Important Update
Digital transformation has been around for close to two decades now. However, many businesses have not embraced it yet. In that regard, let us look at how businesses in different industries are taking advantage of digital transformation.
Digital transformation in the transportation industry has largely affected how businesses manage their fleets. It has also affected how car owners can secure their vehicles.
The integration of GPS devices into cars, trucks, and buses can help to keep track of vehicles in real-time. That helps to make drivers more accountable, and in case of an accident, it becomes easier to send car/truck rescue services.
Most important, onboard GPS devices make it easy to navigate around cities, using the shortest and fastest routes.
Virtually all types of vehicles now incorporate an onboard digital troubleshooting system. You can use such a digital system to diagnose the mechanical or electronic failure.
For many auto businesses, such systems make it easy to diagnose and fix issues before the problem worsens. However, without the right diagnostic tools such as OBD2 scanners, it can be difficult to pinpoint and fix even a simple problem.
Before the travel and hospitality industry implemented digital technology, most of their communication with clients was physical or via phone. That meant that in case there were changes or delays, there was no way to notify the customer immediately.
That has now changed, with the introduction of digital ticketing and booking apps. Travel agencies, hoteliers, and airlines can now communicate with passengers in real-time, and passengers can book or cancel their tickets from anywhere they want.
As long as the customers are connected to the internet, they can access flight ticket and hotel booking deals. Overall, businesses in the travel/hospitality industry, which have implemented a digital transformation, have experienced some level of success.
The music and video entertainment industries have also not been spared the effects of digital transformation. In fact, they were among the first ones to adopt it. Long gone are the days when hardcopies of videos and music albums, were the only way to own and access entertainment content.
Today, every entertainment company has an online store and streaming platforms, where they sell their content to users. However, digital transformation has also brought about challenges such as piracy.
Overall, digital entertainment content providers such as Netflix are a good example of how digital transformation, can give a huge competitive advantage when embraced early enough.
The food delivery industry has for a long time failed to implement digital transformation. However, companies such as Domino’s are changing that trend. They have made it possible to order their pizza, from any popular end-user device connected to the internet.
You can order a pizza from Domino’s using your smartphone, laptop, tablet, smart TV, and even from your smartwatch. It is even experimenting with social media, whereby, users can order pizzas using an emoji on Twitter.
Moreover, you may soon be able to order your pizza via Amazon Echo. The service will allow you to use voice commands to make an order, and then track it until it gets delivered. This is a clear message of how digital transformation can positively affect businesses and customers alike.
Banking was among the first industries to benefit from early advances in communication technologies. Such was the case when wire transfers were introduced in banking, to fast track sending of money locally or internationally.
The trend has continued to date, which is why you can now send money anywhere around the world, and someone can have it within minutes. Sometimes, all the recipient needs is an email address, or a phone number, instead of a bank account.
Thanks to banking and money transfer services, you can buy goods and services online with greater ease, than if you were to pay for them in cash. Several notable companies have taken advantage of digital transformation to make online banking a success.
They include PayPal, Payoneer, Western Union, and Transferwise.
For a long time, making long-distance telephone calls was costly, and most people kept them to a minimum. Moreover, even local calls always added up to a significant amount if they were made often.
With the advent of the internet, a few businesses saw an opportunity to offer cheaper calling rates, using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
That resulted in a completely new industry, with companies such as Cisco leading as providers of the hardware and software for VoIP phones. However, VoIP technology is also on the decline.
More users are moving towards calls routed through social media apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or Skype. That is because these do not need any additional investments.
The retail industry is one of the oldest commercial industries, yet it took a while to implement digital transformation. Apart from Jeff Bezos who saw opportunities in digitizing the retail business early on, the rest did not think much of it.
However, Amazon’s huge success has prompted other companies such as Walmart, and Target to take action. Just like other industries, they have learned that customers want to shop with greater convenience, and still receive their products as fast as possible.
Traditional Media platforms were the channels through which most digital transformations and startups were announced. That includes social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which none of the traditional channels can compete with now.
However, all traditional media platforms have finally realized that digital transformation is the only way to connect and engage their customers. In that regard, virtually every brick and mortar media house maintain an online presence, where they distribute copies of their content.
These include big companies such as CNN, BBC, and the New York Times.
Digital transformation can be a do or die process for many industries, as the popularity of digital platforms continues to soar.
What is your strategy when it comes to implementing digital transformation? Is your industry among those that have been affected by digital transformation?
Contact us now, and we can help you plan your digital transformation journey.
About the Author
ByteScout Team of Writers
ByteScout has a team of professional writers proficient in different technical topics. We select the best writers to cover interesting and trending topics for our readers. We love developers and we hope our articles help you learn about programming and programmers.
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