Digital transformation is a must for all businesses, from small to big enterprises. For many sectors and businesses, digital channels have become the primary source of customer-engagement models and automated processes. And, that has become a primary driver of productivity—and the basis of flexible, transparent, and stable supply chains.
When asked about the benefits of digital transformation, the most popular answer among the consultants was the innovation and business model change, followed by improved customer experience. Furthermore, this message comes out clearly from seemingly every keynote, panel discussion, article, or study related to how businesses can remain competitive and relevant as the world becomes increasingly digital. However, still many business leaders are confused as to what digital transformation really means. Is it just catchy modern jargon or means moving every work to the cloud? What steps they should take to make their business digitally compatible? Do they need external help or they can achieve digital transformation by hiring internally? And most importantly is digital transformation really worth it?
Business Consultation vs Technical Consultation
Building an efficient digital strategy for a company is not a straightforward task. In addition, it requires technology, industry, market, and business know-how and thorough analytics capabilities. Digital business consulting firms specialize in the development of digital strategies and implementation tactics, among other services. At the onset, they have analytics and business expertise to figure out how a company can achieve its short and long-term innovation goals efficiently. On budget, business consultants also support the company to consider its market standing, industry best practices, trends of technology.
Tech (Digital) consultants provide service that helps companies formulate their digital transformation strategy and implement it. So, these solutions help to enhance their performance through digital technologies. Digital Transformation Consultants (DTC) analyze the company’s tech infrastructure, processes, people, and organization. Especially, they will express these factors to both strengthen the organization’s short-term performance and maintain sustainable long-term improvement.
Digital Transformation in Consulting Industry predicts that within the next years, the business and delivery models of consulting have to be re-designed and partly re-invented. It is inevitable that technology-based consulting solutions will gain more ground. This will result in the rise of the importance of IT and associated qualifications, and the war-for-talents in consulting will get even tougher than today.
Benefits of Digital Transformation for Consulting sector (Business and Technical)
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Streamlined Admin Tasks:
For a consultant (from any facet), processing routine paperwork (client invoices, payrolls, progress reports, etc.) is probably the dullest part of the job. Apart from that, it takes up a considerable amount of time. And, companies can use this time effectively to grow a client base or create new opportunities for the firm.
As it happens, machines are much more efficient when it comes to routine admin tasks. Robotic process automation or digitization, also known as RPA, devices can help companies with a wide range of admin tasks. Consultants would gain in time by digitizing the creation and delivery of invoices and all the record-keeping in general. The more high-end AI devices can even act as decision-makers as they have the capacity to make more logical and consistent business decisions. Or, sometimes high-end AI devices help engineers check regulatory forms to avoid non-compliance fines.
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Improved Productivity:
By streamlining day-to-day processes with financial software or just removing responsibilities. For example, scheduling meetings, making restaurant reservations, recording conversations, etc. from junior staff member’s workloads translates into higher engagement and productivity. The fact that they have more rewarding tasks on their plate, will also keep the junior staff members more motivated on their job. Similarly, in retail, in-store robots are helping customers by making faster check-outs and maintaining inventory. All these innovations will improve over a period of time and gain momentum post-Covid-19. Businesses that have moved towards these innovations will find themselves in a stronger position compared to their competitors.
Consulting services are famous for being expensive and far out of budget reach for many small and medium enterprises. However with access to new digital tools the consulting market is opening up as new automated low-cost solutions surface. At the moment, almost 80% of revenue growth depends on digital offerings and operations. The situation has put a shade on companies that are slow to invest and adapt in their digital strategy. Companies will have to balance short-term efforts with long-term strategies in order to come out of this pandemic more competitive. Strong models, processes, technologies, and strategies make the backbone of an organization in good & bad times. Now is the time for organizations to take advantage of the situation and digitally transform themselves to be able to handle increased demand post this pandemic period.
It should be noted that digital transformation can be a difficult transition for some businesses. With the right communication, tools, and leadership, you can take your first steps in digital transformation today. As digitization and innovations emerge more rapidly, industries are going to be more connected than ever.
In summary
To conclude on the matter in order for a consulting AI to work, an extremely expansive and flexible intelligence system alone is not enough; it also has to incorporate fields outside of AI to solve the problems of unpredictable human behavior.
On a final note, AI and automation have huge potential in the consulting industry. The consulting firms shouldn’t pass on the good advice they give to their clients and up their digital game as soon as possible. Even if there’s still much work and research to be done when it comes to automated self-service consulting, all consulting firms should incorporate AI and automation into their processes at some level, in order to grow their client base or increase customer loyalty through increased efficiency.
