Thirty-one percent higher employee productivity, 30% lower process costs, and 78% fewer customer complaints. Those are just some of the benefits of digital transformation that companies that invest in top technology have experienced.
Digital transformation, or leveraging the latest technology to fundamentally improve the way you do business, is an investment worth making. But if you still need convincing, below, we’ll show you seven benefits of digital transformation, along with proof.
7 Key Benefits Digital Transformation Brings to Businesses, Employees, and Consumers
1. Increased productivity
Technology exists to make our lives easier. So leveraging digital tools to make your team members’ lives easier should be a part of your digital transformation strategy. In fact, it’s what they crave. When Microsoft surveyed frontline workers in 2022, 46% said they’d be less stressed if they could use technology that makes their job easier.
To that end, artificial intelligence shows plenty of promise. Salesforce surveyed 750 hiring managers for The Future of Workforce Development report and concluded: “Of all the technologies influencing workforce change, hiring managers view AI as among the most transformational.”
Further, research commissioned by Automation Anywhere found that when organizations use automation technologies, employees are 31% more productive. And Gartner predicted that in 2021, AI augmentation would create 6.2 billion hours of work productivity.
Despite the fears stoked by many, AI isn’t here to replace jobs—it’s here to enhance them. Krisp, for example, was built by some of the most innovative AI researchers who used deep neural networks to create an app that makes virtual meetings less distracting and more productive. How? By training the technology to identify and eliminate background noise in real-time on every call.
When it comes to virtual meetings, one of the top complaints (second only to meetings that could’ve been an email) is loud background noise, with more than half of employees saying it annoys them, according to Zippia.
With Krisp installed, the background noise problem is solved. Your employees can be stress-free and more professional during online meetings.
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2. Higher profits
A fantastic example of how digital transformation can increase profits is Adobe’s cloud adoption journey. In 2012, Adobe had already established itself as a leading provider of graphic design and video editing software such as Illustrator and Photoshop in its Creative Suite. Users could purchase lifetime licenses to the software, but this was cost-prohibitive for many people, as the entire suite could cost more than $2,500.
So in 2013, Adobe completely overhauled its sales model by launching cloud-based Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. Now, users can purchase a much lower-priced monthly subscription to the software that Adobe sells.
The result? According to Deloitte, “The organization has achieved greater levels of revenue and profitability selling their software suite using a subscription‑based model than it did selling it as a hard good.”
3. Improved efficiency
Increasing operational efficiency is a goal every organization wants to achieve, but doing so without taking advantage of the latest technology is impossible in this day and age. Digital transformation, by its very nature, will help your organization do more with the resources it has and decrease waste because it changes your very business model or a major process.
Just like the assembly line made it possible to build cars faster than ever, digital transformation will make it possible for your organization to minimize waste and maximize output. Something as simple as automating payroll with the right software has the power to save hours of time each month.
Look at the healthcare industry, for example. In 2020, Lalita Abhyankar, M.D., shared in an article on the American Academy of Family Physicians website that her practice shifted more than 90% of her 20-minute face-to-face visits to 10-minute telemedicine visits. That nearly doubled the number of patients she could see in one day.
Further, when practices ask patients to fill out intake forms online before their appointment, they can reduce waiting room wait times and late arrivals. Many patients arrive at their appointment without allowing enough time to fill out paperwork, meaning they start the appointment late. By using software that sends reminders to fill out digital intake forms, providers can save time and create a more efficient waiting room process.
4. Decreased employee burnout
Employee burnout is at an all-time high, much of it driven by increased hours, poor work-life boundaries and digital fatigue—all exacerbated by the pandemic. But if you use technology correctly, digital transformation can ease the burden on employees and decrease burnout.
In the second edition of its Resetting Normal study, The Adecco Group surveyed 14,800 people across 25 countries and found that, compared to the 2020 survey, more people in 2021 said their mental health had suffered. The report calls burnout the “new worker pandemic.” And yet, The Adecco Group found that managers feel ill-equipped to tackle this. Two of the top challenges for managers have been identifying when a worker might be struggling with mental wellbeing and overwork/burnout.
But in terms of technology, monitoring for burnout is a solved problem. Enterprise mental health software such as FlourishDx helps companies manage risks to employee psychological health and safety by gathering data through surveys while maintaining employee anonymity and confidentiality.
On top of that, new uses of AI continue to drive technological advancements in preventing and reducing employee burnout. Currently, West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute is conducting a study in partnership with Oura ring to see how machine-learning algorithms in wearables can monitor burnout risk and deliver therapeutic programs at the right time.
Leveraging the latest technology to decrease employee stress and monitor risk factors can help prevent the burnout effects that many are experiencing today.
5. Cost savings
A large part of the resistance to digital transformation is that, yes, it costs money upfront. But what if it could save you money in the long run? Do it right, and it could. That’s because the increased productivity and improved efficiency mentioned above inevitably lead to cost reduction.
Research by The Hackett Group found that digital transformation reduces process costs by 30% for typical procurement organizations. This is due to digital accelerators such as robotic process automation (RPA), analytics-driven insight, and artificial intelligence.
6. Better customer experience
Digital transformation is highly customer-focused. By integrating the right technology into your business processes, you can bring buyers a better customer experience. For example, the AI-powered Krisp app helps contact centers provide better quality support to callers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when contact center SupportZebra had to transition 90% of its workforce to work-from-home, customer complaints about noise rose. After installing Krisp, those complaints dropped by 78%.
In the healthcare sector, digital transformation improves the patient experience as well. In fact, better patient satisfaction is the top expected digital transformation outcome for 92% of health systems surveyed by Deloitte in 2021.
During the pandemic, when safety concerns necessitated a shift to digital methods of delivering care, being able to attend telemedicine appointments made healthcare more affordable and accessible to patients who previously would’ve gone without care. A Deloitte health care consumer survey found that consumer usage of virtual visits went from 15% in 2019 to 28% in April 2020. And 80% of respondents said they’d likely do another virtual visit even after the pandemic was over.
In this way, digital transformation is able to provide long-term solutions that lead to happier customers.
7. Longer business lifespan
Do you want your company to be around in the next 50 years? If the answer is yes, then that is, by far, one of the biggest benefits of digital transformation. It’s absolutely crucial to survival. As technology advances, businesses are struggling to hang on. A report by Credit Suisse found that the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company is less than 20 years; that’s down from about 60 years in the 1950s.
The following story of Studebaker cars, as told by Tony Saldanha in Why Digital Transformations Fail, highlights the harsh reality that no company–even the most innovative—is immune from failing at digital transformation.
Studebaker was a leader in the horse and wagon industry, but at the turn of the century, when automobiles started to take hold, Studebaker had to change its product. It began manufacturing gas-powered cars that, even today, are seen as the most innovative of their time—but the company still failed. Why? Because it lacked a plan for sustainability. Digital transformation requires strategy. It is about leveraging technology to make permanent changes, not just to your product, but to your entire business model so that your organization can last.
Ready to Reap the Benefits of Digital Transformation?
As you can see, investing in the right technology now will allow you to realize the benefits of digital transformation for years to come. Higher profits, happier customers, and a healthier workplace are just a few of the upsides—what’s not to love?
If you’re looking to get started with integrating tools that make work better, leverage the latest AI technology to cancel out background noise and improve online meeting quality. Try Krisp noise-cancellation for free.
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