Exploring various ways engineers leverage digital transformation to boost productivity.
Digital transformation has become a vital force in reshaping industries. Adopting and integrating digital technologies into most business areas fundamentally changes how organizations operate and deliver customer value. As engineers worldwide navigate this evolution, one of the compelling benefits of digital transformation is its ability to raise productivity. Through advanced software, automation, data analytics, and enhanced connectivity, digital transformation enables businesses to operate more efficiently, innovate faster, and deliver better outcomes.
Below, we explore the various ways in which digital transformation boosts productivity.
Streamline business processes
Today, engineers spend too much time in low-productivity work such as:
- Hunting for data.
- Seeking access to data.
- Cleaning data to a reasonable level of accuracy and completeness.
- Integrating data using Excel.
- Waiting for others to complete manual work.
Digital transformation delivers significant productivity gains when it includes re-engineering business processes by:
- Simplifying the steps involved.
- Designing steps to minimize the opportunities for errors.
- Improving the availability of relevant digital data to those performing the process.
- Integrating more efficient digital tools into the process.
Digital transformation often triggers the replacement of legacy systems with current software, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and industry-specific software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. Current software packages and SaaS solutions offer:
- More comprehensive functionality.
- Access to best practice processes.
- Better alignment with various business functions.
- Outsourced software maintenance.
For example, ERP systems consolidate many business processes—such as financial accounting, procurement, production management and supply chain management—into one seamless system, reducing the time spent on redundant tasks and increasing the speed at which businesses can operate and make decisions. Streamlined processes lead to improved staff productivity, fewer delays and higher accuracy.
Leading software to design and automate custom processes include Appian, Microsoft Power Automate, Outsystems, Pegasystems Pega, and Oracle BPM Suite. Leading ERP software vendors include Infor, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle Netsuite, SAP S/4 HANA, and Workday.
Automate repetitive tasks
In many businesses, repetitive tasks consume significant time for engineers. The work is not rewarding and error-prone.
Digital transformation enables the automation of repetitive tasks to drive productivity and data quality. Businesses can automate routine and repetitive tasks, such as data entry, report generation, and many customer service interactions, through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and machine learning (ML).
For example, RPA can streamline back-office operations like finance and HR by processing transactions, aggregating data, and performing multi-step workflows without human intervention. This automation reduces the likelihood of errors and speeds up processes. It also frees up time for employees to focus on more strategic tasks that require critical thinking and creativity that directly contribute to business growth.
Leading software vendors for automating repetitive tasks include Automation Anywhere, Datamatics, SS&C Blue Prism and UiPath.
Support data-driven decision-making
Today, engineers and others make decisions in many businesses based on experience, partial data and hunches. That’s often riskier than it seems.
Digital transformation facilitates collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data, which organizations can leverage to make more informed decisions. Data analytics tools help engineers rapidly analyze performance patterns, customer behaviours, and market trends, assisting businesses to adjust strategies quickly and stay ahead of competitors.
Using data to drive decision-making processes enhances productivity by enabling more precise forecasting, leading to better production management, inventory management, and resource allocation. Data-driven decision-making processes are particularly valuable in industries like retail, manufacturing, and healthcare, where many minor improvements in efficiency can lead to significant cost savings and faster service delivery.
Leading software vendors for data-driven decision-making include Altair, Alteryx, Databricks, IBM Watson Studio, Oracle Analytics, SAP Analytics Cloud and Snowflake. Leading software vendors for data visualization include Google Data Studio, Microsoft Power BI, Minitab, Tableau, TIBCO and TrendMiner.
Enhance the customer experience
Organizations continue to experience difficulties delivering the customer service they aspire to.
A key goal of digital transformation is improving the customer experience in all channels, digital or otherwise. Tools such as AI-powered chatbots, self-service portals, and mobile applications allow businesses to serve customers more efficiently and responsively. Digital transformation enables engineers to interact with customers in real time, providing faster responses to inquiries, better product recommendations, and more personalized experiences.
Improved customer experiences can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. When it’s possible to assign fewer employees to resolve common customer issues, productivity increases and costs decrease. Dedicating more employees to customer relationship building and innovation drives sales and profitability.
Leading software vendors for customer experience management include Birdeye, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, Podium, and Zendesk. Leading software vendors for call center operation include Five9, Nextiva, Nice CX-One, RingCentral and Talkdesk.
Digital transformation is not just a technological upgrade but a fundamental shift in how businesses operate and deliver value. It has proven to be a powerful driver of productivity, enabling businesses to streamline processes, automate mundane tasks, make data-driven decisions, enhance customer experience, and boost collaboration and communication.
Organizations that embrace digital transformation are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the modern marketplace, innovate faster, and remain competitive. As technology continues to evolve, the businesses that effectively harness the power of digital transformation will enjoy sustained productivity gains and long-term success.
