Table of contents:
- What is digital acceleration?
- Why is digital acceleration important?
- Steps to achieve digital acceleration
- Conclusion
What Is Digital Acceleration?
Basically, digital acceleration is when technology is adopted by businesses and manual processes or outdated technology is replaced with the latest and digital technology.
- A 2% increase is expected by IT leaders in their IT budget for 2021 and boards of directors plan to increase investment in technology by an average of 6.9% across the enterprise. (gartner.com)
- 70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one. (Forbes)
- Despite pandemic, global spending on digital transformation technologies and services is estimated to have grown 10% in 2020. (IDC)
- At least 90% of new enterprise apps will insert AI technology into their processes and products by 2025. (IDC)
Why Is Digital Acceleration Important?
Businesses that were reluctant to accelerate digitally were unprepared to deal with the crisis of COVID-19 but the businesses that had developed and executed digital strategies are now in a better position to deal with the circumstances.
Although just going digital is not going to fix all the issues of the current economic environment but it provides you sufficient tools to withstand and come out stronger from such a crisis.
Businesses that accelerate their digital capabilities enjoy many advantages over those that are reluctant towards it.
Efficiency advantage: They can streamline operations and automate manual processes using digital technologies which results in faster speed, and more focus on activities that generate revenue.
Productivity advantage: Their staff was already equipped to work remotely, so their focus remained on using collaboration technology and tools to increase the productivity of their staff.
Security advantage: They are better equipped to deal with the rise of cyber threats in the present environment.
Customer advantage: They mine customer data to examine changes in demand and figure out growing customer expectations.
Agility advantage: They use data-driven insight to make and act on decisions faster. They already have cultural flexibility that enables them to adapt or change course at any point.
Steps To Achieve Digital Acceleration:
- Define your specific requirements.
Defining your particular requirements is the first step in your digital acceleration process. These requirements will be directly linked to the area served by your business. This step is important as it will outline your goals.
What are the requirements if your goal is 100% digital? Is it focused on a web-based solution? Will you need a big data-ready database? These are some of the many important questions that you can deal with in this step.
2. Inventory your related assets.
The next step is to take a full inventory of what technology you have that can be used for this digital acceleration. You’ll most likely be surprised at how much you have that can be repurposed: Servers, PCs and Macs, networking equipment, security equipment, peripherals.
In this step, you can take a complete inventory of technology you already have that can be repurposed and used for digital acceleration. Take a note of which role will be served by each piece and it will help you to figure out what holes need to be filled to finish the process.
You will have to invest more than what is required if you dive into a digital acceleration process without this inventory.
3. Create a road map.
Develop a roadmap that sets specific landmarks for your transformation journey. Be specific and outline several small steps that need to be taken. Aim high but make the process possible and practical. Ensure to have a roadmap that is workable for your business.
4. Hire the necessary talent.
Hire the necessary developers having the talent to make the process work. Figure out the kind of talent that you need and find them. Skipping this step will deprive you of the talent that you need to pull off your digital acceleration.
5. Get your data in order.
Data is valuable for your business and must be prepared for the acceleration process. Understand the kind of databases that will be needed and find a way to migrate each old database to the new database. This step might take some time but it is worth it.
6. Accelerate your digital capabilities.
Increase your digital transformation and make it a digital acceleration process. This step should be considerably easier provided you have placed each piece of the puzzle properly so far. The transition will be smooth if you work with patience and caution.
Conclusion:
A comprehensive digital acceleration can be one of the biggest challenges for your business, more so because the process of digital acceleration doesn’t truly end. New technologies are surfacing and reshaping markets as well as businesses which will require you to keep adjusting your business strategies. The only way your business can lead the competition and align with the latest requirements is by ongoing adaptation making the digital acceleration process a crucial aspect of any modern business.
Zahoor Bhat has over 10+ years of experience as an online editor and media manager. He has worked with major online news and content sites as a media manager. He is well versed with major content management systems and web platforms such as WordPress and social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Business, Yelp, Instagram & Linkedin. He is an expert in content creation, proofreading and finally making it live. Being a social media expert, he is able to make relations with social media influencers and make sure to generate leads and grow business via different social media platforms.
