What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation (DX) refers to the implementation of IT solutions and digital technologies in businesses to enhance processes and deliver value to customers. Today, many companies are investing in DX to stay competitive and meet changing market conditions. According to a study by Forbes, 70% of organizations either have a DX strategy in place or are devising one. Additionally, an IDC Spending Guide notes that global spending on DX technologies and services is expected to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023. That being said, it is clear that DX has become an essential part of maintaining one’s business.
First, let’s discuss a few examples of digital transformation. Finance Departments can reduce the amount of manual processes such as invoice tracking, expenses claim auditing, and mapping risk assessment using Machine Learning (ML). Marketing executives can leverage cloud computing to simplify file storage and access to improve team collaboration. Artificial Intelligence-enabled medical endpoints, tele-medicine, and block chain health records are use in the healthcare sector to improve clinical and analytical performance, detect epidemics, or diagnose degenerative brain diseases, etc. Educational institutions like colleges and universities are moving their curriculum online to minimize learning disruption and to remain competitive. Essentially, digital transformation can be seen anywhere from mega industries to e-commerce and online retailers.
Digital transformation has become even more relevant during these uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adaptability is crucial, given that companies must provide flexible options for employees by putting systems in place and maintaining workflows to keep their teams on the same page. Tools like Slack, Trello, Zoom, and Google Hangouts are being used to make check-in, collaboration, and remote work easy. This all plays a vital role in change management, as digital business transformation impacts both industry structures and strategic positioning. With business as usual transforming, let’s have a look at some of the different components of DX and the ways organizations should be using them.
Cybersecurity
In addition to embracing the opportunity to transform business models, enterprises need to be sure to take security factors into account. Companies all around the world have adapted their teams during the pandemic by leveraging technologies to facilitate data and network connectivity, video conferencing, cloud services, and collaboration tools. These all account for a small part of DX because along with providing flexibility, businesses must ensure that they implement their operations securely. Bare minimum considerations include protecting endpoint devices from security threats using full disk encryption, enabling multi-factor authentication, and utilizing VPN technology to provide data access. Administrators must assess and configure tools and technologies that enable remote productivity while safeguarding customer’s data and intellectual property.
Automation
Automation particularly deals with healthcare platforms and algorithms to monitor social contact, notify people before they get sick, and inform professionals and authorities when infections spread. On another note, the demand for automation via robotic and remote-control apps is growing. AR/VR will have a greater influence on remote work and services than we could have ever imagined before COVID-19. This means modernizing outdated tech stacks and delivering modern cloud applications to sustain business continuity, as organizations must scale to meet the demands of remote employees. Leading organizations will accelerate automation efforts during the pandemic and use data to determine the most important areas of investment and potential cost savings.
Business Partnerships
With customer demands constantly changing and increasing, competition within industries is tense. Businesses are depending on one another more than ever before. Working with different distributors, suppliers, and specialized consultants is on the rise. Organizations’ main purpose is to come up with a wide variety of products, solutions, and services to attract the interest of potential customers.
Managing these partnerships involves in-depth document-based communication, a traditionally inefficient process that causes delays and hassle. Today, smart technologies allow companies to redesign this process using eSignature systems, making it more streamlined, transparent, accurate, and timely. This also provides an opportunity for organizations to lessen the gap to mobile technology, allowing users to further boost productivity.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) hosts desktop environments on a remote server and deploys them to users on-demand, giving businesses the ability to easily support remote and mobile employees. A hypervisor splits up servers into VMs that host virtual desktops, which users can access from any location and practically any device. Processing takes place on the host server and a connection broker allows users to connect to their desktop instances. The connection broker functions as an intermediary between the server and the end-user.
When it comes to digital workspace, virtualization improves user productivity by providing secure remote access and a predictable and consistent experience across different devices. Take the example of Thin Clients and Zero Clients that support your VDI environment. These endpoints centralize IT management, enhance data security, improve operational efficiency, reduce power consumption, and guarantee a good ROI in the long run.
Conclusion
Securing remote workspace is the new norm for businesses, and may continue to be so, post COVID-19. It is important to have digital transformation strategies in place to help you improve communication and productivity between people, processes, and technologies.
For further information, please get in touch with our 24/7 online support team. We are always ready to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have regarding remote work, work from home, and digital transformation initiatives.
