The digital economy is well and truly here and to survive and thrive, businesses need to use a wide portfolio of digital assets. Newer companies sometimes have an advantage as they were born digital, but either way, all companies need to make sure their technology stack matches the speed and responsiveness of a digital world.
While the focus of change used to be on new computers and gadgets, today it’s software that is making the biggest impact. While hardware used to drive the most innovation, over the past few years, hardware advances have started to reach their limits in terms of return on investment (ROI). Further advances will still enable new products, but today it’s software that ties technology together and creates true business value. The fact is that in today’s ever-competitive business landscape, software is the primary driver of business innovation and agility and is fundamental to delivering the benefits of digital transformation.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the adoption of digital technologies in a bid to improve processes and, ultimately, increase revenue. It involves removing manual processing and modernising systems to unleash the power of technology. The end goal is to reframe operating models, work in a more efficient way and have the agility to scale to meet new business needs.
The vast majority of businesses have plans to adopt a digital-first business strategy, which means the race to get there first is most certainly on. However, doing it in the right way is fundamental. There is little point in introducing tools and technologies into the workplace if they aren’t well integrated and fit for purpose. Moreover, there is more to transformation than technology alone. Digital transformation represents a fundamental change in the way a business operates, which means new processes and new culture need to follow suit.
The Mindset of a Digital Business
A digital business requires a different mindset than a traditional business. After all, thinking digital first changes how a business approaches product or service delivery into the marketplace. A successful digital business is supported by market insight, collaborative leadership and, you’ve guessed it, bespoke software platforms.
It’s incredible how much computing power is at our fingertips. In just a few short minutes, businesses are able to rent huge power from leading cloud vendors such as Google and Microsoft, and scale to meet the global demand. What differentiates these businesses, alongside the mindset change, is software. It’s enabling smaller businesses to break through and compete in new markets and existing businesses to change direction and take advantage of new opportunities.
For digitally-minded businesses, technology is a tool for innovation rather than an end goal. After all, transformation is an ongoing process. The emphasis should always be on the business and the end-user, not technology, with software driving tangible value throughout the organisation.
The Demand for Customised Software
Developers used to have to design foundational software and off-the-shelf products that could be used by multiple businesses and industries. Today, however, they are able to work from an ever-growing foundation of software libraries that have been created and shared within the open-source community. This gives developers a head start when it comes to innovation. By using open-source software, developers can shorten build times while increasing the pace of change.
As software development and platform costs have become less expensive, there is a growing demand for customised software. Moreover, digital businesses that embrace customised software solutions have unprecedented opportunities to drive disruption within their industries. You only have to think about how Airbnb and Uber entirely changed traditional business structures and expanded market reach almost overnight.
The fact is that, whether software drives efficiency, automation, competitive advantage or innovation, it puts other businesses at risk. Those who are using software to transform are taking a huge leap ahead and creating unlimited potential.
How Bespoke Software Can Help Your Business
Digital transformation programmes have been fast-tracked since the global pandemic in 2020. Companies have learnt the benefits of using automation, removing manual processes for smarter ones and extending the capabilities of core enterprise applications. Ultimately, software has become a real champion for transforming our businesses. As such, business leaders are investing a huge amount in customised software.
Custom-built software can help you quickly accelerate your digital transformation journey and strengthen your market position. Ultimately, software that is created specifically for your business can help you to use power fuel tech to:
- Automate Processes – handling high-volume tasks to increase operational efficiency, with hyper-automation leading to operational excellence.
- Create Unique Experiences – empowering employees to work in new ways, with the focus on users, accessibility and agility whether working in a physical office or remotely.
- Make Data-Driven Decisions – sophisticated management of data with built-in reporting and analysis. Software can help to access real-time data and detect trends in digital behaviour. By capturing, recording and conveying business data, you can eliminate guesswork and ensure business decisions are precise and measured.
- Improved Security – security outside of on-premises architecture can be a concern, especially for mission-critical or sensitive data. However, by building bespoke software solutions, security can be built in from the ground up, implementing multi-factor authentication, highly secure encryption and more to keep your data safe wherever it is.
If you want to start transforming, then you’re going to need software on your side. Start simple and focus on one business function at a time, make incremental improvements and build confidence in your systems. In addition, be sure to involve your workforce so that you create the cultural change required to support your new software. It doesn’t have to be a complete overnight change, but with bespoke software, you can quickly increase your business capabilities, drive automation and realise greater efficiencies. With the right software solutions, you’ll be in a place where you are able to innovate and meet new opportunities and challenges.
