Keep up or die. Though digital transformation is not exactly a new phenomenon, it has never been more relevant than now. And it will become increasingly important to organisations in order to survive. In a world where one technological advancement succeeds the next at an exponential pace, how do you keep up?
In the past few decades, we have seen physical actions shifting to the computer. We have seen companies build websites and go from an informative function, to an interactional one. We have come a long way, as both individuals and businesses, to transform to the digital world we live and work in now. But the transformation is not over yet - far from it.
Again, there is a giant shift happening in the (digital) world. SaaS is still on the rise and companies are moving basically every aspect of their business to the cloud, from business processes to their communication. And this won’t be the last change your company will have to make, I can guarantee you that.
It can take years for organisations to get their new way of working up and running smoothly, let alone let their employees get used to it. And when they finally think they're done - surprise! - new necessary changes will come knocking. Delightful, isn't it?
Already, IT professionals go through several major, mid-tier and countless reactive projects every year. With technological advancements succeeding each other at an exponential pace, how are they supposed to keep up? Digital transformation will not be a big project they do once in a while, it will be a constant. How do they keep it from overwhelming them?
So, are we doomed to eternally transform? Yes and no. We probably will continually be in a digital transformation, yes, but I wouldn't exactly call it 'doomed'. It all, naturally, depends on how you deal with it. You can try to fight it - and fail, you can overwhelm yourself with one big project after another, or you can find a way to smoothly incorporate digital transformation into your business.
You will probably never be able to be independent of technology. It is as simple as that. Even if your core business doesn't involve the use of technology, such as in the health care or construction industry, technology will still play a key supporting role. So no matter what business you are in, everlasting digital transformation is a fact you can't escape from. You can, however, make it work for you. Just like many academic writing companies now use the digital workspace to engage their employees and streamline the work process multitasking and collaborating online is a must for them.
The current big shift is all about information and applications moving to the cloud. Switching your entire workspace to the cloud as well, allows you to become independent from large purchases and installations, and gives you the freedom to quickly and easily scale licenses up and down and switch software if you'd like. This will make you way more agile for future developments. In a sense, going along with the current big transformation themes will prepare you for future ones.
So rapid changes will require you to rapidly change. Makes sense. So instead of chopping up these changes in separate burdensome and time-consuming projects, why wouldn't you make it an ongoing process?
Accomplishing change is more feasible one bit at a time, continuously, than one big change after another which people have to get used to over and over again. It is even better when you make big positive changes without bringing big changes to the people who use the technology. Oxymoron? I can assure you, it's not.
So you’ll want to achieve a certain level of technology independence and agility, while continuously transforming, without causing too much change. While this may seem impossible, or at least a challenge, there is actually a simple solution: an adaptive workspace.
Workspace 365 lets you unite all your technology, local and remote as well as cloud, which allows you a smooth transition to the cloud. The adaptive workspace unifies all your information, applications, news, documents, systems and more, and offers them with the same ease of use. Due to the technology-independence of the workspace, there are endless integration possibilities. Nonetheless, the interface will remain just as simple and user-friendly. No matter what technology lies beneath, people will still be able to work the way they're used to, without any major changes.
This enables a high level of flexibility and adaptability. It allows you to smoothly and continually transform, thereby making it possible for you to break free from big transformation projects and negatively disrupting changes.
Curious? Try a free demo and experience it yourself! Or get in touch with us.