Digital Transformation is a Competitive Strategy

Digital Transformation guest post by Michelle McKenna, New Business Manager, OpenSky

Working as a solution provider in the tech industry – a constantly changing landscape – customer intimacy is absolutely crucial. Enabling and exciting our clients, helping them to stay ahead of their competitors while introducing cost savings and efficiencies through digital transformation, has become part of our DNA. It’s not just about delivering suitable solutions; it’s about adding real business value and helping them to stand out in a crowded space.

Advantages of automation

One of the major challenges for today’s busy professionals is being time poor and I’d go as far as to say that if you asked your staff what their biggest worry is in the workplace, most would say they don’t have enough time to do their jobs effectively.

Having been there myself, furiously scribbling notes before travelling home to update my CRM, process orders, connect overnight (on dial up) and begin again the next day, I’m a passionate advocate of automation. If you’d told me 15 years ago that these processes could be automated, freeing up my time for the real conversation piece, I would have fallen to my knees in gratitude and disbelief.

Roll on a few years and cue a salesperson with a mobile device, updating systems as they go and auto-ordering throughout the conversation. This way of working has the potential to free up 20% admin time per week! By automating these mundane repetitive tasks, we can create more time for focusing on meaningful and impactful work – benefitting not only ourselves but our organisations.

The importance of value – both personal and organisational – helps to drive business progress and unlocks the talent of people to shape the future of the company.

Collaboration; Not Competition

Technology is evolving at a fascinating rate, sweeping us all along as we race towards the future. How many more processes that we do ourselves will become redundant in the future? Quite a lot, but not at the expense of people. Automation, including Robotic Process Automation (RPA), can scare people as there is a fear they will be replaced by robots.

While RPA can work up to four times faster than a human – thus increasing productivity, reducing errors, and boosting profitability – organisations cannot function without people and they will remain the most important element of any business. People will simply have the time they yearn for to do higher-value tasks, elevating the performance of the organisation.

In fact, RPA and other low-code automation technologies, support people and enable them to thrive. A level of fear will always exist around digital transformation approaches, technologies and apps – which any parent will attest to who has tried to figure out TikTok after their 13-year-old downloads the app! – however, the reality is that digital transformation actually serves to empower professionals in their roles.

Results-Driven Digital Transformation

Therefore, the question asked by business leaders and employees really should be “how can these technologies benefit me?”, rather than “will they replace me?”. Working alongside emerging technologies is undoubtedly the best business approach and delivers the best results – such as greater efficiency and superior customer service.

So many organisations have harnessed these technologies already, while others are just beginning that journey – many driven to change by the global pandemic and facing new challenges. How do we keep the workforce engaged? Have we changed our reporting methods? How are customers contacting us and how are we protecting their details? How are we keeping our data and documents safe? Technology solutions such as low-code automation can support businesses during this challenging time, securing business continuity and achieving competitive advantage.

Changes in the workplace brought about by the global pandemic have created challenges, but have also provided a unique opportunity for organisations to investigate the digital changes that can revolutionise their operations and people. As technologies and workplaces continue to evolve, we all have to decide how we are going to evolve to keep delivering value. We can come willingly to the future, embracing technology and its benefits, or we can standstill.