Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all aspects of a business’s operations. In this article we will be having a look at how document software technology fits into this picture. This process fundamentally changes the way in which a business delivers value to its customers, most notably in the e-commerce sector. Analysts overwhelmingly agree that businesses of all sizes must achieve some level of digital transformation to remain competitive, although the specific nature of the transformation can vary greatly.
Technology such as document software plays a vital role in a businesses’ ability to increase its value to its customers by evolving in response to a changing market. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are therefore responsible for leading their companies through a digital transformation in many cases. The benefits of document software in a digitally transformed organization include improved communication and greater automation.
Overview
The effects of digital transformation are difficult to quantify since this process can be very different for each company. However, they generally close the gap between what the business currently delivers and what customers already expect. In addition to the integration of digital technology, a digital transformation typically creates a dramatic change in a company’s culture. Organizations will find that their existing culture is continually challenged during this process, requiring frequent experimentation and a willingness to become comfortable with failure. Digital transformation may result in a company abandoning the long-standing practices it was built on in favor of new ones that are often still being defined. Document software projects are no different with regards to those challenges, although, once the new document technology has been implemented, users quickly start adopting the new document software, as its benefits in optimizing print processes, streamlining the business document processes and simplifying their day-to-day work, become apparent quickly.
Driving Factors
Simple survival is the factor most likely to drive a business to undergo a digital transformation. The expense and risk of this process typically ensures that businesses won’t transform themselves unless they have to. The decreasing longevity of American businesses shows how risky change can be. For example, U.S. corporations typically remained on the S&P 500 index for an average of 61 years in 1958. However, the average stay on that index is currently about two weeks, a trend that is being driven primarily by technology.
Growing evidence supports the idea that digital transformation increases efficiency, thereby increasing profits, and with document software implementations those benefits are quickly noticeable, even with smaller investments in document technology. Fifty-six percent of the CEOs responding to a 2017 Gartner survey indicated that digital changes have already improved profits for their company. However, many customers are still waiting for their suppliers and service providers to adopt digital practices. A 2015 survey by Vanson Bourne shows that 90 percent of IT decision-makers feel legacy systems are preventing them from using the digital technologies that would be required to make their organizations more efficient.
Communication and Document Software
Document software increases customer satisfaction by helping to deliver the digital experience today’s customers expect. It also streamlines communication and information flow at each point in a customer’s journey, allowing traditional businesses to keep up with competitors who were born digital.
Communication becomes much faster when document software drives a company’s digital transformation, including inbound and outbound communications. This software can automate the workflow of document management, thus allowing organizations to pursue new revenue streams without the encumbrance of analog processes. The improvement in workflow due to the elimination of manual efforts also helps organizations discover the intelligence hiding in their data, allowing them to achieve new insights into their business processes.
Compliance with government regulatory requirements is another area where the communication improvements provided by document software technology can benefit organizations. This software allows users to create ISO-friendly documents that are easily searchable and suitable for long-term storage in a digital format. It also protects sensitive data such as personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property (IP).
Channels and Document Software
Digital transformation document software supports both multi-channel and omni-channel communication methods. This benefit is critical for success, since enterprises commonly use both types of communication to engage customers.
Multi-channel communication involves sending data through multiple methods such as chat, email, fax, social media and voice. This approach uses the functionality of each specific channel to interact with customers on that channel. Each channel in multi-channel communication creates its own influence on the customer’s journey and document software plays a key role in streamlining those communication channels.
Omni-channel platforms allow customers to communicate with a company through multiple channels at the same time. This approach provides a consistent customer experience across all communication channels, which generally isn’t the case with multi-channel communication. Customers are increasingly likely to expect a seamless experience from businesses, making omni-channel communication a critical capability for enterprises.
Automation and Document Software
The increased automation provided by document software makes any new process easier to implement, especially the integration of software. The automation of many processes in a transformed organization reduces human error, resulting in an increase in the quality of service to the customer. Furthermore, the increased automation allows organizations to increase their transaction volume without increasing the time needed to process each transaction.
Managed service providers can make recommendations on the best way to implement such automation based on their analysis of an organization’s business process and detect any specific areas where document technology can help them. Another area could be for example, a service provider can offer a virtual engineer that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to notify network administrators of a change in a critical parameter affecting the network’s topology. This capability can dramatically improve the response time in solving a problem since manual discovery and analysis is no longer required.
Automation can also eliminate the need to manually resolve many of the repetitive issues that often occur in an organization’s IT operations. For example, the failure of a single piece of key equipment often triggers multiple alerts in an enterprise’s IT department, requiring engineers to spend time sorting through them to determine the root cause. A digital organization can perform much of this work automatically, resulting in a measurable improvement in IT’s quality of service.
Summary
Digital transformation requires a great expenditure of resources to complete, especially for the established enterprise. Document software can facilitate this process, resulting in a more agile business that provides customers with a more consistent experience.
References:
- https://enterprisersproject.com/what-is-digital-transformation
- https://www.adlibsoftware.com/products-and-services/offerings/digital-transformation.aspx
André Klein
Freelance DocPath Consultant