Digital transformation or the Fourth Industrial Age are no longer buzz phrases or futuristic notions to be pondered over, but innovations that must be embraced if businesses are to survive and grow. Growth in use and application of technologies all around us have changed the way we live and work, and no more so than during the pandemic. This new era has highlighted the need to adopt new technologies and has become a real catalyst for change for many businesses.
Empowering the workforce to become ‘digital natives’ and ‘citizen developers’ – and offering customers ‘self-service’ options that they prefer over traditional communication channels – can drive significant efficiencies in any business. But there are still many that have yet to realise the potential of a digital strategy – and in a rapidly changing world and workplace environment, largely derived in response to COVID-19, it must be prioritised.
While the UK is outpacing its European counterparts with adoption of cloud computing services – with nearly 42 per cent of UK companies adopting some kind of cloud computing service in 2018, versus an EU average of 26 per cent – the benefits are still being underestimated or unrecognised by many. The biggest use of cloud computing is mainly for email and storage of files, highlighting that we still have a long way to go for businesses to realise the potential and power of digital transformation.
The growth and potential of citizen developers
The term citizen developer applies to anyone within a business who has not had formal software development training, but who is a problem solver, can recognise the needs of the business and become a solution architect. The advances in cloud computing and platform services means this is becoming much more viable as low-code and no-code solutions are available. This is great news for businesses across many sectors: no longer do they have to purchase expensive pieces of technology that require extensive training and are accessible only to IT specialists. The latest solutions are costed on consumption, always offer the latest updates, and are available to help businesses automate and streamline vital business functions.
An app developer may seem a specialist role to many, but with solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Apps, non-IT specialists can create purpose-built apps to simplify and automate common processes. The citizen developer can do this easily, customising the app to the organisation’s needs using pre-built templates that can be dragged and dropped, launched straightaway and honed over time as needed. Just watch the below video to see how a forward-thinking Autoglass employee created an app to save the vehicle window repair firm £1.6 million annually by cutting down administration time.
In any organisation, from an education provider (needing to automate processes around educator feedback and student progress) to a non-profit organisation small family-run manufacturing company (sharing information company-wide around donor activity and campaigns), empowering the workforce using Power Apps will create efficiencies that are vital in today’s competitive and challenging economy. The app can also be customised to be role-based, so the user only sees the information relevant to their role and duties, saving valuable time and focusing all resources right where they’re needed.
A report by Outsystems on the State of Application Development in 2019 which surveyed more than 3,000 IT professionals across six continents highlighted ‘improving agility and accelerating innovation’ was a key driver for adoption of digital transformation (22%) while the next key factor was ‘reducing costs and improving efficiency’. The rise of Power Apps will facilitate this.
The importance of a modern digital collaborative workplace
In many ways, the pandemic has forced the hand of businesses who may not have yet been considering, or got around to implementing, a solution to automate and streamline key business functions. Those that had already stepped into the Fourth Industrial Age have been able to really benefit from their foresight.
Never before has it been so important to create a digital collaborative workplace where documents, information, insights, data and resource availability can be shared among colleagues via the cloud, accessible wherever they are. The remote working culture that has been catapulted to commonality as a result of the pandemic looks as though it is here to stay, and organisations come to realise the viability of cloud solutions, the benefits they hold for employees and customers as well productivity and profitability for the business. The pandemic really has been the catalyst for cultural change.
Not only does offering a digital workplace bring benefits to the business in terms of efficiency, agility and innovation, but a report from Deloitte highlighted it leads to great employee satisfaction and talent attraction. More than 60 per cent of respondents said they would take a lower-paid job if they could work away from the office, and newer communication tools such as instant messaging are preferred over email. Microsoft Teams opens up internal communication and removes bottlenecks that can occur, enabling colleagues to chat, meet or video call and share workflows easily.
Recognising the shift to self-service for customers
A major development in customer service is the digital transformation to support self-service for customers – allowing them to undertake tasks easily, when they want to, via any device and perform a variety of functions. This covers anything from a bank account sign-up, creation of a Government gateway account to access vital personal tax information, or creation of profiles or accounts through which to make payment for services or goods. There is also a rise in self-service through the creation of customer forums or communities, allowing them to self-help by asking questions and finding answers within those forums.
With customers increasingly preferring to self-help via web or mobile self-help channels – 84 per cent according to research conducted by Forrester – businesses must fulfil this desire or be prepared to lose sales to competitors. The Customer Self-Service Portal from Microsoft Dynamics 365 opens up channels of engagement with customers on a unified platform, allowing organisations to boost customer loyalty with high customer service levels as a result of the provision of these digital channels. Furthermore, job turnover time is reduced when agents have the right tools to help customers. Offering multiple levels of customer support, from self-service through to digital communication channels, is key to increasing efficiencies that will aid customer satisfaction.
Whether the business is an SME, large corporate, not-for-profit or public sector, the benefits of solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be realised by businesses spanning multiple sectors. In an ever-evolving economic landscape, businesses can no longer ignore the need for digital transformation.
If you would like to more about how the Microsoft Dynamics 365 cloud-based CRM can connect your business processes and personal productivity and break down the siloes between vital business functions such as sales, marketing and customer services, contact us for a no obligation demo.
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