CEO Digest | Strategic Insights for CEOs | NSI

How Digital Transformation Improves Operations?

Written by Tom McDonald | Aug 24, 2021 1:15:19 PM

Ensuring that day-to-day operations run smoothly can be hard, especially within small firms where resources are limited. This is why new technology is important, because they offer progressive firms an opportunity to accomplish more with less.

But what exactly does “transformation” mean in terms of business impact?

That’s what this blog is about. In this blog we will explain what benefits a company can expect from a truly transformative experience with new technology.

 

Improve Decision-Making 

To achieve business outcomes, employees need access to concrete and up-to-date data. Having access to the latest data enables them to identify problems and come up with immediate solutions. Organizations should therefore integrate data processes across the department to make data easily accessible. 

Companies can do this using Microsoft’s Power BI. It lets them improve data visibility by offering a robust analytics platform that visualizes and delivers insights. Power BI eliminates the need of having multiple solutions by integrating them together. Resources like Google Analytics, Adobe, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics can be embedded within Power BI to create a single-point data analytics platform.

Increased data visibility will help cross-department collaboration at the organization leading to successful business operations. 

 

Improve Collaboration with the Cloud

SaaS and cloud offerings have the potential to increase the efficiency of any organization.. For example, a construction firm that uses heavy files from AutoCAD may be burdened by using on-premise servers to download. But by using the cloud, they can increase load times which increases work speed and reduces the desire to break computers! Talk about increased productivity! 

The cloud can also improve collaboration across teams. Under legacy tools, files were emailed back and forth which took time to not only send but to really be on the same page. Whereas now, with applications like Microsoft’s Teams and Slack,  sharing and communicating about designs is streamlined and   

When migrating to the cloud, there might be initial challenges in terms of cost and complexity, but the long-term benefits far outweigh them. Business can reduce their physical infrastructure costs by using the services of managed IT providers. 

 

Automation Reduces Time Spent on Low-Value Activities

Automating recurring IT processes goes a long way in improving operational efficiency. According to a survey by McKinsey 31% of businesses have fully automated at least 1 function. Automation gives business owners the option to scale up rapidly and eliminate human errors. 

Many business owners think automation is expensive and complex, and shy away from automation. This hampers the growth prospects of the business. On the contrary, automation tends to reduce costs and improve productivity in the long run. The only need is to identify the correct IT automation practices relevant to the business that can contribute to success. 

Companies on Microsoft platforms can use Power Automate to automate daily repetitive tasks. They can use the screen recording and the simple drag-and-drop feature of the tool to automate workflows without having to enter a single line of code.  



Summing It Up

Transformative IT projects are essential when trying to improve business operations through IT, however, achieving this is easier said than done. Businesses need to rethink the way IT projects are handled in the first place in order to start achieving positive results consistently. Follow the steps mentioned above when planning and implementing IT projects to start improving operations.