Digital transformation has become a topic that’s hot on the lips of business owners across the world. As everything digital continues to drive changes in how the world’s population connect and communicate with each other, it’s only natural that this digital transformation should feed into how businesses operate. So what exactly is digital transformation? Well, it’s the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business; it means completely redefining how you operate and deliver value to customers. But this sort of seismic change cannot be championed by a single department – it requires a deep cultural change at the heart of any organisation and buy-in at every level. Any business hoping to achieve a transformation through digital implementation must continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and be prepared to overcome failure. 

Our work as a digital transformation agency means that we oversee digital strategies for businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to fully fledged enterprises. But what digital transformation looks like for one business will vary greatly to the next. There isn’t a one-size-fit-all approach that will guarantee success for any business in any industry. Instead, it’s about ensuring each business is equipped with a tailored strategy to introduce technologies that will fundamentally improve the way they operate and grow as a business. This means walking away from processes that businesses were often founded on in favour of new processes that are still being defined – which we at 6B acknowledge can be a daunting prospect. However, an unwillingness to embrace emerging technologies can mean that a business is left behind and becomes uncompetitive. All we know is that an openness to such technologies will give your business the very best chance of succeeding in this digitised economy.

The world we inhabit today has become digital, global and hyper-connected, characterised by monumental changes in the social and economic spheres which are driven by new technologies and new ways to use them emerging every year. For a long time digital transformation has been somewhat of a slogan used by those who work in tech promising a different type of future, but that future has arrived and it is happening all around us. To succeed in this ever-changing landscape, it’s imperative for businesses to escape their comfort zones and reinvent themselves and their approach to do business. A digital transformation agency like 6B, who have the knowledge and technical expertise are perfectly placed to help guide your business through this. 

As a digital transformation agency, we recognise the immense benefits that widespread digital adoption can bring to any organisation. The integration of digital technology into all areas of an organisation can fundamentally transform how a business operates, impacting everything from systems, processes, workflow and culture. For many companies, the decision to embrace digital transformation is purely cost related, namely in that it helps reduce operational costs. However, the many benefits go far beyond saving money alone and can result in an enhanced customer experience, greater return on investment, and increased productivity. 

Here are some of the benefits we’ve noticed at 6B as a digital transformation agency. 

Improved data collection 

Nearly every business collects a mountain of data – be it customer data or internal data about how their business operates on a day-to-day basis. But if this data isn’t optimised for analysis, it is relatively useless. Digital transformation enables businesses to use data as a way of driving the business forward, spotting new opportunities for growth and identifying areas of concern that need to be addressed. By incorporating data into your strategy as a business, you can extract real insights from raw data and enhance the way your company does business. 

However, better collection of data doesn’t only equate to deeper insights about your customers. Enhanced data collection will allow your business to do things in a more secure way. You need to assess how data is being stored and shared as part of this process, ensuring that sensitive data is encrypted and only shared with the relevant people. Today’s consumers are more aware than ever of how their data is being collected, stored and shared, so by employing strong data measures you can begin to differentiate yourselves from your competitors and reaffirm trust in your brand. 

Free up valuable resources 

As a digital transformation agency, one of the main benefits 6B can bring to organisations wishing to increase digital adoption is the better management of resources within their company. Whether it’s manual processes that could be automated or integrating disparate systems, technology can facilitate this change and help eliminate non-value added tasks. 

What’s important is for your business not to view digital transformation as a siloed, departmental effort – it has to spark a wider cultural change within your organisation. It should be viewed as the central component to your business’ efforts to increase efficiency and productivity. If you adopt this mindset, you’ll be pleasantly surprised about just how many resources across different departments and touchpoints will be freed up. 

Data-driven customer insights 

In a world where consumers have access to pretty much anything they could want or need at the touch of a button, expectations about what they expect from brands they interact with have soared. As a result, businesses have had to adapt to these changing expectations and deliver a better service. 

Data is integral to finding out more about your customers and meeting their needs. By gaining a deeper understanding of your customers and their needs, you can tailor your offering with a personalised service and content strategy that is entirely user-centric and relevant to each customer. 

Deliver a better customer experience  

Better insights into what motivates your customers will ultimately lead to a more enhanced customer experience – one that is relevant and personalised to each individual customer. Digital transformation won’t only help to free up internal resources within your organisation, but it will also help to create a more intuitive and seamless customer journey. Whether it’s using chatbots to provide instant answers to queries, or customer portals to help users complete tasks autonomously, these technologies will improve their overall experience with your brand. 

Consumers now have an endless choice of brands to interact with in any chosen market. If they don’t feel like their business is valued by a certain brand, they will turn their attention online and search for another one who can fulfil their needs. Providing a superior customer experience can go a long way to setting your business apart from your closest competitors. 

Enable collaboration across departments 

Remote working has become the norm since the start of the pandemic, with almost every business enabling staff to work a percentage of their contracted hours remotely. But even before this became a major element of modern day working, collaboration across departments has traditionally been difficult. 

As a digital transformation agency, 6B knows first-hand of the incredible benefits that technology can bring when it comes to facilitating collaboration. Interactive documents and online applications like Slack have transformed the way we work together and the way we communicate with clients, allowing for seamless collaboration in real-time regardless of geographical location. 

Innovation and agility are heightened 

Any digital transformation agency prides itself on the ability to constantly innovate and work in an agile manner. Without technology, this simply wouldn’t be possible. For continued success in a business world that is constantly evolving due to technological advancements, the need to embrace emerging technologies has never been more prevalent. 

Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are just two examples of technologies that businesses like yours can leverage to transform your digital operations and enhance your brand’s offering. Enhanced innovation and agility are not guaranteed by the adoption of new technology, but in doing so you can create a company culture where they at least have the chance to thrive. 

