Knowledge is power
We live in an age of information. Our smartphones, wearables, TVs, and other IoT devices collect store a large chunk of information offline or on the cloud. However, it's not the amount of data that's significant to businesses - rather, it's what organizations do with the data. Data is at the heart of every business' operations and if they cannot leverage from it, they lose the competition.
Data warehouses hold years’ worth of data and is considered a core component of business intelligence. Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data gathered when multiple data warehouses are combined. Big data can be used to learn better about the processes, employees, and customers, respond faster to changes (like COVID-19) and make decisions or even predictions that point towards their future behaviors. In order to reap these benefits, your digital transformation should be backed by a strong data strategy.How data can aid the digital transformation process
If you ask any ten people what digital transformation means, you could get ten different answers. But, in the most basic form, digital transformation is when an organization chooses to move its operations and tools from an analog and offline system to a digital one. Digital transformation cannot work without the inclusion of big data. When you manage data well, it helps shine a light into all the crevices of the organization to reveal inadequacies that may exist and this is what makes your digital transformation journey wholesome. This will help create a clear transformation roadmap. Some benefits you get from data leverage in the transformation process include:
Business optimization through Predictive analysis
With machine learning, analytics, and other artificial intelligence tools, you can predict failures and customer’s pain points and counter them before they happen. Predictive analysis helps identify gap areas in internal processes and customer journey, helping you fill them quickly and more efficiently. For example, an electricity supply company using smart meters can collect data on the usage and consumption while also saving thousands of kilowatts.
Further insight into customer behavior
Big data is collected over long periods and can help you predict customer trends and behavior. This helps align the digital transformation journey and can help you address some of their complaints and disputes before they arise. Some modeling tools help predict customer emotions and give your insights to act accordingly.
Better strategy
Most of the large organizations encounter difficulties with aligning the needs of all their different facets when it comes to digitization. With data, you can get insights that will help remove some silos in the organization, making for a better digital transformation experience.
Enhancing the customer experience
Any branding expert will attest to the fact that brands need to connect to their customers emotionally. To gain your customer’s trust, you need to know how they feel. Fortunately, with data, you can understand your customers’ emotions and expectations. As an example, fulfilling orders quicker will save the customer time and shipping costs, which in turn makes the customer happier.
What to consider when planning a digital transformation
What are your goals?
To best utilize data in modernizing your platforms, you need to identify your organization’s end goals first. With your goals in place, it is much easier to break down data to suit your journey. Many organizations make the common mistake of copying the goals of another organization that had a successful digital transformation without fully understanding them. Every organization, no matter how similar to yours it may appear, is unique. To choose your goals, look at your most significant challenges and try to address them. This could be structured as a list of objectives, like;
- To minimize operations cost
- To maximize profits
- To make customers happier
- To make it easier for employees to use the digital channels
What data do you need?
Most of the time, the data that you need can be found right in your organization. Looking at your ERP or CRM will give you useful insights about your employees and customers. Google Analytics and other online tools can help monitor your customers’ behavior on your website. With the right data, you will avoid guesswork and make the digital transformation experience enjoyable across all affected teams.
Maximize the benefits for your organization
Like any vast investment, the efforts you put in analyzing big data should bear fruit. In order to maximize the benefits of digital transformation, you need to:
- Generate reports for upper management to keep them in the loop
- Organize training sessions for your users to empower them
- Use your data to improve the overall customer experience
For big data to work for any project, it has to be incorporated into the culture and lifestyle of the organization. Using data for digital transformation is a lot like losing weight; a diet will help you lose a few pounds, but a change in your lifestyle will make you healthier. But remember, data on its own is useless. You need the best tools and programs that will help you to analyze and make inferences to inform your digital transformation journey. Big data might be complex, and scary, but the secret is to start small and work your way upward.
Simply put, the return on investment in digital transformation is directly proportional to how much you leveraged your data during and after the journey.