We live in a digital age where practically everything we need to do in our daily lives can be done online or from the palm of our hands. Any organization that fails to become a digital enterprise jeopardizes its future success; hence, it is critical for all businesses to embark on the digital transformation road.
A digital enterprise is an organization that completely integrates digital tools and technology into all aspects of its operations in order to increase productivity, create a better customer experience, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes.
A digitally modernized enterprise utilizes cutting-edge technology to stay relevant and provide excellent service to clients in unexpected ways. Technology has an impact on every important activity, from customer experience to enhanced operational productivity. Digital technologies help businesses identify and implement new capabilities.
The things we consume in our daily lives present major challenges for businesses all over the world, from personalized production to mass-producing items and bringing new products to market with lightning speed while remaining secure and flexible to deliver exactly what the customer wants with consistently high-quality at affordable prices while always looking for new ideas to generate more business.
This implies the establishment of a truly digital enterprise in order to modernize and enhance its business model, respond to changing market demands, and provide extraordinary products or services to better serve its clients.
In this article, we will define digital enterprise, explain why it is necessary to go digital and show you how to go digital.
What is digital enterprise?
Organizations can improve their productivity, competitiveness, and creativity by making greater use of digital technologies. The growth of digital technology presents both opportunities and threats to many enterprises.
A digital enterprise is one in which any firm aligns the use of digital technology across all activities, people, and processes in order to do business digitally, allowing for more efficiency, agility, and better response to market changes.
Consumers nowadays are increasingly willing to buy products or services through the usage of digital channels. In fact, the newer generation expects a higher digital experience from any companies that they want to do business with.
Domino’s is currently north of 60 percent on its digital orders, and 10 percent walk-in. About 25 percent or so are call-in phone orders
Source: Domino’s
One example of a digital enterprise is Netflix, which has a brilliant business model, a strong focus on content, a unique digital culture, and remarkable technological capabilities. Because of that, they were able to expand their business so far and revolutionize the movie rental business model in such an innovative way.
What are the benefits of a digital enterprise?
A digital enterprise is a company that has a successful online presence and uses the internet to achieve their goals. There are many benefits of digital transformation, some of which are mentioned below.
Digital enterprises have the potential to grow faster than traditional businesses because they can reach more people on a global scale. They also have the ability to produce content in real time and use it instantaneously as opposed to waiting for months or years for it to be published in print or broadcast on television. This means that they can react much more quickly and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
They also provide a better return on investment because they don’t need to spend money on physical stores, printing copies, or manual repetitive tasks.
What is digital enterprise strategy?
A digital enterprise strategy is a plan for a company to adopt digital technologies to improve business performance. It includes the integration of data and analytics, digitalization of products and services, and the use of social media.
The companies that are most successful with their digital enterprise strategies are those who have made the effort to understand their customers’ needs and wants. They also have strong leadership skills both within the company as well as in the marketplace.
Digital enterprise strategy is also known as a digital transformation strategy. It’s an organizational change process that helps companies transform their business models and operations in order to keep up with the changes happening in the market.
What are the Six Characteristics of Digital Enterprise?
The six characteristics of a digital enterprise are:
1. Customer focus
The enterprise is focused on providing a great experience for its customers, whether they are external or internal.
2. Data-driven
The enterprise makes decisions based on data and analytics.
3. Lean and agile
The enterprise is able to move quickly and efficiently.
4. Innovative
The enterprise is constantly looking for new ways to improve and grow.
5. Collaborative
The enterprise works closely with its partners and stakeholders.
6. Resilient
The enterprise is able to adapt and survive in an ever-changing environment.
How To Become A Digital Enterprise
Almost every firm is striving to become a fully digital enterprise in order to provide the most creative service to its clients. However, there are several challenges in the digital transformation path that, if not addressed, may restrict the company’s operation and profitability.
