What Is Digital Transformation? Why Is It Important?

Digital transformation is the transfer of business processes and information from the physical environment to the digital (electronic) environment by saving cost and time with the intensive use of information technologies. In other words, digital transformation is the adoption of technologies that facilitate physical and manual business processes. If we look upon the technology’s timeline, as technology continues to change and develop rapidly, the time and effort we spend to adopt new technologies to our lives or business processes are also shortening. If you want to know what lies beneath this enormous change that the world is going through for the last decades; let’s walk a bit on the rusty road of technology.

The Roots of Digital Transformation

All kinds of developments in the world, after some point, gain their maximum acceleration, maximum speed and maximum power to change things. For digitalization, we can find the reason of this acceleration: “The Big Data“. Basically, big data is a field that finds ways and analyzes systematically to transform the data that is too large to analyze with traditional data-processing methods to information.

If you do not know, through all the ages of humanity; people, scientists, who actually want to create or change things require data. Because data is everything for science and people need them to interpret the action or the environment where they work. That’s why today’s world has gained its maximum speed and acceleration of history. We have a tremendous amount of data that the world is collecting for years and now humanity has learned a bit of how to interpret that data in order to change them to information for people who read them.

Also, it is not possible to describe digital transformation with a few technological developments. Today, a new era has begun with numerous technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, digital media, and 3D printers.

Why Digital Transformation is Important?

Digital transformation is not just about technology, it also means how we use human power, resources, technology and everything else in harmony. The benefits obtained with this harmony are basically the success of digital transformation. In other words, it is obvious that those who cannot adapt to digitalization are left behind in these times when the world is changing rapidly and everyone has access and speed to all kinds of information and products.

Digitalization is not only valid for companies or institutions. As individuals, we also keep pace with digitalization with others at the same time and speed, more precisely, we often have to keep up.

The benefits of digital transformation are countless. But, we can state the benefits of digital transformation at basically 7 points:

• Improves the experience,
• Provides harmony,
• Increases efficiency,
• Provides innovation,
• Saves time,
• Provides cost advantage,
• Minimizes physical processes.

Relationship Between Digital Transformation and Business Transformation

Business transformation is the change of management strategies in businesses based on reasons. For example, new technologies, changes in the market, low profit and turnover or growth targets can be the reason for a business transformation. Business transformation means making changes in both technology and people in the current processes in line with the goals. Digital Transformation is about the tools and technologies used to drive change in an organization. This shows us the relationship between digital transformation and business transformation.

As a short resume, the world is now living the golden ages of its history in technology, and in order to be in this new world with new priorities, all before you have to understand these changes and internalize them. Then you must adapt your business, whatever you do, to it.