A digital transformation that offers competitive advantages and enables new business models

Digitalisation is about more than simply enhancing process and subprocess efficiency in companies and organisations. Enhancing efficiency is undeniably important in its own right, but for more and more organisations, digitalisation has now become part of their core operations.

“Digital transformation is affecting companies in every sector now. Digital success has become a business critical factor, and can – in the slightly longer term – even be the key factor in a company’s survival,” says Johan Åkerlund, Head of Portfolio Development at Iver.

See below for a few examples.

• The hotel and tourism sector is already experiencing a rapid digital transformation. Many of the hotel industry’s operators are focusing on new digital models where the guest handles everything booking-related via a phone app. The guest books, checks in, locks up, and checks out, all via their mobile device. The keywords here are fast and smooth – for the guests looking for simplicity over personal interaction.
  
  
• Financial companies with links to the automotive industry, which is currently changing from the ground up, provide another example: more and more business models are based on the customer only paying for the time they use the car, rather than for owning it or leasing it via a long-term contract. The sector is being transformed as it identifies creative new ways of being relevant for customers. Attractive apps, services, and visual interfaces that are integrated with the brand and the physical vehicle are now often at the core of their offerings. This shift also requires a shift in, and the expansion and modernisation of their IT operations, while continuing to meet the industry’s strict requirements for information security and regulatory compliance.
  
  
• Municipalities and other public sector operations offer a third example, through their ongoing and rapid digitalisation and automation of many previously manual processes and subprocesses, such as building permit applications, home help services, and one municipality’s attention-getting e-service whereby a robotised process can evaluate certain types of ticket that currently need to be reviewed by an actual person.

“All of these examples have one thing in common – a massive demand for tools, expertise, and services that support the companies’ and organisations’ transition to digital business models and delivery formats,” says Johan Åkerlund.

The driving force behind the rapid pace of digitalisation is, according to Johan Åkerlund, essentially about the fact that whatever the sector, companies want to ensure their long-term survival. They can see that digitalisation and automation mean that not only are there new customers to be won, but that there are also resources and money to be saved. Rapid product development and delivery to the customer is also an increasingly important trend.

”It’s important, in this respect, to have an IT partner who can provide not only the expertise but also the infrastructure, development, and cloud services that enable the digital transformation, and that they can do so in a way that takes full account of information security requirements,” says Johan Åkerlund.