How digital transformation works and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Digital transformation is all about technology and how you implement it into the day to day runnings of your business. It’s thinking of new ways to use current technology, what new technology can be used to your advantage and even as far as creating new business models which utilize new technological routes you haven’t used before. While a lot of changes in business are slow to implement, often decades in the making, digital transformation plans have been accelerated in the past two years due to the irreversible changes in the market, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

How it works

Digital transformation isn’t something that you can just stick in and get started on the same day you decide to begin. It requires careful planning and analysis if you’re going to get anywhere without causing massive disruptions to your business’ daily activities. So, you may be wondering how exactly you go about implementing digital transformation:

• Research your position

What are your current procedures? Your current technology and how it’s used? Could you get more out of your current infrastructure or would you need to switch to new systems in order to achieve your goals? A good source of information on how technology will improve your position is the personnel who would be using it, so seek out their opinion on the matter.

• Analyze
  Once you have your information, you need to compare your current position to potential future ones. What benefits would certain pieces of technology bring? Are the benefits worth the cost of implementation at this point in time? Another factor to consider in depth is consumer wants and needs. In the wake of the lockdowns and restrictions that were implemented across 2020/21, many niche services became commonplace and are now expected for businesses to provide.

• Set out a plan

When you have decided what you want to implement, the next step is to plan how to implement it. What obstacles might there be? Will it be easy for your staff and customers to adapt to the change or would a slow implementation over time be better? Overall your plan should be in depth enough to account for any factors that you can think of that might stand in your way, but flexible enough to account for any unforeseen factors. Remember, no-one can make a plan 100% effective and no plan survives contact with “the enemy” - in this case those who might resist it.

What has changed since the beginning of 2020?

When the pandemic hit, it hit hard. Businesses were forced to make changes to their plans and procedures basically overnight to deal with restrictions and lockdowns, and with the uncertain future of the pandemic due to new strains and waves meant that determining whether these methods were temporary or more permanent was very difficult. Many businesses were sadly unable to adapt and had to either downsize or close their doors.

Due to the sheer timescale that the pandemic operated (and is still operating) on, many of the temporary stopgap measures have become permanent features of business and are even expected in some industries. While brick and mortar stores are still a solid business investment, many industries are shifting their focus towards e-commerce and online means of sale or advertisement. Some examples include:

• Warby Parker’s Try-On app, which allowed consumers to try on glasses virtually without even leaving their sofa. While not strictly pandemic induced, as this app was in development as far back as 2019, it’s still a great example of adapting to virtual means of customer contact that had the added bonus of reducing risk of transmission. Apps like these are here to stay, with consumers having seen the convenience they provide and being unwilling to let it go.

• Salesforce shifted the Sydney section of their World Tour from an in-person event to an online one, citing the risk of COVID transmission. Despite the relatively short notice, the event went ahead smoothly with more and 1.2 million views of the event. It’s impressive that this took place only ten days after the decision to alter the format of the event, with interactive content and on-demand videos accompanying the livestream. In essence, you didn’t have to be there, to be there, and the event was judged enough of a success to repeat for following events to this day.

• Colleges and schools across the globe implemented online learning, some to such a degree that remote options are offered even today. Distance learning courses became available at many top colleges, including the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. Such courses aren’t available for every subject, with notable exceptions such as chemistry, engineering etc which require access to laboratory equipment, but the number of courses being offered online is increasing.

• Hospitals have increased the amount of technology that is used in their daily monitoring, with smart monitors, network computing and even robotics allowing for a safer environment during the pandemic and beyond. AI has also been used in predictive treatment, where patients with multiple conditions who might not necessarily react in a straightforward way as those with singular issues have their best chance for recovery analyzed by an AI platform, with information available to doctors and nurses at the click of a button.

• While certainly an unorthodox example, the former Space-X employees making use of robots to make pizza is an example of reduced human contact in customer interactions in order to curb possible virus transmission. Many businesses in the food industry turned to curbside pickup and contact-free delivery during the pandemic, with robotic delivery being outside the scope of most, though some have considered the use of drones.

Overall the effects of the pandemic are here to stay. Consumers have grown used to the convenience that newly implemented measures provide and aren’t willing to go back to the way things were before. In the post-COVID world, it’s a case of do or die.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes