How IT professionals are shaping the future of business

And leading their organisations through digital transformation.

With the proliferation of technology, businesses are becoming more reliant on expert IT professionals and support to stay competitive and relevant. No longer is IT a department operating in a silo or considered a mere service. IT professionals are now seen as integral components of the way businesses operate and communicate.

We take a look at how IT professionals are shaping businesses as they embark on their digital transformation journey.

Digital transformation takes off

Digital transformation within Australian businesses is well under way. In fact, a recent study conducted by Canon in collaboration with IDC, with 170 businesses in Australia interviewed, revealed the majority (82 per cent) of Australian mid-market organisations and enterprises have at least started their digital transformation journey. The report, Australian Business Study: Document-Based Process/Workflow Automation and Transformation, further showed a significant portion (21 per cent) identified as already being technology companies and were entirely or highly dependent upon IT.

Read: How businesses are transforming the way they work

Improving operational processes

Digital transformation can result in being more agile, with a significant improvement in efficiency in operational processes. In fact, the Canon/IDC report revealed IT is now playing a key part in transforming accounts and admin processes within organisations.

Digitisation and improved management of document workflows also gives much greater visibility of organisational content, and this visibility supports improved decision-making, efficiency and reduces costly human errors.

Innovative solutions to save time and improve efficiencies

IT can play an integral part in document management, implementing the latest in cloud-based technologies and innovative printing systems to save time and improve efficiencies.

One company reaping the rewards of an agile tech integration is LG Australia, which consulted with Canon to consolidate its print fleet. As a result, Canon reduced the total number of devices from 91 to 47, significantly improving and streamlining LG’s printing management process.

LG’s IT team first needed to see what staff were printing to keep track of printing costs, then look at ways to drive down those costs.

For added security, Canon also implemented uniFLOW, and as part of Canon’s account management services it implemented eMaintenance, Canon’s proactive remote management software. This dramatically decreased the time LG’s IT department needed to spend on monitoring and maintaining the machines.

The eMaintenance software automated the process for maintenance and ordering of consumables, freeing up employee time to work on more important matters.

Deeper insights into customer expectations

Companies that are effectively leveraging technology within their marketing mix are finding considerable benefits such as gaining deeper customer insights from data and analytics and improved customer service through marketing automation tools.

More than ever before, CIOs and CMOs are collaborating closely to ensure the marketing team has the right tech support to keep customer engagement agile and innovative. This is further supported by the Canon/IDC report, which ranked enhancing the customer experience as a key outcome of digital transformation.

A robust IT infrastructure needs the right skills

In order to stay agile, innovative and competitive, companies need to employ the right IT talent, or ensure existing talent are skilled accordingly.

But the Canon/IDC report says we still have a long way to go to bridge the divide. The study revealed the biggest impediments to transforming internal processes are the lack of in-house capabilities to manage that change. In fact, over half of respondents believed their business lacked the current skills to meet their IT targets and expectations.

To add further challenges to the mix, the report highlighted the growing complexity of cloud-based and mobile solutions, a lack of ICT support or leadership, limited budgets and a lack of understanding of new processes could prevent businesses from effectively maintaining their competitive edge moving forward.

This means the pressure is on the C-suite to embrace IT as an integral, collaborative component of key business decisions from the ground up.

How can you embrace digital transformation?

To find out more about how IT pros are impacting the future of business operations in Australia, check out our white paper 2020: The future of ICT.

Browse our extensive list of articles on digital transformation to help you along your journey.