How to Drive Change with the Right Digital Transformation Strategy

Organizations must develop a robust digital transformation strategy in a rapidly evolving business landscape. It’s a trend we see across industries—with estimates suggesting that by 2026, we will spend $3.4 trillion globally on reimagining customer experience and driving innovation.

Digital transformations (DX) make organizations more agile and resilient and help them gain competitive ground. It also constitutes a foundational change in how organizations deliver value to their customers.

Generally, a digital transformation strategy is an attempt by an organization to digitize and modernize its operations and systems. Creating such a digital ecosystem isn’t about adopting new technologies only, but also facilitating a shift in culture, workflow, and processes.

Adversely, many organizations are seriously unprepared to deal with this transformation, and a lack of a clear strategy is holding them back. In fact, an average of 87.5% of all businesses fail to meet their pre-defined transformation objectives.

In this article, we take a deep dive into how to develop a digital transformation strategy within your industry.

What is a Digital Transformation Strategy?

A digital strategy isn’t a solution that can be easily arrived at by placing a few executives in a locked room. It is a multi-faceted initiative that requires striking a balance between driving cultural change and facilitating long-term technological advancement. 

Digital transformation (DX) refers to the reinvention of supply chains and the implementation of digital solutions. The strategy goes beyond IT modernization and considers aspects across engineering, manufacturing, and service—including customer experience, value proposition, and employee skill sets.

Digital transformation is, in and of itself, a broad business strategy. The digital transformation strategy is about enabling digitally driven business innovation to reach the business strategy.

The Four Pillars of Digital Transformation

Holistically, there are four pillars in the digital transformation journey. Each of the pillars serves as a guide and poses critical questions about an organization’s preparedness.

1. Digital Vision 

What does digitalization mean for your organization—What are the business goals? To locate new opportunities? Create new revenue streams? Develop new business models? Or drive a competitive edge?

Executives and IT departments must develop a clear picture of the future to ensure a successful migration. This digital vision addresses crucial questions while taking into account budget, existing business processes, and digital maturity levels.
 

2. Roles and Training 

There’s no point in unveiling a digital transformation strategy if employees are unable to navigate the complexities of new technology. Untrained employees could make mistakes that undercut your intended outcomes. They may even wrongly assess that a system does not work, eroding stakeholder buy-in.

Training employees in new competencies is essential to addressing this skill gap. Companies can empower their workforce by revisiting roles, hiring new talent, and embracing transformation through strategy mapping.
 

3. Digital Culture

To deal with resistance, executives must foster a digital culture and communicate with employees the vision behind this transformation. Supportive executives let employees adjust, create upskilling opportunities, and encourage employees to experiment with new technologies.
 

4. C-Suite Transformation

The transition of power from Boomers to Millennials has driven workplaces to adopt a tech-first culture.

Millennial-led C-suites understand the need for digital technologies in a rapidly evolving business landscape. Embracing this culture is crucial to developing a sound transformation strategy. This can involve executives adopting a device-first perspective, understanding that new technologies are meant to enhance, not replace, and that innovation never ends.

6 Steps to Create a Digital Transformation Strategy

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital transformation. Depending on an organization’s goals, industry, or digital maturity, businesses can take multiple paths to arrive at the same destination.

That said, there is a general framework that can help plan how to develop a digital transformation strategy. Each step of the process involves addressing a host of pertinent questions:

• Define your purpose: How will digitalization affect your future mission and vision?
  
• Assess your current capabilities: What services are most critical to the organization? What are their pain points? How relevant are they for the future?
  
• Bring stakeholders on board: Have you briefed executives and investors on the opportunities and risks? Have they authorized the use of their resources?
  
• Engage with collaborators: Do you have employees with relevant skills? Can you hire them? Do you need to form partnerships with other companies?
  
• Train teams: Before launching a digital transformation strategy, how ready is your team to embrace the change? Have you equipped employees to adapt?
  
