Digital Transformation is essential to the survival of companies : this assumption is now widely confirmed by various sector studies and by growing trends in the innovation sector. It is therefore important to begin to understand what Digital Transformation is exactly and for what reason it is necessary to approach it in the best possible way.
We can define Digital Transformation as the ” digital transformation ” which, through the ever more widespread diffusion of mobile devices and applications , is inevitably changing the business model of companies , redesigning it from within. If, from a certain point of view, the Digital Transformation can be scary – like all changes – on the other it represents a huge opportunity for the expansion of areas and sectors of specialization, for a new approach to business, more streamlined and modern. , and for a modernization of corporate assets.
Moving the focus, we can say that Digital Transformation is not so much “something” that companies have to dedicate themselves to, but a change that is taking place in people’s lives . And it is people who are customers and users of companies .
In practice, tackling a correct Digital Transformation path will allow companies to satisfy the requests of users who are increasingly advanced, smart and demanding . Customers of the new millennium have a better and greater management of their purchases, they can choose from a vast offer in every sector and are no longer held back by the physical barriers that were normal before the advent of the internet.
Any company knows that, today as never before, customers can easily switch from one brand to another thanks to the breadth of the offer and interactivity .
To win and retain a customer it is therefore essential not only to offer him the right services and products, but also to do it in the most correct way. How? Involving him , communicating with him, accompanying him in his consumer choices, through high quality content distributed across a large number of channels and devices, so as to be capillary.
Finally, the effectiveness of the messages that companies want to launch to their consumers is also important: the contents must therefore be contextual and targeted to the real interests of users, and respect the criteria of excellence in Inbound Marketing .
Unfortunately, most companies don’t seem ready for digital transformation at all. Specifically, this would be about a third of global companies , which admit poor preparation in the field and do not yet have clear ideas on how to replace traditional platforms and networks with a more performing and coherent, efficient, flexible and rapid digital environment.
These disheartening data are the result of the latest edition of the ICT Enterprise Insights for 2017 research conducted (on a global scale, beware!) By Ovum , a leading consulting and market research firm. Basically, the study reveals that about 60% of companies consider themselves in progress in terms of Digital Transformation, 7% believe they have completed it, and 33% say they are unprepared .
As far as the industries considered by the study are concerned, the results indicate banking and finance as better prepared sectors , together with insurance and payment services . Incredibly, retail is one of the least prepared sectors .
PAs , on the other hand, seem to have fully understood the importance of Digital Transformation and are seeing a substantial increase in spending on ICT services, particularly in Southeast Asia and Latin America, and (again, incredibly ) less pronounced in North America, Western Europe and Australia.
Digital Transformation: Why Are Companies Unprepared?
But what are the reasons why a third of companies consider themselves unprepared for the Digital Transformation , which is essential for maintaining an adequate level of competitiveness on the market ?
A further study promoted by Lenovo has identified the causes of this important technological gap thanks to the involvement with the main IT functions of 1400 major EMEA brands (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Let’s see them together.
- Inadequate technological hardware : the problem of equipment obsolescence was declared by 22% of the interviewees. Not only is this hardware unable to support next-generation applications but also incompatible with IoT (Internet of Things) technologies.
- Lack of skills : the professionals involved in Digital Transformation are essentially unprepared according to 25% of respondents, who believe that the figures in question do not have the technical skills necessary for the deployment and management of applications, especially if IoT.
- Insufficient budget: a low budget represents the other huge obstacle to the digital transformation of companies, which are now asking for greater negotiating power in order to face an efficient and effective change. In Italy alone, 25% of respondents believe that this is the key problem that prevents the digital transformation of the company.
However, a positive figure seems to open a glimmer of hope: 91% of Italian companies , against 87% of those in the entire EMEA area, believe that the figure of the IT manager is now indispensable to facilitate digital innovation and to give new impetus to the business.
