Is Digital Transformation (Dx)
Important for Small and
Medium Businesses?
The objective of the Digital Transformation (Dx) approach is to increase the value of business products and services and optimize resources, customer satisfaction and business efficiency and innovation. Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) may believe that these initiatives are not for them. But with careful planning and domain focus, SMEs can achieve numerous benefits, and improve productivity, revenue and customer satisfaction.
When Your IT Needs Outstrip Your Team, Look for a Partner!
If your business is anything like your competition, your IT team is overwhelmed with ongoing activities, with special projects, reporting, maintenance and other activities that seem to take up every minute of the day. If a business manager or an executive wishes to undertake an application development project to improve business productivity, or a consumer application development project to increase revenue, or a major technology infrastructure project to improve, and enhance performance, scalability, security or other factors within the organization, your IT team is likely too busy to accommodate the need.
Even if they CAN find time to execute these tasks, the projects may require specialized skills that your team does not possess. In that case, the enterprise will have to expand its IT facilities to accommodate the new team members they must recruit, hire and pay. And what is to become of these team members when the project is finished? Will the organization still need their services, or will the enterprise be forced to contract its team again, leaving it with expensive facilities space it does not need?
Such are the challenges of a small or medium sized business owner. The fact is that your vision, your dream may be compromised by the inability to staff your projects. And that isn’t the only risk. If your business is expanding or must meet competitive response, it may be at risk of falling short if it cannot staff those crucial projects.
There is an answer to these challenges and, as with so many other things in life, the answer lies in building a team, in trusting the support of a partner to help you get the job done! According to recent studies 92% of the Global 2000 companies use IT outsourcing.
‘With a well-rounded IT partner team that possesses the skills and experience, offers affordable licensing and technical and soft leadership skills, you can take your business to the next level!’
With the right IT expert partner, your business can address all of the issues described above.
Addressing Immediate Needs
Building for the Future
Supporting Ongoing Needs
Here are just a few examples of the services your business can engage:
Digital Transformation (Dx) – If your enterprise is struggling to update and upgrade its technology landscape to integrate, streamline and improve the flow of data and information and to improve the business user experience (Ux) to enhance productivity, align goals and encourage collaboration, your project will require comprehensive skills and focused attention. You must assess your current environment, identify requirements and create a roadmap and roll-out plan, and then staff that project. You will need services, solutions, and a team approach to innovate, create, and support cutting-edge technology, and the skills and experience to execute that vision.
Build Your Software Team – This crucial set of services can expand your own IT team with new skills and solid experience to provide the services you need on an ongoing basis or for a special project. These resources are dedicated to your enterprise and available as and when you need them with no delays. The partner team acts as an extension of your team, providing advice and output and working closely with your organization to satisfy your needs.
Minimum Viable Products (MVP) – If you have a new product idea, you run the risk of spending a lot of time and effort developing a product that falls short of customer expectations or a product that stretches far beyond the needs of the market and is too costly for customers to buy. Working with a skilled partner, you can assess needs and create a product with essential features to determine market potential and get crucial customer feedback to incorporate into the final product.
Software Product Development – Turn your vision into a reality, gain market share and address competitive issues with the right technology, the right features and the right architecture for future growth. Choose an IT partner that understand the difference between Application Development and Product Development and can provide a full suite of services to ensure appropriate security and protect intellectual property, etc.
Software Application Development – Whether you are developing a business application, a mobile application, or enhancing an existing application, you must choose the right technologies and frameworks, carefully integrate data and deploy within your organization or among suppliers and partners with careful planning and comprehensive scheduling and services. The technology market is changing rapidly and an expert IT partner can help you choose technologies from artificial intelligence (AI) to cloud-based data storage, integration of disparate data systems and user-friendly interface design to customer relationship management (CRM) and applications for financial management, media, travel, hospitality, production, supply chain management (SCM) etc., the right IT partner makes all the difference.
Data Engineering, ETL & Data Warehousing – Create and/or manage data warehouses, data hubs, data marts and more with services to help you organize manage, monitor and analyze data from internal and external sources.
Business Intelligence (BI), Augmented Analytics, Predictive Analytics and AI – Whether you wish to upgrade your BI tools or implement analytics for the first time, you will need the right services to integrate data for smart data visualization, self-serve data preparation and predictive analytics and to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), and low-code, no-code foundations to quickly and easily analyze and leverage new features in a flexible environment that is suitable for all your team members so you can transition business users into Citizen Data Scientists.
‘There is an answer to your IT staffing and technology challenges and, as with so many other things in life, the answer lies in building a team, in trusting the support of a partner to help you get the job done! With the right IT expert partner, your business can address your issues in a timely, affordable fashion.’
