The digital transformation is what enables corporate transformation in every industry and in every functional department. The event of the digital transformation is leading companies to reinvent themselves and start a process for the evolution of working procedures and strategies adopted so far.
Digital transformation means approach innovation. In fact, technologies concerned by this process are not of a “one-size-fits-all” type: In order to obtain the maximum benefit from their application/implementation, companies must, at the same time, introduce an evolution of processes and of their corporate culture. In this deep changing context, the presence and the support of experts having specific skills in this field is crucial in order to be able to exploit the potential of this transformation in the best way possible.
Companies that first decide to move in this direction can benefit from the so-called first-mover advantage, which can bring them in a few years to become industry leaders and leaders in the market segment in this evolution process.
When any change must be faced, some cornerstones should be set during the transition. In the case of digital transformation, the pillars to be observed and maintained are customer retention and relationships with suppliers/partners who collaborate with the company in the supply chain management.
Technologies involved in the digital transformation process are different and each of them can be used differently depending on the industry in which the company operates and on the business model adopted.
However, there is one thing that is common for all digital transformation processes: big data and data analytics. The collection and analysis of data through tools that turn them into useful information opens up new opportunities for companies. This kind of analysis allows them to connect and interpret destructured data to support managers in the decision-making process and in the evaluation of new business strategies in real time, making their activity faster, more flexible and more efficient.
At the same time, since the tools used for the collection, analysis and smart interpretation of data are physical devices that can receive and transmit data through the Internet (IoT technologies), there is a higher need to protect links, tools and data from the increasing threats coming from the IT world. Cybersecurity therefore becomes a crucial element of the digital transformation: investing in technologies and create dedicated cybersecurity teams is essential to implement a successful strategy in any business.
Sustainability is constantly evolving. The challenges for a responsible interaction with the environment, i.e., an interaction that could maintain a high environmental quality in the long run, are constantly changing and become more and more complex. A digital transformation process and the subsequent adoption and integration of new technologies in the business allow production processes to become more functional, more sustainable ad less polluting over time.
The application of technologies such as Advanced analytics, IoT, AI, Big Data and Blockchain not only generates value for businesses, but it also contributes to the creation of smart ecosystems. It was demonstrated that investing in sustainability implies an improvement in performances, not only in financial terms, but also from a process and corporate culture perspective. Adopting a Sustainability Strategy that integrates the use and implementation of enabling technologies, such as those mentioned above, allows speeding up the achievement of such objectives, maximising the expected result.
There are many examples that show how the integration of these technologies in the Sustainability Strategy generates advantages for a business and for the in which it operates. Synergies between sustainability and digital technologies become increasingly stronger and more complex, involving an increasing number of industries. Below are some examples.
