Why is Tech Transformation Important for Your Business?

These past few years have shown a rapid shift toward newer technologies in the way business is conducted. The pandemic should receive some credit for this, as it forced organizations to rethink their approach to the multiple facets of daily activity. With these changes comes a new focus on the available and emerging technology.

Tech, or digital, transformation can seem a daunting task. Still, businesses must be willing to go all-in and skip the normal practices of testing the waters or integrating newer technologies over time.

You can bet the competition is doing more than just thinking about it. With that revelation, why should tech transformation be important to you and your business? 

What Defines Tech Transformation?

It might seem a stretch to try and clearly define technology transformation. There are many pieces involved and the needs of one organization may differ from another. Still, the approach doesn’t have to be completely ambiguous.

Simply stated, digital transformation involves the integration of the latest technology to improve everything from processes to products. It’s not just about trying to get ahead of the game but also about doing business in a similar fashion that both employees and consumers have adapted their daily lives around.

In a nutshell, it’s about the future. It requires noticing where an organization is today and then asking where they plan to be tomorrow. Just a couple of years ago, this type of roadmap didn’t exist for about 73% of businesses. Today, the pandemic and war have changed the world’s perspective.

Components Involved in Transformation

From conceptualizing to implementation, the digital engineering involved is swiftly being adopted. These technologies are always evolving to reflect the way people have organically come to do business. Change involves both the digital piece and the conceptual approach. A closer look at some of these is in order.

1. AI and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are finding their way into many facets of life. The former is the ability for machines to act more like humans, while the latter is a subset that allows for adaptability.

Organizations are naturally interested in implementing these innovations. These solutions can provide better processing of data, around-the-clock availability, and reductions in human error – to name just a few.

Machines won’t replace humans anytime soon, but they can certainly complement and enhance what your staff is capable of accomplishing on their own. It shouldn’t be seen as optional either, as AI is the future. Those who don’t embrace it will fall behind their competitors.

2. Cloud Computing

The term “cloud” is thrown around broadly these days. That’s probably because its uses are so widespread. Cloud computing has gone from merely being a remote location to store data to a means to run an entire infrastructure independent of location.

Remote offerings include Software-as-a-Service (Saas), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and Platforms-as-a-Service (PaaS). Clouds can be private, public, or a hybrid of the two.

The benefits are mainly around the flexibility provided and the net savings in cost. With someone else hosting the services needed to run a business, it frees up the need to facilitate, staff, upgrade, and migrate the technologies required.

The days of hosting everything in-house are fading away. Solutions such as Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure provide services at prices that are simply hard to beat.  

3. Agile Approach

This isn’t a technology but more of a mindset that compliments the transition to a more advanced way of doing things. Anyone familiar with agile concepts knows that it’s about being flexible and doing what’s right for both the customer and the business.

The agile approach – collaboration, logical division of tasks, continuous improvements, and knowledge expansion – are concepts that benefit technology transformation.

4. Remote Workforce

If any concept emerged victorious from the pandemic it was the benefit of having a remote workforce. During lockdowns, it was crucial that employees could work remotely. The very ability to do business was often at stake.

Solutions such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams played a key role in the continued communications from afar. Newer tech was implemented to allow employees to connect to their tools and customers.

Beyond having the means to work when offices were shut down, businesses learned of other benefits to having a remote force. These include cutting costs and having a larger pool of candidates that went beyond the local boundaries they normally recruited from.

It’s safe to say that remote workforces will continue to grow, at least for jobs that allow it. The technology needed will also need to evolve and be adopted. 

Tech Transitioning Makes Sense

Technology transformation is nothing short of an overhaul of a company’s infrastructure. The complexity of doing so may sound ominous, but really it’s the natural evolution of business going forward. The long-term benefits to efficiency, ability, and growth will outweigh any upfront costs. 

It doesn’t have to be done overnight but should be as quickly as possible to start gaining the benefits immediately. The alternative is doing business as usual, which isn’t exactly a recipe for continued success.

The world is changing and companies both big and small must transition with it. The question of why technical transition is important should be clear. The real question should be when to transition. The answer is, the sooner the better.