The fourth industrial revolution continues to unfold as digital transformation makes its way into all areas of business.
Digital transformation isn’t just a tech fad reserved for the cool kids. This new approach to business has become essential for business growth and survival in today’s world.
It fundamentally changes everything about how companies operate and deliver value to their customers. From keeping up with emerging customer demands to surviving new business models, digital transformation helps businesses stay afloat no matter what’s happening in the world.
The changing landscape of food delivery is a perfect example. When restaurants were faced with strict occupancy rules during the pandemic, they had a few choices: Quit, pause, or pivot.
Some of them, unfortunately, crumbled. Some closed temporarily. But the ones that truly survived were those that started offering online delivery services. In other words, they took advantage of digital transformation. They pivoted.
The same couldn’t be more true for the consulting industry. When the consulting world encountered the pandemic, they had the same three choices.
Luckily, we’ve learned a few things from those that pivoted. That’s what we’re sharing with you today. In this article, we’re sharing 13 ways consultancy agencies can benefit from digital transformation.
Benefits of digital transformation – Internally
Here are six ways digital transformation can benefit your agency internally.
1. Efficiency
From time tracking tools to productivity software to evergreen offers, taking advantage of digital transformation can boost your agency’s efficiency.
For instance, instead of manually updating your calendar with new appointments, you can use a calendar app or booking tool to remain hands-off. This way, your customers can easily see when you’re available, reserve a spot, and pay for their session.
Or, instead of constantly launching new curriculum and courses, you can create evergreen courses that run on funnels and sell themselves.
2. Transparency
Digital transformation boosts transparency and reduces information silos.
Instead of managing customer information using file folders in a drawer, you can access a paperless customer database on any device.
Instead of trying to sort through and organize data, you can have a high-level, cloud-based overview of the data you need.
And the best part? Your entire team can have access to any data they need in real-time, on any device, anywhere in the world.
3. Affordability
There’s no limit to how much money you can save by taking advantage of digital transformation, especially when your agency goes completely digital. Using a passive income app can be a great way to supplement the savings generated by going completely digital, as it provides a simple and automated way to earn additional income without requiring active involvement.
The rent, water, electricity, furniture updates, and amenities you have to pay for in a physical office space disappear when you go digital.
Complex intranets that cost an arm and a leg go away too. Instead, each person on your team has their own login to cloud-based software at a more economical price.
The landscaping, signage, business cards, and back-to-back meetings all disappear, with digital transformation.
4. Implementing new processes and ways of working
As time and technology move forward, businesses constantly have to reinvent themselves to keep up. Digital transformation makes this simpler and more tangible. Whether it’s learning how to create a business site, using automation, or creating social media strategies, digital tools are everywhere.
Does your agency desperately need to create a new business framework or update operational workflows? With digital transformation, you can implement new systems in minutes.
Interested in adding new departments or expanding your services? Digital transformation can help streamline the entire process for you.
5. New departments solve business challenges
All consultancy agencies run into business challenges that can make or break their businesses.
Even if you’re eager to keep up with new challenges, you may still struggle to piece everything together.
But digital transformation can help you create new departments to tackle those challenges head-on.
Need to figure out why your marketing campaigns are failing? Hire a growth hacking department to demystify your failed campaigns and design more promising ones.
Ready to add chatbots to boost your customer service, but have no idea how? Request a live demo with a chatbot software expert, and you’ll get answers in no time.
6. Better, faster data storage
Digital transformation for companies also comes with the added benefit of better security standards in place.
As the need for instant access to data increases, more companies are moving away from traditional cloud networks and toward edge computing.
Edge computing may sound complicated, but the gist is this: There’s a shorter distance between data. What that means is you get better, faster data storage you can access anytime you need to.
With 94% of security breaches being identity-related, introducing better digital systems within your company can help protect company and employee information from malicious attacks.
