The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was already underway before the coronavirus pandemic, has accelerated in recent years due to social distancing. What is certain, however, is that we are now already starting to reinvent the way we do business in our daily lives and that there is an urgent need for a transformation of the digital landscape.
Understandably, today’s businesses have begun to make fundamental changes rapidly and intensively in the way they operate and deliver customer experiences, and as such, the so-called Digital Transformation has been introduced to the world of eCommerce.
The meaning of this is quite vague and varies depending on the sector and the work being done. However, we emphasize that it basically involves rethinking business models, transforming the business process, and reshaping the corporate culture.
The main idea behind this term is the use of technology, not just to replicate an existing service in digital form, but to transform a service into its best version.
Digital transformation is one thing and digitization is another?
Digital transformation is in no way driven by technology, nor is it the same as digitization of a company, which is the transfer from the analogue to the digital world (e.g. digitization of documents).
Digital Transformation is that element that allows a company to develop its business in the digital business world, focusing on the customer and solving their problems.
This means, of course, creating effective ways of using digital tools and consequently identifying new ways of doing business. In practice, in this case, technology is merely a means of implementing the process of transforming decision-making.
What are the categories of digital transformation?
- Transformation:
Involves using new sources of innovation to improve experiences and economic performance, rather than simply upgrading existing systems.
- Decision-making:
Involves the use of information for practical application.
- Technology:
Involves innovative applications such as: cloud, mobility, big data, Internet of Things and robotics.
What does digital transformation involve?
Digital Transformation can include many different technologies, but those topics that are trending right now are:
- Cloud Computing
After virtualization that allowed many operating systems to run on the hardware of a single physical server, cloud computing emerged, which offered virtual infrastructure as a service (IaaS) over the internet. Today, most businesses use cloud computing in some form (e.g., they store their email in Google Drive).
- Internet of Things (IoT)
This technology consists of “smart” devices that are connected to each other and exchange data. From the healthcare sector to transport services and commerce, the Internet of Things, with its data-collecting sensors, has already begun to transform aspects of our daily lives, just as the spread of 5G networks has dramatically increased its potential.
In the world of e-commerce, large volumes of data are being harnessed to provide consumers with deeply personalized shopping experiences. This is done through machine learning, which can modify algorithms based on past consumer activity and offer customized recommendations.
Several users view this activity tracking as a violation of their privacy and have the option to opt out of personalization.
For now, however, Internet of Things devices are still attractive. Therefore, you can use them in your branding by installing product suggestion integrations on your website.
- Augmented Reality (AR)
Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), in which the user is completely immersed in a virtual world, Augmented Reality enhances a real-world scene with digital elements. In the latter case, in the context of eCommerce, shoppers will be able to visualize the products they are interested in, instead of just seeing pictures and reading product descriptions. This is a huge game changer in an era where customers prefer e-shops to physical stores for their shopping.
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
This is a form of machine learning used to make decisions and predictions. Specifically, it allows a computer to make decisions based on the data it has been trained on, as well as relevant information input by humans. An example is devices that make use of your voice commands to provide functions such as playing music.
In the context of eCommerce, Greek businesses today have realized that they need to move at the pace of digital transformation. This term is broad and therefore companies should choose the appropriate developing technologies based on their business needs.
SoftOne contributes in the most revolutionary way to the digital transformation process of Greek businesses with SHOPRANOS, the first B2B eCommerce platform in Greece with AI support. Automatic content creation in 30 languages is performed, existing texts are optimized and elements are automatically added to the e-shop content that significantly improves the SEO ranking of the e-shop.
We can see that choosing the right tools requires an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of each e-commerce business. Such an understanding, of course, will help the business to invest properly and chart its own course for future innovations.
Therefore, since digital transformation is an ongoing process of adapting to an ever-evolving environment, both leaders and employees need to acquire a digital background and frequent updates on the current state of new technologies.