• Launch and implement the strategy: Have you taken every step into account? Are you ready to deal with this massive transformation?

Digital Transformation Across Vertical Industries

You can see the effects of a well-thought-through digital transformation strategy across industries. The increased adoption of advanced technologies, including cloud migration solutions like digital print solutions, has done wonders to improve workflows and streamline operations across sectors.

But which industries are making the most of digital transformations? And which are left lagging? By focusing on key areas, we can develop a digital transformation plan tailored to a specific industry.

Education

Schools, colleges, and other learning institutions constantly adapt to changing needs. During the pandemic, for instance, it was estimated that 1.5 billion students were left out of the classroom, emphasizing the need for a digital transformation strategy. The industry hasn’t looked back since.

We’ve seen digital transformation’s impact on education take several forms over the years—with gamification, learning apps, and even virtual classrooms emerging as promising developments to help students excel.

Organizations also use digital technologies to simplify administrative tasks. Especially regarding:

• Creating a seamless enrollment experience
• Offering flexible course structures
• Assessing student performance
• Streamlining the admission process

Even digital print solutions feature in education-focused digital transformation. For example, while off-the-shelf 3D printers lack the safety and control features that schools require, modern 3D printing solutions work to improve student participation, promote active learning, and encourage critical thinking.

Schools use cloud solutions to simplify printer management for IT departments. This includes easy payment options, guest printing, and universal print and scan rules across campuses.

When developing an education digital transformation plan, schools should consider how technology affects learning. They should involve key stakeholders in the process and identify areas that need improvement. Lastly, digital implementation should provide support to students and teachers on a daily basis.

Legal

Traditionally, the legal industry has been slow to adopt digital transformation—with paper being the preferred form of documentation. But that’s now changing, as cloud migration solutions become more accessible than ever before.

Moving documents into the cloud reduces costs and increases productivity. Digital workflows enable legal firms to create an efficient way of handling, storing, and managing vast quantities of paperwork.

AI is also easing processes related to court research or contract reviews. Forbes reports that AI is used to predict legal outcomes by analyzing years of trial data to determine if a case is worth fighting.

The COVID pandemic also played its role—introducing the world to online courts. These courts deal with debt collection, divorces, and other civil cases.

Given how regulated the legal industry is, a complete digital transformation may still be some time away. However, CIOs planning digital transformation strategies for their legal company should know that DX isn’t just about technologies but initiating incremental change.

Organizations can implement many DX practices to safeguard sensitive information and reduce costs. This is true even as the industry irons out various restraints.

Finance

Digital transformation has clearly impacted the finance sector. Mobile payments, online banking, and chatbots become more common as the years go by. Organizations are increasingly looking to adopt more disruptive technologies related to Blockchain and big data into their operations.

In 2024, Fintech funding has crossed over $100 billion. 47% of financial services providers expect a radical transformation in the next three years. We expect this transformation to strengthen fraud detection practices, enable data analysis, and adopt cloud accounting systems.

Banks are also increasingly streamlining administrative tasks—related to reconciliations, bill creation, and collection to save time and money. Paperless receipts, automated data entry, and workflow automation are rising across the sector.

Digital print solutions are also valuable, enabling financial institutions to secure their print infrastructure, manage roaming users, and decrease office reliance. Document capture processes also enable financial organizations to go paperless.

Adopting technology increases client satisfaction, brings higher accuracy and speedier transactions, and frees up banks' resources to prioritize customer satisfaction. Financial institutions that adopt a customer-centric approach to their digital strategy stand to succeed.

Government

In the public sector, digital transformation has revolved around adopting new technology, automating outdated processes to improve services, and creating a better experience for businesses engaging with government offices. The hope is that this change will also go a long way in cutting red tape and countering labor shortages.
 

