Digital transformation refers to your ability to integrate technology into your business. Not only does it improve workplace efficiency and provide greater value to your customers and clients, but it also ensures your business is staying up to date with cultural trends. By using the same technology as your customers, you make your business more approachable. Following these trends also allows you to stay relevant, basing your marketing and customer service around what customers want to see.
Digital transformation focuses on four primary areas. These are technology, data, process and organizational change capacity. Technology is your ability to not only add new devices to your company, but fully utilize them to improve business. Data is using technology to gather important marketing information about your business and customers. Process is how you use digital technology to connect to customers. Organizational change capacity focuses less on technology and more on how your business adapts to new technology.
Digital Transformation in 2021
Digital transformation is not a new concept for businesses, but it has received much more attention following 2020. Previously, many businesses were behind on technology because it didn’t seem necessary to spend the resources upgrading equipment and training employees. This was dated thinking and ultimately proven wrong in 2020 during the pandemic. With the majority of businesses shutting down in-person operations, technology became much more important. Businesses were reliant on digital stores for sales and online marketing. Technology also played a larger role internally in business, with so many employees switching to remote positions.
Even with most businesses opening back up in 2021, the marketplace has changed. 2020 showed many companies that not only was it possible to operate remotely, but many found themselves thriving thanks to upgrading their technology. Many of these improvements are still relevant as companies ease back into working together in a traditional office setting.
There are two different ways to look at digital transformation. One option is hiring a digital transformation company to help renovate your business, training employees and upgrading your technology. If you are already comfortable with how your company uses technology, you can instead focus on using the most up to date software and hardware. If you hire a company, you are typically quoted a cost based on the size of your company and needs, while products typically have a monthly subscription service.
Clarion Technologies
Clarion is one of the premier digital transformation companies. They were one of the first companies to recognize the value the internet had in marketing. Founded in 2000, the company has over 20 years of experience helping other businesses adapt and grow using the latest technological trends. Clarion agents have a minimum of three years of experience working in technological and business-related fields. In addition to consulting services, the company provides web development, analytics and application testing.
Rapid Acceleration Partners
Despite being one of the newest digital transformation companies, Rapid Acceleration is one of the largest services. The company focuses almost entirely on digital marketing solutions and improving workplace efficiency. Many companies hire Rapid Acceleration because of their generous prices, even offering refunds if you are unhappy with the initial results.
Mphasis
Mphasis is another digital transformation service founded in 2000. Over the years, the company has become more recognized for offering mobile services, but it still provides general digital transformation options as well. The company also takes a more personalized approach, spending more time with a business to evaluate how digital transformation can best improve their operation.
Botco.ai
Botco is a conversational AI platform primarily used to enhance customer service. During the pandemic, many businesses found their customer service numbers and email servers overwhelmed with requests. While having live customer service is preferred, it is expensive to run 24/7 customer service, especially if you are a smaller business. Botco not only sets up automated customer service, but the AI provides more genuine interactions with the customer. Many customers will initially try to bypass any automated customer service in favor of life support because they believe the automated support cannot help them. By automating an actual customer service rep, customers are more likely to go through the standard customer service options.
Because Botco uses an AI, the program is constantly evolving and adapting. There are even specialized branches for specific industries, such as answering HIPAA-complaint questions in the medical industry. As of writing, Botco has two accounts, Pro, which is $1,990 a month and Enterprise for $3,500.
NachoNacho
NachoNacho is a software as a service (SaaS) management platform. As you add more technology to your company, it becomes harder to keep track of all the software you use. NachoNacho simplifies this by acting as a hub for your software, giving you a universal dashboard you can use to access each service. It also keeps track of all your subscription plans and can be used to purchase additional programs and automatically apply them to your network. The first month of NachoNacho is free, with a basic plan costing $5 a month per user.
Apty
Apty is one of the most helpful programs for digital transformation. Apty provides walkthroughs and on-screen guidance for a number of software programs. You can even customize the walkthroughs to display specific messages for your users. Using Apty is a great way to save on training costs and improve general productivity. It is also constantly updated, so as you add new software to your business, Apty is prepared with walkthroughs and instructions. Apty has a free trial version, but you must request a quote directly from the company if you want to make an account. On average, most plans cost around $10 per user.