What’s a digital transformation? According to the enterprisers project, “digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.” a small business according to Shopify is “a business that has a limited number of employees, typically fewer than 500, and operates independently of larger corporations. Small businesses are typically privately owned and operated and have a single owner or a small group of owners.” Can you categorize your business now?

The term digital transformation sounds wonderful but why go through all that stress? What’s the aim of a digital transformation? Since COVID, times have changed. The businesses that thrived most during the COVID are businesses that had already gone digital at the time and although we do not wish for a repeat of the pandemic we now realize the importance of going digital; it has come to stay.

This article will expose you to the benefits of digital transformation for your small business. If you are still having doubts about a digital transformation for your business, this article will help clear those doubts and if you are already in the process of digital transformation but feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by the whole process, this article is also for you; to encourage you in this worthwhile and beneficial journey. Below are a few of the innumerable benefits of a digital transformation.

1. Improved Customer Experience:

In the marketplace today, it is not difficult to notice that the emphasis has moved away from businesses to consumers. The market is becoming more customer oriented, thus businesses need to adjust accordingly. With a digital transformation, it is natural that the business easily gathers data about their customers and the insights that arise from collected data could mean the life or death of a business.

Because the customer has indeed become king, the customer experience is very vital, especially in the face of the tough competition for market share that is the reality today. With digital transformation, a business can easily serve its customers better. This will enable them both to retain their current customers and attract new ones.

It is also obvious that customers expect the businesses and brands that they patronize to go online, to have a stake online, in fact, a community is the new normal.

2. Increased Impact on Productivity:

Leveraging technology can immensely boost employees’ productivity. Automating manual and repetitive tasks is only one of the many things that technology can do. Time is dedicated to things that will provide the business more value like studying data to gain insights.

Time is money they say. But in my opinion, time is worth more than money. Distinct from the efforts spent on repetitive tasks is the time spent on them. A business could never have enough time to do all it intends to do, therefore the minutes; if not hours saved by a digital transformation is a good reason to embark on one. And if time is indeed money as the quote says, then, this invariably means more money.

3. More Efficient Business Models:

A business model according to Investopedia is a company’s plan for making a profit. It identifies the products or services the business plans to sell, its identified target market, and any anticipated expenses.

Usually when a business model operated the traditional way is placed side by side with its digital equal, a huge difference is observed. With the digital version, a lot of resources are saved which would have been expended in a traditional business model. Say for example Amazon Kindle Publisher. This company publishes books for people online. If things were to be done traditionally with a lot of in-person meetings, then they would not be able to publish as many books as they are able to get published in a day. Secondly, they would surely not attract so many customers, I mean, how does a Nigerian get books published with them easily if technology was not in place? With this business model that is deeply rooted in technology, they have dominated the market.

This is a huge improvement on the traditional business model of book publication and a whole new business model seems to have been added too. This is one advantage that a digital transformation can provide a business. The limits of time and space that characterize a traditional business model are removed when you go digital and doors to more customers are opened.

4. Increased Transparency:

When companies go digital, lapses and underhanded activities formerly going on are usually brought to light. Transparency is critical for long-term success in business. There are businesses that have been pulled down overnight by the results of a lack of transparency in business dealings.

With a more transparent process, you have more faith in your staff and this kind of environment that is filled with trust does more than one can imagine for the health of the company. It is also very important that you know the state and health of your business at every point in time; technology has made a lot of provisions for this. It is best that you take advantage of it so that your business can remain flexible and be ready for everything that is thrown its way. This will make the process of decision-making much smoother which is healthy for a small business because again, time is money.

5. Agility and Innovation:

The process of a digital transformation already requires a lot of agility and innovation from the business but it even encourages it further. It is easier to change things and improve and adapt to situations when a business is digital. A good example would be businesses like Amazon and Jumia that changed the trajectory of their businesses during the COVID. A digitally healthy company in this time and season takes blows and punches better than the traditional business. Which is what is really needed to survive. Technology makes a business adaptable.

It is very easy to try out a Minimum Viable Product before investing time and resources into scaling things up. This reduces the risks borne by businesses greatly. Innovations can be quickly tested. The security that comes from knowing that your business can easily adapt to the changing and very unpredictable world is a major benefit of a digital transformation in a business.

The benefits of a business going digital cannot be overestimated, especially a small business. Because a small business will grow (I hope you know and believe that) it is wise to build a solid foundation and going digital is a solid foundation for any business in the world of today. A digital presence and digitalization of processes open the doors to boundless opportunities. Do you want to learn more about optimizing and automating your processes? Head over here now. To learn about guiding your human resources safely through this period, especially if they are being resistant to change read up.