Digital transformation is still a broad term for digitising business processes - it can be applied to almost any business industry, function or process. However, it is still the talk of the boardroom and is on the agenda for many organisations.

It goes without saying that to remain competitive in the digital age, your business must embrace digital.

As early adopters and innovative organisations all around the world are finding new ways to embrace digital transformation, other companies aren’t even on the path to digital transformation and aren’t really sure how to start.

Thankfully, many of these companies are at least in a position where they are collecting and storing data based on process performance and can use this data to leverage their digital transformation journey and put themselves on the right path.

For organisation’s throughout Europe, there is another big event on their agenda, the GDPR, which includes new rules and regulations on how data is handled and comes into practice on 25th May 2018.

Your business must be ready for this change and digital transformation could play an interesting part in this change.

How would you best-describe your organisation’s view of digital transformation?

When Computing surveyed more than 100 IT decision makers about their digital preparedness, there were some interesting insights, including the views on digital transformation.

“The focus on digital transformation helps highlight how the role of technology in modern business has changed.” (Keeping paper files secure in an age of digital transformation, Computing)

Technology is moving on from just being considered a service function and has actually become an element of business success. Digital transformation is no longer seen as a threat and is seen as a way to innovate and create a competitive advantage, as shown by the results below:

With only 6% of the respondents still seeing digital transformation as a risk or threat, there is a healthy belief that digital transformation should be a business-as-normal activity and even better, almost three quarters of IT leaders see digital-enabled change as a route to new ways of working and operating.

What is the digital readiness of your organisation?

This might feel like a difficult question to answer. How do you weigh up the digital readiness of an organisation, after all, it’s not just the technology you have to consider but the users and the business operations.

It is, however, encouraging to see that 48% of those surveyed by Computing said ‘There are many digital business initiatives completed / under way and they are centrally coordinated’. This gives a clear indication that people are starting to adopt digital transformation.

Wishful thinking also indicates that even the 3% who say they have no plans regarding digital business might change their mind in the coming years.

How is digital transformation affecting data retention and data use in your organisation?

Beyond the digital readiness and opinion of digital transformation is the real question about making the most out of digital transformation, and in this case, it’s asking about the affect digital transformation is having on data use and data retention.

The answers feel encouraging and although many might be struggling to manage the change, a forward thinking data driven approach to digital transformation will give stronger results in the long run and will help companies to improve their processes based on real analytics.

Making the most out of digital transformation

As digital continues to become the norm, digital transformation will become a more pressing issue that companies have to deal with. In the future, simply ignoring it or using outdated processes might not be an option.

The goal isn’t just to implement a digital transformation strategy but is to also make the most out of digital transformation in order to gain results and make business processes more efficient.