Digital transformation in its very simplest form refers to the automation of processes and customer experience. It introduces tools and technology to relieve the burden of manual and time-consuming tasks. Businesses across virtually every sector have had to embrace digital transformation to meet their clients’ increasing demand whilst also expanding their digital footprint in order to remain competitive.
“In a study conducted by Unit 4, it was revealed that globally, office workers spend 69 days a year on administrative tasks, costing companies approximately $5 trillion a year. In the same study, 67% of respondents said that implementing digital or automated solutions would be critical to their ability to remain competitive in the marketplace.” – “50+ Key Business Automation Statistics for 2021”, Frevvo
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a deeper emphasis has been placed on the need for automation across the entire business landscape. In the past, many organizations viewed digital transformation as an additional cost to the business, as opposed to an important cost of doing business. There has been a considerable mindset shift — digital transformation is now viewed as a method for cost-savings and increased efficiency in organizations’ day-to-day operations.
Businesses have had to face the harsh reality of having to ration their teams and resources in order to remain in business and continue effectively servicing their clients. This has meant having to do more with less, with the added complication of having to work almost entirely remotely.
“Market research organization IDC states that companies lose between 20% to 30% of revenue per year due to inefficient and manual processes. In addition, the IDC predicts that the global spending on the necessary technologies and services for digital transformation will surpass $2.3 trillion by 2023. These numbers are considerably outweighed by the benefits to be derived through efficiency and an enhanced customer experience.” –“The Cost of Digital Transformation”, Lightico
As the IDC explains, there are multiple benefits to be realized from implementing digital transformation. Here are just a few examples:
Modernizing systems for increased reliability:
Digital transformation can be viewed as a way to modernize existing technologies and payment infrastructures to enable agility, reliability, and resilient system interoperability. Expectations of 24/7/365 global up-time has meant that technology needs to be scalable and reliable in order to avoid failures and mitigate any potential damage to reputations.
Unlocking insights into organizations’ operations:
While automation is a major benefit, digital transformation also provides the ability to harness data to create informative analytics through business intelligence to examine performance benchmarks. This helps organizations identify opportunities for operational improvements and new market expansions.
Creating opportunities for business growth:
As we look beyond the cost savings, we see that digital transformation is also a key enabler for organizations to identify opportunities to grow their business and service portfolios. This allows for a speedier introduction of new services to the market, thereby catering toward increased demand and thus stimulating revenue growth. If implemented correctly, the digital transformation of business operations can have a metamorphic effect across the entire organization.
Some of the specific growth benefits to be gained through digital transformation include (“Five reasons why digital transformation is essential for business growth”, ITPro):
- Meeting the expectation of on-demand services
- Helping teams to be more effective in their day-to-day business operations
- Heightening Security and Resilience
- Strengthening Business Relationships
- Enabling faster decision making
Charting a path forward:
In order to enable system interoperability, integration tools can be implemented that allow for the seamless exchange of information both internally and externally. These tools allow for harmonization of the way and format in which information is exchanged.
One such tool is Symmetree by Axletree®, which provides enterprise integration as a service to global banks and corporates. Symmetree takes an agnostic view of data formats and networks of exchange for ease of financial message processing across disparate systems.
Symmetree provides a platform that enables companies to realize cost savings as a result of straight through frictionless payment processing, and empowers companies to make payments how they want, when they want, to whomever they want.
Axletree’s format and network agnostic service has been architected based on rich standards such as ISO 20022 and acts as a bridge between legacy and new payment and banking systems. It uses smart validation and enrichment methodologies to ensure that errors are minimized and risks mitigated. In the event that issues are identified, alerts and notifications are automatically generated for timely issue resolution.
This is helping companies to quickly take advantage of existing and emerging connectivity protocols and technologies, as well as removing the burden of legacy system format inefficiencies.
Learn how Symmetree by Axletree is helping organizations to unlock opportunities for growth through straight through processing and digital transformation.
Written by Andrew O’Garro
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March 23, 2021
