Executive Summary
- “Digital transformation” is much more than just a buzzword: it’s a new way to look at your business in the context of the modern way of working with a focus on digital.
- As more businesses embrace digital transformation and start to adapt to a digital-first world, the question naturally arises: how will all of this technology be supported and sustained as companies grow?
- In this article, we’ll explain what digital transformation really is and how businesses can ensure their IT support systems are robust enough to support this business evolution.
Introduction
What do you think of when you hear the term “digital transformation”?
You could easily argue that the world has been going through a digital transformation since the turn of the century. Even just in the UK, in the last 25 years, we’ve seen a switch to digital television, radio, a move to ultrafast broadband, and the introduction of social media, smartphones, and all of the apps and services which followed.
Put that way, it’s easy to see why digital transformation might be such a big deal.
But what does this type of transformation really mean for businesses? Is this something you can control or monitor? And how can you support your business while moving towards digital solutions?
Let’s tackle all of these questions head-on.
What is digital transformation?
Broadly speaking, digital transformation refers to the shifting of business processes to digital solutions, or creating new solutions through digital technologies.
One of the earliest examples of digital transformation took places decades ago, when businesses moved from word processors and fax machines to desktop computers and email. It wasn’t long before all companies followed this same format, creating a paradigm shift around the way we got work done.
Since that time, and especially since the late 2000s with the introduction of smartphones, apps, and the advent of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, digital transformation has slowed but remained constant across most sectors. That said, there will naturally be some industries, especially in the trades and more labour-focused areas, where digital technology won’t be as immediately necessary versus those traditionally ‘white collar’ businesses.
Despite the slowing of digital transformation, a big catalyst for adoption of digital solutions was actually the global pandemic. According to an EIB Investment Report 2021/22, 55% of European businesses said that the pandemic accelerated – through necessity – their use of digital technologies.
Examples of digital transformation in action
Digital transformation has been such a gradual process for most businesses that it’s not that easy to pin down precise examples of it in action.
But don’t worry – we’ve done it for you. Here are a few good examples of digital transformation in the workplace, highlighting how far the business world has come in just a couple of decades:
- Printed materials > Digital materials. Consider how much paper used to be funnelled into the production of brochures, sales one-sheeters, catalogues, and other printed assets. In the digital age, all of these can be transformed into lightweight digital PDFs or docs (and printed at will).
- Direct mail campaigns > Email campaigns. Just like above, companies used to spend endless resources producing direct printed mailers (which often ended up in the bin). With email campaigns, they could still reach their audience, but with much less waste and cost.
- Adverts / billboards / posters > Digital ads. Another big area of digital transformation has been in advertising. Now, businesses can track prospect activity down to a single click, unlike in the past when much of advertising was just ‘set and forget’. The old ways still exist, of course, but digital channels are the most well-used by a large margin.
How IT support plays a role in digital transformation
The result of digital transformation has been on multiple fronts.
For one thing, businesses have enjoyed a more direct connection with their prospects and customers. They’ve also enjoyed the ability to track and attribute advertising like never before. In addition, digital solutions are faster, simpler, and easier than previous analogue ones.
But none of this comes without some level of upkeep – and that’s where IT support comes in.
For digital transformation to be a success, and for it to continue to be a success for businesses as they grow their suite of digital solutions, they need to ensure they have the right IT infrastructure underpinning everything they do in digital. This means having the right cyber security systems in place – like Endpoint Detection and Response – or being sure their cloud services (for storage or remote cloud versions of apps) are all encrypted using the latest standards to keep customer data safe.
Beyond just the technical side, IT support also comes into play for companies with distributed workforces who are using remote technologies like Microsoft Teams to do their work across large distances. This means they’ll need to implement educational measures to ensure their teams are savvy enough around cyber security to keep the company safe from cyber attack, malware, and other common threats.
Is your company going digital, too?
Since the global pandemic, companies across the UK have been adapting to a new digital-first way of working almost without realising it. Thanks to this ‘digital transformation by stealth’, many of them are struggling to keep up with the IT support requirements – as we’ve seen above.
If you’re looking to simplify your IT support systems, and give your company plenty of room to grow and scale with digital in mind, we can help. The Get Support team of IT experts has decades of experience helping UK businesses thrive through technology.
To learn more about our IT support agreements, you can call the team today for a friendly chat on 01865 594 000. Alternatively, drop your details in the form below and our team will be in touch soon.
