| | JUNE 20228IN MY OPINIONBy Satrajit Bhattacharya, Head IT, Future Group India With 15 years of experience in Managing IT Field Service & Support, Satrajit has handled multiple retail projects on transformation, transition & service improvements.WHAT IS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ?igital transformation is the process of us-ing digital technologies to create new -- or modify existing -- business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. This reimagining of business in the digital age is digital transformation.Digitisation Vs DigitalisationNot so long ago, businesses kept records on paper. Whether handwritten in ledgers or typed into docu-ments, business data was analogue. If you wanted to gather or share information, you dealt with physical documents -- papers and binders, xerox, and faxes. Then computers went mainstream, and most business-es started converting all of those ink-on-paper records to digital computer files. This is called digitisation: the process of converting information from analogy to dig-ital. The process of using digitised information to make established ways of working simpler and more efficient is called digitalisation. Note the word established in that definition: Digitalisation isn't about changing how you do business, or creating new types of businesses. It's about keeping on, but faster and better now that your data is instantly accessible and not trapped in a file cabi-net somewhere in a dusty archive.Think of customer service, whether in retail, field ops, or a call centre. Digitalisation changed service for-ever by making customer records easily and quickly re-trievable via computer. The basic methodology of cus-tomer service didn't change, but the process of fielding an inquiry, looking up the relevant data, and offering a resolution became much more efficient when searching paper ledgers was replaced by entering a few keystrokes on a computer screen or mobile device. While every dig-ital transformation initiative will have its own specific goals, the main purpose of any digital transformation is to improve your current processes. Digital transfor-mation is important because companies must evolve to remain competitive in their industry. If you aren't evolv-DDigital transformation is important because companies must evolve to remain competitive in their industry. If you aren't evolving, you're falling behind
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