Security breaches can also happen through your employees’ accounts getting hacked. That’s why protecting your employees in today’s digital landscape with a VPN is also becoming increasingly important. A no log VPN encrypts data, making it unreadable to hackers and identity thieves and is easy to use within a company.
Digital transformation not only enhances data accessibility and storage through edge computing but also plays a pivotal role in strengthening security measures within a company. With the majority of security breaches being identity-related, improving digital systems within your organization can safeguard valuable company and employee information from malicious attacks. If you want to add an extra layer of protection consider using the best incognito search engine and ensure confidential data remains secure.
Benefits of digital transformation – Externally
Here are four ways digital transformation can benefit your agency externally.
7. New business opportunities
Did you know that 70% of companies have a digital transformation strategy?
Companies use digital transformation strategies for many reasons, but possibly the most important one is fostering new business opportunities.
With digital transformation tools, you can spot opportunities you may not have noticed before.
For instance, you can use social media listening tools to reveal common customer pain points. This insight, which you can gain from social media analytics tools will help you brainstorm new products and services that can help reduce or abolish customer pain points.
8. Improving customer experience
One of the most helpful benefits of digital transformation is getting access to better customer insights. Insights that portray who your customers are, what needs they have, and how you can support them during the customer journey. Make sure you are available for their concerns by integrating a cloud-based contact center.
In other words, digital transformation helps you design a pristine customer experience.
9. Strengthening your business strategy
Digital transformation revolutionizes the business strategy process.
Guesswork? Gone.
Questions? Answered.
Planning? Quick and efficient.
With digital transformation tools, you can see:
- Who’s buying consultancy services and why
- Where your target market is and what they need
- What kind of messaging your target market responds to best
- How to build connection and trust with your target market
In other words, digital transformation tools share valuable insights that can help you strengthen your business strategy in a profound way.
Automation Benefits
Ask every agency that’s gone digital what their favorite new tool is and they’ll probably tell you automation.
Here are four reasons why:
10. Automated consulting solutions
Implementing automation increases revenue and productivity.
You know those mundane, repetitive tasks? Automations replace them.
Providing your clients with professional feedback? The entire process can be automated, from the assessment, the scoring — and even sending a personalized feedback report in PDF form.
Scheduling coaching sessions, assigning workbooks, and billing clients? Again, automations can run that for you.
Even the proposal process, project management process, and the customer relationship management (CRM) process can be automated from start to finish. But also other departments, such as HR, are modernizing their operations and are evolving into automated systems. This process is known as HR digital transformation.
11. Access to new digital tools
The consulting market continues to open up, as new low-cost automated digital solutions surface.
Productivity tools continue to replace paper materials, task updates, and company meetings. Customer data platforms continue to replace spreadsheets, CRM files, and scattered customer profiles, learning management systems replace outdated material, course structures, and grading systems.
12. Automating personal advice to scale your business
Automated questionnaires, surveys, and assessments help consultancy agencies scale at a rapid rate because you can give your customers personalized business advice — on auto-pilot.
Take a close look at this case study for a complete breakdown of what we mean.
13. Marketing automation
Marketing automation replaces the need for constantly managing ad campaigns, social media marketing, and email marketing.
Keep in mind, we’re not just referring to scheduling and publishing. We’re referring to the entire process, from markups to approvals to collaborations to marketing workflows.
The type of automations you use will depend on your goals as a consultant.
For instance, if email marketing is your main marketing channel, then you might focus on automating:
- Email newsletters
- Promo emails
- Email marketing campaigns and funnels
If partnering with referral sites is your bread and butter, then you might focus on automating:
- Work orders
- Virtual client requests
- Proposals
Conclusion
Keeping up with emerging customer demands used to feel like an uphill battle. Following business trends used to feel like a full-time job. Staying up to date with the latest technology used to feel confusing.
But with digital transformation, everything’s changed. Thanks to digital transformation, your agency can access every tool, person, and data it needs to thrive.
Ready to see your agency reach new heights? Welcome to the world of digital transformation.
