3 Ways Digital Transformation Can Add Value in 2022 & Beyond

Digital transformation was a known concept pre-pandemic, but we’ve seen it ramp up significantly in the past two years. A huge 97% of businesses said they sped up their digital transformation efforts at the beginning of the pandemic.

As the UK edges towards business as usual, digital transformation should still be a priority. It’s not a one-time project – businesses need to continually adapt and improve to remain competitive, and digital transformation is key to this.

Here, we explore three ways businesses can continue to benefit from digital transformation to create value for employees and customers.

Give your employees valuable time back

SnapLogic reported in 2017 that 90% of workers were burdened by manual, repetitive work that dramatically impacted their productivity, but what a difference a few years makes. A 2021 survey from the same company found that employees have benefitted from AI and want to see it implemented more in the workplace because it hugely increases their productivity.

Gone are the days when AI was seen as a threat to the human workforce. Instead, we’re recognising the power it gives us by automating repetitive, time-consuming work. 81% of workers say AI improves their output, with 68% calling on their employers to invest more into it.

The biggest area AI supports employees is in data analysis and storage, with employees benefitting from tools that bring disparate sources of data together and highlight trends and insights. Expand this by implementing tools that can automate other laborious tasks for your employees, such as approval processes or data entry.

Enhance your customer experience

Customers expect digital interactions. Businesses that rely on traditional methods of contact risk alienating the digital-savvy consumer and losing out to the competition. While it’s important to offer long-established service channels such as the telephone, customers expect support online and out of hours.

Implementing AI tools like chatbots allows you to offer customers support when you’re not around – the tool can guide them through common queries, enabling them to self-serve without speaking to a human. This can free up your customer service advisors’ time too, allowing them to focus on helping customers who need that human support.

It’s important, however, when executing tools like this to ensure they’re a value-add to your customer service and not a replacement. Not being able to reach a human at all is the biggest frustration for UK customers, so make sure chatbots aren’t your only option.

Use data to drive decision-making

As we can see from the SnapLogic survey, digital transformation and AI are revolutionising the way our businesses interact with data. New tools can organise, house, analyse and visualise data at the touch of a button. By reviewing our strengths and weaknesses in handy graphs and headline stats, we can make better business decisions.

Why not take this to the next level by displaying this data prominently throughout your office? Highlighting your business’ key performance metrics in your workplace using digital signage screens can give your employees insight into business priorities and performance.

Displaying company performance throughout your business gives your employees visibility of what’s important right now, and it can help them understand how their work contributes to wider business goals and performance. Seeing KPIs improve right in front of their eyes, in real time, can make them feel valued and motivated. We know motivation is critical to employee and business performance, but shockingly, only 8% of UK workers report feeling motivated in 2022.

Digital transformation was adopted quickly and widely during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses had to adapt to new ways of working. But now, with the UK on the long road to post-COVID recovery, it’s still just as important. Digitalisation can help to improve your employee productivity, motivation and performance, and can even enhance your customer experiences. In 2022, businesses need to continue to digitally transform.