What is Digital Transformation?
When you read the phrase ‘Digital Transformation’ it likely means something different to you than it does to your suppliers, your clients and potentially your colleagues. This is because digital transformation will look different for every company, furthermore departments within the same organisation may view this differently.
There is no one right answer for what your digital transformation journey should look like. Even if two companies share the same eventual goals such as; going paperless or reaching digital business maturity, the touch-points within the journey will be established through your internal processes and policies.
Who should implement a Digital Transformation Strategy?
With digital technologies driving innovation Digital Transformation is impacting on businesses of all sizes, across all industries. In today’s technology driven world it is now, more than ever, possible for SME’s to share in the technological benefits once afforded to large corporations. In fact, at OASIS we have BlueChip and SME clients using the same technologies and gaining similar levels of efficiencies and return on investment.
Simply put, every organisation must implement a Digital Transformation strategy to sustain their business. Research suggests that organisations have changed their attitudes towards digital processing and are now putting this at the forefront of their business strategies.
81% of organisations believe that ‘Digital Transformation’ is ‘important’ OR ‘very important’ to their organisation
AIIM, 2018
Where should I start?
Before starting your digital transformation, it is important that you first identify your end goal. Does your organisation want to free up employees’ time by automating certain processes? Or is your goal to streamline existing processes to better serve your clients? Your desired outcome will define your digital strategy so it’s important that you set it early on.
Collaborate with other departments, whilst it is unlikely every department has the same goals it is possible that similar business functions have aligned strategic goals. An example of this could be your organisations Accounts Payable department and Accounts Receivable department. Both may require a system that integrates with a shared accounting system such as Sage.
Misconceptions about Digital Transformation
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear about Digital Transformations is that it is a substantial project that needs to be implemented all at once. This is not the case! In fact, we recommend that many of our clients take a phased approach. There are many reasons for this, and again it is dependent on the client’s needs, with the most likely reason being the sheer number of paper documentation an organisation has.
For instance, 2018 AIIM research indicates that many HR organisations are still mired in paper-based processes. When asked, “What is paper usage in the following processes?” The percentages answering, “A lot of documents are processed as paper documents” were;
- Recruiting and selection = 35%
- Employee onboarding = 48%
- Employee file management = 53%
- Policies and procedures administration = 32%
- Employee separation = 48%
Whilst a percentage of organisations have the budget and staff available to undertake a large-scale project, more often than not projects such as Digital Transformations are put on hold because these required resources are not available. It is in this instance that we work with clients to put together an implementation plan that takes in to consideration their; resources, budget, timescales and volume of archive.
This is not to say that volume of paper documentation is the only concern, when migrating from an existing EDRMS or ECM platform organisations often need internal IT time to export digitised documentation. This can also cause delays depending on their availability.
Which technology is best for my organisation?
The first and foremost thing to ensure with any technology decision is that it is user-friendly, we always suggest that an end-user is involved in the decision-making process where possible. Engaging end-users in this process not only ensures that you have a system that best meets your needs but also allows a smooth transition process.
There is an ever-increasing number of emerging technologies that present tremendous opportunities for your organisation. Technology such as; Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Capture, eDiscovery, Repetitive Process Automation and Automated Data Recognition has become part of our daily lives. These new technologies are allowing organisations to do more than capture data, instead organisations are leveraging the capabilities of machines to understand and analyse the data they receive.
With a greater insight in to what information your organisation holds you are able to better comply with industry and governmental regulations such as GDPR and ETW.
The OASIS Solution
We offer a number of services that can help you, no matter where you are in your digital transformation process. Whether you are looking for Cloud services, digital imaging, workflow, automatic document recognition, Artificial Intelligence & machine learning or more we have a solution to help you.
Get in touch through our online form or email info@oasisgroup.com
About the author
Jade is the Group Marketing, PR and Communications Director at OASIS Group. She has worked in the information management industry for almost a decade and writes on a majority of topics, including ESG and sustainability which is a personal passion of hers.