimedia content remotely and in real time, to arouse the curiosity of their target audience and interact with them.

Securing your digital transformation

To ensure the success of a digital transformation, it's important to focus on talent. Existing employees need to be supported in upgrading their skills, so that they too can adapt and embrace this evolutionary process. Such a transformation also calls for the recruitment of new profiles to support the company's renewal dynamic. Digital transformation radically alters the way a company is organized, and demands openness to new ways of doing things. It calls for a culture of test and learn, a philosophy that encourages employees to test their ideas and collaborate, giving them the opportunity to fail and correct their mistakes. This mentality makes us more responsive and agile, enabling us to constantly adjust our positioning. Companies now need to make decisions more quickly and, above all, more regularly. Flexibility and agility are key to innovation, and to staying ahead of the competition. Adhering to this logic means defining and analyzing relevant KPIs (key performance indicators performance), to measure results and quantify return on investment. This data highlights the most successful approaches, those that need improvement, and those that should be abandoned for lack of benefits. Digital transformation disrupts existing models, requiring a learning process approached with humility and the surpassing of limits through innovation.

Considering the human dimension

To adopt a digital transformation that promises results, it's essential to think about change in terms of customers' needs and expectations. First and foremost, the company must be able to understand its persona, analyze its interactions and measure its behavior, using the means at its disposal to better understand and address it. The customer must therefore be at the heart of the company's concerns and strategy: the customer evolves faster than the company, and dictates the rules to which the company must adapt. Increasingly well-informed, knowledgeable and expert, the customer is proving to be the strongest pillar of the company's strategy. Companies need to be on their level if they are to meet their requirements and win them over.

Digital signage at service for the digital transformation of businesses

The digitalization of companies represents a real challenge, but also offers countless opportunities for development and growth. Digital signage is a channel marketing that many companies use to offer unique experiences to their customers and staff. More than just an innovative communication tool, it creates a strong connection and interaction with its target audience. Cenareo contributes to the effort to digitalize businesses, thanks to its management system adapted to digital signage. To boost sales or improve internal communications, digital signage offers a vast space for expression and the dissemination of ever more impactful content. Extremely easy to use, the Cenareo solution deploys naturally within the company's organization. Your teams can manage your displays in real time, remotely and intuitively.

Looking for powerful tools to implement in your digital transformationstrategy? Opt for Cenareo and its digital signage management software to increase your target audience's engagement tenfold. Agile and flexible, this high-ROI solution enables companies to develop and deliver on-screen campaigns instantly, for a unique experience and tailor-made communication.

{{cta('a9c3190d-785d-48ac-8685-72490cbafbb5')}}