Based on Deloitte's research

Self-service government portals, for example, have made services more accessible to the public. At the same time, electronic document management allows officials to store, manage, and share documents digitally, reducing the need for paper records. In addition, organizations use predictive analytics to improve and accelerate decision-making.

Governments worldwide embrace digitalization to varying degrees. Many focus on digital culture and investing in cloud migration solutions. These increase flexibility and reduce reliance on taxpayers' money.

Digital print solutions also play a part in modernizing public institutions. To learn more about how SAFEQ Cloud transformed print across the UK government department bodies, listen to the podcast episode.

Healthcare

Digital advancements have enabled the healthcare sector to achieve new levels of patient care. It enables medical staff to communicate more effectively and allows patients access to more timely care.

A 2022 study indicated that 99% of healthcare executives saw the value of DX in improving access to care and patient outcomes. This trend includes more on-demand healthcare services, using big data in healthcare, and the popularity of wearable medical devices.

When devising a digital information strategy in the healthcare sector, organizations must pay attention to data security considerations and address interoperability concerns. They should also focus on countering a growing staff shortage, which is a current barrier to timely healthcare.

Healthcare organizations can achieve patient data security and privacy on any print device with digital print solutions. Hospitals can use pull printing and authentication on cloud systems to prevent data from getting into the wrong hands. Such a system can also increase user efficiency, reduce costs, and streamline system management.

Software & IT

It seems only natural that the software and IT sector would be early adopters of digital transformation. Despite what you may think, many companies in this sector still rely on legacy systems. This also means that they suffer from sequential procedures and isolated teams.

Cloud migration solutions empower software companies to transition away from on-premises installations to cloud-based solutions.

At the same time, DX has enabled software companies to adopt a consumer-centric approach. The flexibility of digital platforms and advanced analytics allows businesses to personalize offers. Self-service portals and chatbots, meanwhile, improve customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

Digital transformation strategies also enable collaboration between remote teams, creating new opportunities for global talent acquisition and workforce diversity.

To succeed, a digital transformation strategy in this sector must focus on embracing advanced technology and implementing DevOps strategies. IT teams need to bring together tools, processes, and analytics, and prioritize intelligence-driven decision-making for successful transformation.

Digital print solutions in the cloud are one aspect of this transformation that can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, improve workflows, and take the pressure off IT.

Manufacturing

As we move closer to Industry 4.0, the manufacturing sector begins to embrace futuristic technologies like robots or AI. Companies are focusing much of their progress on delivering faster, better products, services, and customer experiences. For instance, smart factories with integrated systems provide accurate real-time data to both sides of the supply chain.

Digital transformation attempts have broken down silos, with manufacturers, suppliers, collaborators, transporters, and customers forming a transparent, integrated network. This may be unrecognizable from where the sector was 100 years ago, but it is a sign of what to expect from the future.

The sector will only get more efficient by using advanced data analytics, AI, advanced industrial robots, and cobots. We can also expect 3D printing solutions to make a mark as the manufacturing industry continues to drive innovation in additive manufacturing.

In this dynamic landscape, devising a digital strategy that balances driving technological adoption and encouraging adoption among employees will be crucial.

Research shows that industry leaders don’t need much convincing.

• A Gartner study said 80% of CEOs invest in digital technology to counter inflation, scarce talent, and supply constraints
• Forrester research suggests that 90% of manufacturing leaders believe DX is crucial to success

The Role of Digital Print Solutions in DX Strategies

We’ve mentioned the widespread adoption of cloud-powered digital print solutions in digital transformation across sectors. But what are the benefits of a cloud-based print solution? And why are 85% (according to G2) of organizations expected to be cloud-first by 2025? To answer these questions, let’s first understand what a cloud print solution is:

A cloud print service lets users print documents from a variety of devices and locations to their preferred printers. Cloud print software sends information through the cloud, removing the need for direct device-to-printer connections. This improves accessibility, and eliminates the requirement for print drivers in traditional printing methods.