These are just a few examples of the suite of services you can expect from the right IT partner. Look for a partner with proven experience and references, one with proven references and services that include Quality and Testing, Infrastructure Management, social media integration, cutting-edge AI skills and other advanced and traditional skills. With a well-rounded team of skills and experience, affordable licensing and technical and soft leadership skills, the right IT partner can take your business to the next level!
This U.S. Client is spearheading a charitable initiative in Nepal to enhance emergency response services. The project will revolutionize ambulance dispatch operations by integrating real-time tracking, optimizing ambulance assignments, and streamlining communication among dispatchers, ambulance drivers, and patients. By leveraging an advanced solution, the initiative seeks to improve response times, ensure efficient resource allocation, and ultimately save more lives during critical emergencies.
The Client developed a specialized niche platform designed to streamline logistics for the cell and gene therapy (CGT) sector. Its innovative, expert solution offers a centralized, seamless interface that allows users to book, manage, and track shipments with multiple specialty couriers, including World Courier, Marken, and QuickStat.
The Client is a renowned refinery and industries business in India with a global business. It produces soy bean, refined rice bran, coconut and other related edible oils, as well as personal care oils, bio-diesel and speciality fats. The Client provides cost-effective solutions through augmented productivity, innovation and economies of scale and is committed to cutting-edge technology and processing to achieve its vision and a competitive advantage.
Choose or Combine GenAI and/or Agentic AI for Apps
The only way to avoid news of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is to move to the top of a mountain and leave all your devices behind. Talk of AI is everywhere. So, it is no surprise that most businesses are considering how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into their consumer apps, business applications, websites and mobile applications.
Gartner predicts that within the next few months, ‘…40% of enterprise applications will have embedded conversational AI.’
As you discuss AI opportunities with your team and your IT consultant, be sure you understand the terminology. There is a distinct difference among AI technology, products and solutions and the industry often uses the terms interchangeably.
In this article, we will discuss the difference between two types of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development your business may be considering, namely, Generative AI (GenAI) vs. Agentic AI.
Generative AI (GenAI)
This technology is form of AI designed to understand and respond to prompts and to generate text, images (including video) and other media. To function, GenAI models must be trained, using large datasets. By analyzing these datasets, the system can learn to spot repetitive results, trends and patterns. Generative AI utilizes neural networks to recognize and identify these patterns in ‘training’ data, and use that data to generate content.
Here are some of the models in use today:
Multimodal Models
These models can process and integrate information in the form of text, audio, images and video, gestures and facial expressions, etc. Tools like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and ChatGPT are based on multimodal models.
Large Language Models (LLM)
LLM is used to understand and generate language. It uses a large volume of data and parameters to train the model.
Variational Autoencoder (VAE)
This model provides probabilistic graphical models and variational methods.
Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)
This machine learning framework consists of two neural networks competing for a ‘win’ or for the best result.
Use Case Examples
Marketing – A business might use Generative AI (GenAI) to create customized, targeted marketing content and social media posts to attract a certain demographic or customer without the need for professional knowledge or human intervention, so the team can focus on critical operations and strategic goals. Using training data, the GenAI model will produce contextual content specifically designed to target customers in a particular market niche.
Reporting and Visualization – When an analytical solution incorporates GenAI within its software or app, it can improve the clarity and precision of the data presented. Using visualization, graphs, images and combining those with summaries and details can provide reports and presentations that are clear and suitable for all audiences, including management and executives, as well as teams and staff members.
Technology – Combine GenAI with search optimization, rules-based systems for natural language generation and chatbots, with simulation, with non-generative ML to classify and segment data, or with graphs. Combining techniques can reduce costs, while delivering appropriate performance, efficiency and accuracy.
For more information about Generative AI (GenAI) benefits and uses, see our free white paper, ‘Generative AI (GenAI): The Benefits And Application Of AI In Analytics.’
This artificial intelligence (AI) approach goes well beyond the ubiquitous platforms such as ChatGPT and other popular AI tools with sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning features to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.
Flexibility and precision
Extended reach and scalability
Autonomous capabilities
Intuitive capacity
Agentic AI independently and autonomously performs tasks and augments other systems to complete workflow and tasks using tools and processes within a solution or system. It is capable of solving complex problems and taking action and can perform interactive tasks, operating outside the typical machine learning (ML) environment of a classic AI trained model to achieve true process automation.
Use Case Examples
Marketing – Your business might use Agentic AI to automate tasks and schedules, track performance and monitor spending. These AI agents can be categorized to handle specific tasks like creating copy and content, choosing a target audience and monitoring and reporting on marketing campaigns.
Research – Use multi-agent AI models to scan and analyze research, articles and databases and suggest improvements, identify new solutions or products using existing technologies, materials, etc.
