Most companies have talked about “digital transformation” for many years, but only a few have taken action. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe, businesses had no choice but to modify their business operation models overnight. Digital transformation isn’t just about integrating technologies to automate business processes. It involves a complete overhaul and rethinking of how technology is utilized to create value and respond to changing market situations and customer requirements.
Digital Transformation with Managed Service Provider
The COVID-19 pandemic created the spark, and now digital transformation has become the number one priority for most companies, regardless of scale. As a result, the digital transformation market is expected to grow from USD 469.8 billion in 2020 to USD 1,009.8 billion by 2025 globally, at a CAGR of 16.5%.
Digital transformation offers numerous advantages, such as improved operational efficiency, meeting changing customer expectations, reduced costs, increased revenue, and higher productivity. However, IT teams spend a lot of time maintaining existing systems while also working on introducing new technologies, which becomes challenging for existing employees due to a lack of training and skills—major hurdles that can’t be quickly overcome. This is where managed service providers come into the picture with their expertise in different domains and extensive manpower resources, allowing them to complete tasks in record time without requiring handholding from their clients. Let’s explore how partnering with the best managed service providers can be a game changer in your journey toward achieving hyperscale digital transformation.
Benefits of Digital Transformation
Challenges Encountered in the Digital Transformation Journey
Digital Transformation Challenges
Siloed Decision-Making
Organizational silos can severely dent digital transformation progress. They create hurdles in every step of your digital transformation journey, from building strategy to the final deployment phase. Silos lead to disjointed decision-making as each department focuses on resolving its issues rather than having a holistic approach to reaching the goals as a whole. The problems get aggravated further due to a lack of vision that unifies every team and achieves a common business goal of growth and revenue generation. Overall, the traditional mindset of following the same approach that worked well ten years ago and not being willing to update to a new way of managing business operations can make digital transformation a distant dream.
Legacy Systems
Complacency and not getting out of your comfort zone are common, even in the business world. You can see this flaw when companies still run their business operations using legacy systems despite the availability of the latest cutting-edge technology-equipped platforms. This is because firms usually make huge investments in building these systems and want to extract maximum benefits without much deliberation. However, with outdated software and technologies still running the operations, these legacy systems become a massive hurdle in your quest for digital transformation. In addition, they are often slow and inflexible, making them incompatible with newer technologies and prone to security breaches.
Digital Tech Skill Gap
As businesses deploy digital transformation throughout the organization, virtually every task may require some level of digital skills. Even non-technical job profiles must include basic tech know-how, resulting in a significant digital skills gap. Furthermore, the lack of specialists in core domains increases this gap. Expertise in cloud computing, analytics, cybersecurity, and digital experience is essential for achieving digital transformation. Unfortunately, finding the right people with the required expertise is challenging and expensive.
Shortage of Technical Resources
Along with skill shortages, companies also face a lack of technical resources that slow down the adoption of digitization. A global microchip shortage is creating a huge roadblock for most electronic industries. Additionally, supply chain problems hamper the manufacturing of IT hardware and equipment, delaying the digitization process.
Increased Security Risks
Consumer demands fluctuate regularly, forcing many companies to rush their digital solution deployment without rigorous field testing. This makes them vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, which no company can afford to ignore.
4 Ways the Right Managed Service Provider Accelerates Digital Transformations
Takes User Experience to the Next Level
MSPs can identify problems quickly and troubleshoot them before they impact business operations and customer experience. For example, if a customer uses a new video chat platform and experiences frequent live stream disruptions due to a poor internet connection, MSPs can engage performance-management tools to detect and resolve the root cause instantly. While this may seem like a simple fix, an in-house team might take longer due to workload constraints.
The benefits of managed services include a proactive approach that ensures the right technologies are implemented at the right time. This guarantees an effective digital transformation, where technology platforms remain available without disruptions. Managed Service Providers conduct rigorous testing within and outside the digital environment, instilling confidence in customers as they move forward in their digital transformation journey.
Deliver Cost-Effective Infrastructure
The baseline infrastructure required for digital transformation is often expensive and complex. It involves services and products from multiple vendors, such as middleware development, mobile applications, and online chat networks. Stacking everything together is necessary for achieving full-scale digital transformation.
Managed Service Providers bring expertise in managing complex technology platforms on behalf of customers. They help businesses transition from legacy systems to fully digitalized systems efficiently and cost-effectively.
Partner with a Managed Service Provider That Adds Value
Traditional IT infrastructure services from MSPs are no longer sufficient in today’s competitive market. Businesses now require MSPs to provide solutions that facilitate digital transformation services. For instance, if MSPs offer video collaboration tools, they should not only assist in running the application but also help businesses improve customer engagement and performance. Collaborating with value-added MSPs can accelerate digital transformation efforts significantly.
Boost Digital Transformation Footprint
Managed Service Providers understand that digital transformation is a long-term process. For example, when an MSP successfully rebuilds one domain of a company’s business, it gains credibility to expand its services across other business areas. This allows firms to initiate digital transformation capabilities across new divisions rapidly and seamlessly. As a result, MSPs grow exponentially while enabling companies to digitally transform, creating a win-win scenario.
Conclusion
Digital transformation has become the top priority for most companies due to its potential to enhance global reach and generate new revenue streams. However, achieving it in-house with existing technology and workforce poses numerous challenges. Partnering with managed service providers is the best and most efficient way to accomplish digital transformation in a relatively short time.