While some companies opt for a hybrid solution that lets them manage their print partly in the cloud and partly on-premises, many others are increasingly looking to embed true cloud print solutions, such as SAFEQ Cloud, into their IT infrastructure.

Digital print solutions come with a host of benefits that make them an integral part of a digital strategy. These include:

• Cost Savings: Research suggests that 46% of total enterprises rank cost reduction as a top objective for moving to the cloud. With cloud print, companies no longer need to account for additional expenses; instead, they pay a monthly fee based on their needs and usage. Then there’s also the elimination of hardware purchases.
  
• Timesaving: Adopting low-touch systems frees IT departments from the burden of installing printer drivers and regularly updating them.
  
• Increased and Proactive Security: True cloud-based solutions come with a dedicated solution provider. They manage software from secure, reliable, and compliant data centers, advanced data privacy protection, and security measures.
  
• Scalability: Cloud solutions enable businesses to accelerate their digital transformation journeys at their own pace. Since cloud print solutions are scalable, businesses can grow and expand their services as needed.
  
  

Go Digital with the Right Cloud Migration Solution

Deloitte identifies three crucial drivers for organizations looking to embrace cloud print solutions. These include:

• Enhanced security
• Data modernization
• Reduced printing costs

To truly access these benefits, you’ll have to first zero in on a solution that fits your preferences. This involves looking into your current infrastructure, developing a clear vision for the future, assessing your cloud readiness, and selecting a solution that’s flexible enough to accommodate your needs.

📖 Read on → Embrace Cloud-Managed Print: 15 Cloud Readiness Tips

Organizations should opt for YSoft SAFEQ Cloud if they’re looking to:

• Keep their company and data safe through various security protocols. SAFEQ Cloud uses a multi-layered defense, zero-trust architecture, and end-to-end data encryption
• Introduce modern infrastructure into IT workflows, eliminate the need for on-premises systems, and benefit from on-demand scalability
• Take advantage of future-ready print solutions and accelerate digital transformation
• Streamline day-to-day print operations, access a full-featured single driver, and support a remote or hybrid workforce
• Benefit from a vendor-agnostic platform that offers a simplified user experience and comes with automatic updates and patches
• Control IT activities easily with a SaaS payment model, reporting features, and more

With SAFEQ Cloud, you get access to a sophisticated architecture that relieves your IT department of non-mission-critical projects.

FAQs on Digital Transformation Strategies

Q1) Which sectors have seen the most successful digital transformation efforts?

Research from the Boston Consulting Group sheds some light on the levels of digital maturity and digital transformation across industries up until that year. The study analyzed digital transformation success by looking into six factors:

1. Well-defined strategies
2. Leadership commitment
3. Effective talent management 
4. Agile mindsets
5. Effective monitoring practices
6. Modern technology architecture

It found that the highest-performing sectors were technology & telecommunications and financial services. The lowest-performing sectors were healthcare, insurance, energy, and the public sector.

Q2) How can organizations prepare for cloud migrations?

Before looking for cloud migration solutions, companies must understand how well their IT environment can withstand cloud adoption. This involves setting S.M.A.R.T. migration goals, understanding the 6 Rs of cloud migration, or researching various hosting options.

If you’re unsure what this entails, take our quiz to easily evaluate your cloud-readiness.

Final Points

Given how rapidly technology evolves, digital transformation strategies will continue to be crucial to stay ahead of the competition. Organizations can make the most of this transition by understanding the DX pillars and learning from industry successes.

📖 Read on → What Is a Digital Transformation Journey Made up of?

Organizations that fail to consider innovative solutions risk being left behind as more businesses adopt modern technology and processes. To see how helpful novel print technology can be, try a demo of SAFEQ Cloud.

We mentioned right at the outset that 87.5% of all businesses fail to meet their DX objectives. By following the tips in this article, you can develop a digital transformation strategy that leaves your organization out of this statistic and on the journey to modernization.