2020 marks the beginning of a new decade – one in which we are sure to see continued, massive advances in technology. As technology evolves, businesses have the ever-consuming task of keeping up with the latest and greatest to decide if it's right for them. Even if your business isn't trying to implement the sleekest, newest technologies, you're at least likely trying to keep up with the basics. Now's the time to plan for 2020, take stock of technologies you can leverage, and create a plan for digital transformation.
What Does Digital Transformation Have to Do With Anything?
Digital transformation is the process by which a business overhauls both its own technology and the way it uses those technologies to work. It involves moving away from reliance on hardware and legacy-based systems and moving into the cloud. Digital transformation is the term broadly applied to how businesses are using cloud-based services to handle every aspect of their computing needs, thereby cutting costs and risk factors.
Over the last decade, cloud has become the name of the game. From 2020 on, it will be no different. Gartner expects that by the end of 2019, more than 30% of technology providers’ new software investments will shift from cloud-first to cloud-only. Cloud will become the mainstream way of life in businesses. Experts at Gartner have projected the market size and growth of cloud services will be three times that of IT services through 2022.
As cloud is at the core of digital transformation, businesses will be looking to it to uplift their operations in the coming year. Here is how cloud-based technologies – and an overarching approach to digitally transforming your business – can improve how your business runs next year:
Sending your desktop to the cloud. Desktop as a service – or DaaS – is a powerful way to build a remote team. Remote workforces are growing by the year, and businesses are finding savings in minimizing rent payments by employing a work-from-home staff. That staff needs access to confidential company data, and DaaS can enable secure access to your business’s data through a remote desktop solution.
Preparing for a disaster. Cloud-based disaster recovery – or disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) – can ensure your business stays online during an outage. It provides fast, automated, reliable recovery compared to legacy disaster recovery solutions.
Staying secure. When you work with a cloud-based provider of security solutions, you relieve your business of handling all the complicated, arduous work of maintaining security, monitoring and upgrading solutions when needed, and managing all the moving parts in-house. You won’t need to hire a full-time security person because you’ll pay for the cloud service “as you go.”
Migrating to Office 365 and SharePoint. Your business can leverage an impressive, powerful communication and information exchange system by going with Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint. These cloud-based platforms enable your workforce to share files instantly and without having to use separate applications.
Giving your contact center the gift of the cloud. Cloud-based contact centers are discovering advantages that were impossible with legacy systems. With cloud platforms to manage workforces, contact center managers can more easily scale staff for seasonal spikes, handle changes to scheduling needs, and view and track progress of agents. Beyond workforce management, cloud-based contact center solutions give managers advanced reporting that cuts those time-consuming tasks down.
Unite your communications. Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) has taken center stage as the ultimate communications tool for businesses – and not just for large ones. Businesses of all sizes can afford UCaaS and leverage it to use email, chat, voice, and other tools to streamline both internal and external communications.
Want the truth about digital transformation? Talk to the experts at Enterprise Visions. We have the resources and knowledge to walk you through what moving to the cloud would take. Reach out anytime to begin your digital transformation.