Increased profits 

As great as cutting costs is, we at 6B recognise the investment that’s needed from businesses to digitally transform themselves. This means that business owners ultimately want to know if their profits will yield a return from this investment – and the simple answer is yes. 

By enhancing efficiency and productivity within your organisation, it is only natural that you will see an upturn in your profit margins. By empowering your team with the right tools and technology they need to do their job more effectively, you will more than likely recoup that initial investment and then some.

Digital transformation encompasses a broad range of processes, systems and strategies. It can relate to anything from IT modernisation to the development of new digital business models. Generally speaking, it refers to the widespread adoption of digital technology to improve or develop the way a business operates. It’s the process of analysing the demands of a business’ end users – be they customers, employees or both – and using technology to improve the overall user experience. And it has been proven that companies who successfully implement digital transformation grow at a faster rate than their competitors. 

So as a digital transformation agency, which technologies do 6B offer to accelerate business growth? While there isn’t one technology that goes ‘hand-in-hand’ with digital transformation, these are the technologies we specialise in that we think are worth exploring.

Mobile 

Over the past two decades, the mobile phone has irreversibly changed the way we live our lives, and nearly everyone on the planet has access to one of these pocket-sized devices. Subsequently, this has meant that mobile has become something of a focal point for businesses looking to accelerate their digital transformation. With a large proportion of consumers preferring to purchase from and interact with brands on their phone as opposed to a desktop or in person, i’s an opportunity that cannot be ignored by businesses. 

At 6B, we recognise the rapid rise of mobile phones and what this means for businesses. Whether it’s optimising a website so it performs just as well on a phone screen, or creating an app that gives users 24/7 accessibility to the brands they align themselves with, the importance of mobile and how it can transform a business isn’t lost on us. And as mobile becomes even more powerful with the widespread introduction of 5G, the ripple effects will be felt throughout every industry. 

Cloud 

Cloud technologies have the power to fundamentally change existing business models. Any digital transformation agency that really knows its stuff knows that leveraging the cloud is essential to any large-scale digital adoption effort. It enables greater flexibility and agility, whilst paving the way for enhanced scalability. 

The utilisation of the cloud allows organisations to use remote resources with the sole purpose of storing and processing data on demand, without the need for costly hardware purchases. Rather than purchasing hardware that is likely to take up a lot of space and only yield a return after a few years, businesses can allow their team to work effectively online with cloud technologies that store large amounts of data while maintaining a high level of security.

Internet of Things (IoT)

A primary motivation for embracing digital transformation has to be to improve the overall experience of your end users, whether that’s your customers or employees. IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices that are fitted with unique identifiers and enable the transfer of data over networks without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. 

An IoT ecosystem consists of smart devices that use embedded systems like sensors and communication hardware, to collect, send and act on data they receive. As a digital transformation agency, we’ve witnessed the transformative impact this technology can have, providing unprecedented visibility for industries such as healthcare to better monitor patients. 

API integration

When the success of your organisation depends on the ability to share and embed data, API integration becomes an integral solution in your digital transformation. It seamlessly integrates this data between disparate applications, systems and programs to provide your business with a single point of truth that speeds up how you run business operations. 

At 6B, we have long championed the use of API integration for clients in sectors spanning healthcare to housing; it not only helps to streamline processes which save organisations a huge amount of time, but it is also one of the more affordable technologies we use to help accelerate growth in your business. It’s a powerful and flexible tool that enables businesses on a budget to integrate different components on a single platform. 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 

In terms of digital transformation, RPA plays a vital role in driving operational efficiency and freeing up your team to focus on tasks that actually require human intelligence like interacting with customers. But this doesn’t mean replacing humans altogether. Instead, its function goes way beyond fulfilling repetitive and manual tasks – it is best used in conjunction with humans to inform analytics and decision making. 

RPA should be seen as an invaluable technology that can be utilised to help increase speed and accuracy in processes – and it’s widely used in the healthcare and manufacturing industries for this exact purpose. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

Although still very much in its infancy in terms of adoption, as a digital transformation agency, we expect AI to be a huge driving force in digital transformation for small businesses in years to come. It’s already being used to automate tasks and guide humans on making better decisions, but this tool will be able to provide analytics on a level previously never seen before. 

By combining the exponential rise of computing power with the increase in access to data, AI will be able to unlock even deeper levels of analytics and insights that will present completely new ways of working. AI is already effective at carrying out tasks at a faster rate than us humans, so with the use of other technology to supplement its power, we can expect more and more to come from AI in the near future. 

Data and real-time analytics 

A digital transformation agency like 6B acknowledges the very real power that data and analytics present. Whether a business is looking to connect with customers on a deeper level, generate more leads, or reduce costs, data and analytics should form the cornerstone of any of these efforts. 

By analysing structured and unstructured data on a large volume scale, businesses can gain an insight into what metrics they must improve on to achieve their business goals. And when transitioning to new technologies, businesses should only expect this trove of data to multiply in size, which ultimately will improve the insights they can gather from the data. So the ability to organise and view this data in real-time represents a huge competitive advantage and opens the door for businesses to control a larger market share.

6B delivers positive, affordable and lasting change to organisations across the UK.

We can deliver digital tools, services and approaches that benefit your organisation and your customers, as we work with you to devise and deliver a digital transformation strategy that meets your needs now and in future.

We have a strong track record of designing and developing innovative digital products and services that improve staff productivity and customer satisfaction, while providing your organisation with a scalable platform.

We can also work with your wider team to instil a culture of innovation and continuous improvement – delivering positive change across your organisation that is guaranteed to stick.