To stay competitive and relevant in this fast-paced world, many companies have enacted digital transformation strategies – the process by which organisations move processes from the physical to the digital world. Now (more than ever) modern organisations must adapt to the needs of their workforce.
Workforces need to be skilled in the best practices of the digital age. Moving offline processes to online applications will enable a business to stay up to date. A Digital business is as much as 5 times faster than a traditional business. With that, comes more demands from customers wanting more, wanting it faster, and wanting it better than before.
What Is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the process of integrating digital technology into all areas of a business. This creates a new way of operating, modifying the existing business practices, customer experiences, and organisational culture. Market expectations are considerably changed and adapted to the new digital age. Businesses have had to reimagine traditional methods to meet these requirements. Technology is seen as a necessity for business growth. It is a vital cog in operations to help reinvent a business model and scale to larger operations, enabling businesses to access new markets and consumers.
Digital transformation helps to reduce costs, improve productivity, and add new value to consumers and shareholders. This requires entrusting people to develop new ways of problem-solving. Changing the overall experience and culture of an organisation’s employees and partners.
Benefits
According to a survey of business leaders across 15 countries, carried out by Fujitsu, the top three outcomes of digital transformation were:
- Increased Revenue
- Improved Customer Relationships
- More Competitive Products
The same study found that companies that have embraced digital transformation are 26% more profitable than their competitors. These companies also enjoy a 12% higher market valuation. This shows that digital transformation has an impact on business growth.
Some more benefits:
Improved Reach
Company processes and operations enable the business to connect with its target audience. Enabling a business to satisfy customer needs. It puts the product or service at your potential customer’s fingertips at any time and anywhere.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
The rise of mobile and technological advancements means customer expectations change. Customers look for ease of use and a quicker reaction time. If a business has an outdated approach. Customers are most likely to move on to a competitor who is more technically advanced.
Reduction in Time
Digital transformation allows a faster reaction time. This is due to the use of modern tools that enable the flows of data to gain insights immediately. More accessibility to data in a shorter amount of time prepares the business to react quickly to market changes.
Improved Efficiency
Less manual data entry. Legacy systems don’t communicate as well with other systems and can create delays. Automated workflows help to improve current processes and reduce friction in the business.
Environmentally Friendly
Moving away from traditional paper-based systems into a digital platform enables a significant reduction in waste. Creating a more sustainable approach to business processes.
Why Is It Important?
A centralised approach allows the workforce to remain productive. An engaged workforce will feel connected to the process instead of feeling overwhelmed. The technology should be placed hand in hand with training in the skills needed to use it. Embracing change in company culture is important for a business to succeed.
The concern is that these paper-based businesses have already fallen behind. Particularly in the current climate in which many have had to adapt to working from home and to a new way of life. These outdated processes are not sustainable for the modern world. Not just in health and safety, but right across the whole business.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is never too late for digital transformation. Businesses must be adaptable and flexible to keep up to date in the fast-paced modern world that we live in today. Around 89% of medium and large businesses worldwide are currently undergoing a digital transformation, 34% of those already returning benefits.
It is important for EHS businesses to get on board with digital transformation. Due to the opportunity offered to transform EHS management, and how it delivers value to the business. The digitalisation for EHS management is helping organisations make processes more automated and intelligent. Integrating with core business operations across extended supply chains. It is the businesses that invest and implement digital transformation in the modern-day that will thrive.