Organizations that successfully overcome the challenges and evolve into digital, innovative, and agile enterprises will be well-positioned to become industry leaders. If you are looking to get inspired to start your digital enterprise journey, check this powerful quotes.
To become a digital enterprise, you need to:
1- Align Business With IT Teams
To realize the full potential of a digital enterprise, business and IT teams must coordinate their strategy and develop a well-defined digital transformation plan. Changes from IT teams need cautious preparation, which is why it is critical that they operate at the same frequency to limit the chance of failure.
2- Develop an Agile Mindset
Resilience and agility are essential for sustaining profitability in today’s continuously changing market. The capacity to work with an agile mentality, where any projects or initiatives should be performed in cycles, with each cycle having a well-defined result, is a critical component in the success of transitioning into a digital enterprise.
By employing agile project management approaches, firms may deliver better-aligned outcomes and detect any incorrect approach as soon as feasible in order to optimize and re-establish the project’s success track.
Almost three-quarters (71%) of organizations report using Agile approaches sometimes, often, or always.
Source: Project Management Institute
3- Change Management
This is one of the most critical aspects of running a successful digital enterprise since organizations frequently encounter a lot of opposition to any changes made to the way we operate.
As a leader in any company, your primary responsibility in this initiative is to achieve stakeholder buy-in and understanding of the additional benefit of having a digital culture. Because people are accustomed to doing things in the same old ways, you must ensure that all concerned stakeholders are willing to accept and adapt to change.
You would not believe how many unsuccessful digital initiatives we had because employees refused to change how they do business on a daily basis.
This should start at the top, with CEOs and CTOs outlining clear futures and paths for company change.
The brutal fact is that about 70% of all change initiatives fail.
4- Access Current Status
It is critical at this stage to determine your organization’s current state of transformation into a digital one. Do you rely on digital information and digital technology already? Are internal operations automated or still carried out by hand? Are there information silos in your organization?
This is a critical phase since the results will assist you in developing the necessary digital enterprise plan and vision, securing the budget, and evaluating the effect.
5- Hire Tech-driven Talent
If your company lacks the necessary digital savvy, you must employ them as quickly as feasible. When Subway began its digital transformation journey, it employed around 150 individuals with high-tech backgrounds to assist them in this goal and accelerate the process.
These highly experienced specialists will assist you in accelerating the digital program and will play a critical role in its execution.
6- Digitization & Digitalization is a MUST
Any digital transformation program must start with digitizing your information and automating your organization’s internal procedures.
Both digitization and digitalization are necessary yet difficult to attain; nonetheless, without both, you have no hope of becoming a fully digital business.
I strongly recommend reading the below article to cover more about this topic
Digitization vs Digitalization: What’s The Difference? (theecmconsultant.com)
7- Set Technology As Core Business
We must accept that technology is invading and will continue to evolve and that we cannot function without it now. As a leader, you must prioritize technology in your firm.
Nowadays, every company is a tech company, even if it does not sell or provide technology-related services because all businesses must invest in core technologies in order to run successfully.
Every company is a software company. You have to start thinking and operating like a digital company. It’s no longer just about procuring one solution and deploying one
Source: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Check the below article to know more about why every company is becoming a technology company.
Why Every Company Is A Technology Company (forbes.com)
8- Plan IT Systems Adoption
To become a digital enterprise, businesses must implement various systems throughout all departments. It is critical to carefully pick these technologies and how they integrate with one another in order to give your employees a smooth digital experience.
Having simple-to-use yet effective systems in place will allow your employees to work more efficiently, innovate, and think of new methods to reach the company goals.
9- Train, Train, & Train
Ensure that employees have the knowledge they need to make the transition to a digital enterprise as smooth as possible. Train your important employees first, and then these individuals may offer internal training inside their divisions to help this program move further.
Create a rewarding environment based on various credentials that employees may obtain from the providers of the technology systems used.
A digital enterprise strategy is a plan that helps organizations take their business online to reach more customers and improve their profitability.
