A recent report, ‘Digital, Ready‘ published by Vodafone, has highlighted the link between digital transformation and business confidence in the UK. 79% of business leaders say digital transformation is a strategic priority and are keen to exploit its full potential. Organisations that prioritise digital transformation are also more confident about future growth. 50% of businesses who see digital transformation as a high-priority say they are very confident about their future growth.
The report surveyed over 2,000 business leaders from a range of businesses across the UK, including sole traders, SMEs, large enterprises and the public sector, and highlights some interesting results:
- a fifth have already successfully implemented digital transformation projects
- 53% believe they are making good progress on their digital transformation journey
- 69% believe their organisation won’t survive if they don’t embrace digital transformation
What do businesses want to achieve with Digital Transformation?
The top priorities are:
- to increase productivity (41%)
- to increase efficiency (39%)
- to improve customer experience (32%)
These goals were considered more important than reaching new customers (30%), developing new products and services (25%) and shortening the time to market (20%).
As we’ve discussed in our blog post ‘How does digital transformation work for SMEs?‘, you don’t have to change everything at once. Even if you start small and change things in stages, it can still have a big impact on your success and the growth of your business. Your transformation should be about embracing the right technology to deliver the right results for your business. Digitising and automating the right processes can make you more efficient, resulting in big savings in time and money. More of both can be used to further grow and develop your business.
This is backed up by the Digital, Ready? report which reveals that businesses who have embraced digital transformation are right to be more confident as they are already starting to see the benefits with 30% delivering a better customer experience; 28% have increased customer satisfaction; 24% of business leaders reaching new customers or user segments; and 22% observing higher staff motivation.
What technologies are businesses planning to invest in?
In the next two years, there is set to be considerable investment in digital transformation among UK businesses of all sizes. Over half (57%) are planning to spend more than £100k, while 56% of companies with 5,000+ employees anticipate their investment will exceed £1m.
Despite an ever-growing choice of technologies to invest in, real-time data analytics, Unified Communications, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data are viewed as the most important.
Where should you start with your Digital Transformation?
Decide on your goals and be clear about what you are trying to achieve, followed by doing research, getting some expert advice and working with the right business partners.
We work with companies across the UK to help them with Digital Transformation by delivering technology that simplifies the way they work. We take the time to understand your business and its desires for growth. We look at the challenges holding you back and suggest ways to maximise your productivity.
The following examples show just some of the ways that we have helped businesses to improve a variety of processes.
At Fileturn Construction, we replaced manual data entry from paper files with automated data capture using scanners and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, instantly transforming documents and forms into usable, accessible data ready for export into business applications, saving time and reducing errors.
At Endeavour Insurance Services, we introduced an Expense solution & mobile app to streamline and automate capturing receipts on-the-go, and submitting, reviewing and approving expense claims. Our solution has reduced the time and effort needed for claimants, the finance team and managers to manage expense claims.
At Pets Corner, we reduced the time it takes to process, approve and pay supplier invoices enabling them to take advantage of prompt payment discounts, strengthen supplier relationships, and create an agile Accounts Payable department. We have also introduced a Business Intelligence solution that enables them to monitor sales and performance using real time data via an interactive dashboard.
We migrated Derby Healthcare PLC to a cloud platform in less than a day, with minimal downtime, allowing them to work faster using cutting edge technology.
At Weir Minerals, we automated the process for collating export documentation for products that are shipped overseas, ensuring that goods don’t get held up in customs.
Our solutions allow businesses to grow in a sustainable way, handling increased amounts of administration without employing additional staff. This increases bottom line profit, which can be invested in areas such as sales and marketing, where new business can be won.
How could we help you?
If you are ready to start your Digital transformation journey and need some advice, let’s talk. And if you would like to talk to some our of customers about how we’ve helped them, we can arrange that too. Give us a call today on 01285 810606.
