Digital Transformation is not about Technology

Because digital transformation services will look different for every business, it’s hard to pinpoint what it is exactly. Generally speaking, digital transformation means using new technologies to create/modify customer experiences, internal processes or culture in order to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the digital age.

This is our view of Digital Transformation and the areas in which we add value to our clients to compliment this and some real-life examples:

Enabling Flexibility and Agility

Migrating services to the Cloud allows your staff to access important systems wherever they are, as long as there is a connection available. In terms of operational cost flexibility, Cloud services are based on a fluid billing model, meaning you only pay for the Cloud resources you use and need, reducing waste significantly.

Microsoft Office 365 provides you and your staff with multiple tools to use across multiple platforms and devices, including SharePoint (for Cloud based files storage), Teams (to provide messaging, audio calling and video calling) and Office applications (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint etc). The CSP licencing model for 365 allows you to scale both the number of users you have as well as the type of licence, meaning you can provide the perfect amount of business application licencing to your business without wasting money.

From a user perspective, Office 365 allows you to work from anywhere without having to access business systems in the office, via a remote session or VPN. Multiple users can work on the same documents without the need to save different versions, so collaboration is a huge part of 365.

Realistically, we could put a book together on Teams but the starting point for everything 365 is not the implementation but the training of how to get the most from this fantastic service. This is where our clients have benefited most.

Related Services: Infrastructure as a Service | Telecoms | Office 365

Reducing Operational Expense

Introducing a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that reduces your business’ downtime costs is imperative. We help our customers to understand their specific cost of downtime and loss of data. Calculate your business’ downtime cost here.

Related Services: Managed IT Support Services | Infrastructure as a Service | Office 365 | Back up and Disaster Recovery

Enhancing Customer Experience

Business leaders often expect that the implementation of one single tool or app will enhance customer satisfaction on its own. Our experience shows that the best way to maximise customer satisfaction is often to make smaller-scale changes to different tools at different points of the service cycle. The only way to know where to alter and how to alter is through obtaining extensive and in-depth input from your customers. There are several ways this can be done, from a simple online survey to an in-depth face-to-face discussion.

One of our clients was challenged with the lack of collaboration and communication between different sales departments, who all had their own customer base.  The ultimate objective was for the business to share customer knowledge across all sales departments to improve service levels and service offerings to their whole client base. By introducing Microsoft Teams they are now able to effectively communicate and collaborate on certain projects and customers. In turn this had a direct impact on both the business culture, communication and the experience their clients have with them.

Related Services: Office 365 | Telecoms | 24/7 Support | Infrastructure as a Service

Supporting Efficiency in Business
A good example of reducing operational costs would be to mitigate or reduce downtime of your systems. This can be improved by making sure you have the latest and most efficient infrastructure, which can be addressed by migrating your systems to the cloud. It’s the cloud providers job to keep hardware and software up to date and secure as part of a monthly subscription. The outcome of this would be maximum uptime of important systems like, email, files and folders, CRM and phone systems.

Related Services: Managed IT Support | Office 365 | Infrastructure as a Service

Ensuring Security and Compliance

It is becoming a standard requirement to prove that your business is secure and compliant. Your customers demand it and without the correct security credentials and proof, businesses can easily lose opportunities with new and existing clients. Your IT provision is a huge part of this. Your customers want to know their data is safe and secure in your hands and that your IT provision is of high quality.

One of our customers previous IT providers didn’t have the ISO 27001 or cyber essentials plus accreditation. This meant that data kept by the IT provider was considered not to be secure. One of their larger clients required them to have an IT provider with the correct security credentials meaning the change to AAG had a direct positive effect on their overall revenue streams.