Manufacturing – Agentic AI uses sensors attached to machines, components, and other physical assets to predict wear-and-tear and production outages, and sending alerts or initiating processes to mitigate probable issues, avoiding unscheduled downtime and associated costs to manufacturers.
Gartner has predicted that ‘Agentic AI will introduce a goal-driven digital workforce that autonomously makes plans and takes actions — an extension of the workforce that doesn’t need vacations or other benefits.’
When GenAI and Agentic AI are combined, the business can build a technology that creates contextual content and is capable of taking autonomous action and making routine decisions, so the enterprise can optimize human and technology resources to scale operations and provide targeted, personalized customer service to enhance customer satisfaction and ensure efficiency and productivity within the organization.
By employing cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology and expert predictive and data science services, the enterprise can gather, produce and analyze information from disparate data sources, and use that data to create products, enhance services, improve productivity and improve market position, all with the support of a team that is skilled in AI, Data Science, Data Engineering and Predictive Analytics. Contact Us to find out how Generative AI (GenAI), Agentic AI and other AI technologies and services can support your software applications, mobile application, or software product ideas, and advance Digital Transformation (Dx).
Use Agentic AI for Autonomous Workflow and Task Completion
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing, evolving and changing at lightning speed. It is nearly impossible to keep up with the changes, and to understand what, if anything, each of the new products and developments can offer to a business.
Defeat Resistance to Digital Transformation (Dx) and Succeed in Business!
Studies reveal that Digital Transformation (Dx) in business supports Performance Management, Productivity and Improved Customer Satisfaction. But these same studies also reveal that there is resistance to the implementation of a Dx strategy. The results of business surveys revealed that resistance came from several sectors: 37% CEOs and/or Board of Directors, 32% C-Suite Senior Executives, 26% Department Heads, 18% Middle Managers, 10% Line Employees and 32% said ‘no one.’
‘The Dx strategy is not limited to large organizations. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups are also engaging in this strategy to improve results and to create an agile, flexible organization that can respond to changing customer behavior, competitive markets, and the need for team member technology skills and use.’
Given the reported benefits and advantages of Digital Transformation (Dx), it is important that your business consider the concept, and develop a plan to overcome resistance. It is not unusual for businesses to face resistance to culture change, updating or altering popular business processes and upsetting the status quo, or… the way we have always done it.’
When addressing concerns at the management level (which is where most resistance to Dx lies (see survey results above), it is important to use metrics. If you have a chance at changing minds, measurable results and the experiences of other businesses can be an important factor in convincing reluctant managers and executives to spend the time and money to make a change across the organization.
The following results illustrate the benefits of Digital Transformation (Dx) as reported by businesses that implemented the Dx strategy:
Improved Operational Efficiency 40%
Any Addressing Changing Customer Expectations 35%
Improving Product Quality 26%
Increase Design and Process Re-Use 25%
Reduce Product Development Costs 24%
Introduce New Revenue Streams 21%
Reduce Quality Issues 14%
Increase First Pass Yield 5%
It is important to note that, as with any other meaningful enterprise change or upgrade, the organization will not change in a day! Technology changes, including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, the integration of data repositories to democratize analytics for business users, the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT0, low-code, no-code development and other technology upgrades take time. The organization must address culture, business processes, approval loops, and access to critical hardware, software, networks and mobile devices in order to capitalize on the prospective benefits of Digital Transformation (Dx). This is an investment in the future!
The Dx strategy is not limited to large organizations. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups are also engaging in this strategy to improve results and to create an agile, flexible organization that can respond to changing customer behavior, competitive markets, and the need for team member technology skills and use.
‘Studies reveal that Digital Transformation (Dx) in business supports Performance Management, Productivity and Improved Customer Satisfaction.’
To successfully integrate Digital Transformation (Dx) into your enterprise strategy, your business will need a trusted IT partner to work with your in-house IT team, managers, end-users and others to understand requirements and develop a roadmap to roll-out the strategy, meet expectations and stay within budgetary and time constraints. Engage a skilled, experience IT partner today Digital Transformation (Dx) services, Augmented Analytics For Digital Transformation (Dx), and support for your development and technology needs.
Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Improve My Business and Consumer Apps?
It is impossible to listen to the news, read a business publication or browse social media without finding an article or story about Artificial Intelligence (AI).
White Paper – Generative AI (GenAI): The Benefits and Application of AI in Analytics
If your enterprise wishes to consider AI in analytics, and plan for its future potential and growth, it is wise to first understand the state of the technology today, the various ways in which AI can inform and improve analytics for your business, the factors you will need to consider to choose the right analytics solution and the things your business should include in its vendor and solution review.
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