Digital transformation has helped transform businesses across Europe with new technologies and new ways of working. Now, the ‘Digital Imperative’ is helping those organisations embrace technology at every stage of the business process, enabling more to be achieved with less.
Digital Transformation is a concept that has been embraced by organisations of all sizes, helping them define how they get more from technology. The rapid advancement of technology has disrupted traditional business models and created new opportunities for growth and innovation. It streamlines internal processes and increases efficiency, improves customer relationships, and ultimately drives revenue growth and creates competitive advantage.
However, digital transformation is not just about technology. True digital transformation requires a cultural shift within the very DNA of a business, one that celebrates innovation and continuous improvement. With businesses already somewhere on their journey to using technology to transform their business, a new conversation is starting to emerge, called the Digital Imperative.
Whereas Digital Transformation is ensuring your business has the right technology in place to create change, the Digital Imperative is the next step, making sure organisations harness technology and embed change across the whole business. It is those businesses that best understand how to embrace and implant the right infrastructures and cloud technologies that will ultimately succeed.
What is the Digital Imperative?
Microsoft is steering the conversation around the Digital Imperative and believes there are five priorities to be observed:
1: Migrate to the Cloud
migration is often seen as the first step to digital transformation, but is your business really making the most of the benefits of cloud infrastructure? A Digital Imperative strategy ensues the most cost-effective cloud solution is one that meets the immediate and mid-term needs of your business, but is scalable enough to grow at pace, should it be required.
2: Empower everyone to do their best
The Digital Imperative ensures that everyone within an organisation is working together to define and establish the best systems, processes and digital tools for that business to succeed. To achieve this, the business needs to equip a dedicated team brought together from all areas of the business, empower them with the best tools and, using data analytics and insights, enable them to contribute to the growth of the business.
3: Make your data work for you
The insights that data and AI provide are the lifeblood of the modern workplace. Having the right information at the right time enables organisations to make timely and better decisions. Your Digital Imperative strategy will help you not only define what data you need to prioritise but will help you cost-effectively manage cloud infrastructures and modernise ways of working for a smarter future.
4: Collaborative business processes
Hybrid working is no longer an anomaly, it is the new business norm. Offering your work force the right tools, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, to work and collaborate regardless of location delivers efficiencies, empowers employees, and helps define the digital imperative of your business.
5: Prioritise Security
Whether a small business or an enterprise, the threat of cyber-attacks is a daily part of life. And just like technology, the sophistication of such threats is growing. As a result, prioritising security has become a fundamental part of business. At Sharp, we recommend a multi-layered cyber-security approach, including endpoint security, protecting devices, email security, as well as ongoing user education.
Embracing the Digital Imperative
Meeting the needs of the emerging Digital Imperative may feel like a challenge your business is not ready to handle. And in truth, you wouldn’t be alone. That is why it’s vital to partner with an IT Services provider that not only understands the challenges your business faces, but also how best to confront and overcome them.
Technology innovation and the changes that come with it aren’t going away. As we have seen in recent years, they will only accelerate, leaving those organisations that don’t actively engage further behind than ever before.
Sharp IT Services delivers a growing range of IT solutions across Europe, enabling your business to not only make the most of technology, but also capitalise on the innovations and opportunities the emerging Digital Imperative offer.
By embracing change, organisations can deliver real value to their customers, differentiate their offering from competitors, and build resilience into the processes they use, shaping a smarter and more resourceful future.
To start evolving your Digital Imperative strategy, Get In Touch.
