July 2024

The business environment has shifted in the last few years, especially in the developed countries adopting new and effective systems that add value to the organizations’ profit lines. According to McKinsey & Company analysis, leaders in digital transformations are at least five times more effective than the rest.  Furthermore, it is said that B2B digital leaders make five times more than their rivals in revenue growth because of the effective application of digital skills and analytics. So, what is digital transformation, and why is it considered one of the key factors for business development? This article explains its essence and importance. What Is Digital Transformation? Digital transformation is the process of embracing or incorporating digital technologies to change and enhance business strategies and customer experiences in response to market changes. This concept goes beyond run-of-the-mill functions like sales, marketing, and customer relations by revolutionizing the manner in which an organization interacts with the client. Therefore, digital transformation can be described as the extensive integration of digital tools into an enterprise’s activities, resulting in broad-based change in its production processes and provision of value for the customer. This evolution changes business processes and models to capture prospects and reinvent employee tasks, customer support methods, and general business management mechanisms. The primary purpose of digital transformation is to facilitate the enhancement of the organization’s productivity through enhanced technologies in terms of cost and quality of production, with the final aim of increasing profitability. Components of Digital Transformation Digital transformation is a complex process that requires a strategic approach. Here are the three critical components involved. 1. Assessment (Organisational Transformation) The initial phase of digital transformation involves thoroughly assessing how digital technologies can enhance an organization’s operations. This step involves evaluating the business’s current state, understanding the potential impact of digital tools, and identifying areas for improvement. It involves rethinking and restructuring an organization’s operations from top to bottom. It often entails leveraging technology to innovate work processes and enhance customer interactions. 2. Planning (Process Transformation) The next step is to formulate a clear plan for incorporating digital technologies into the venture. This involves identifying the change management initiatives that need to be implemented in the business processes and then mapping out how these changes will be affected by the new technologies. Process transformation mainly focuses on modifying business activities through automation or simplification. The primary aim is to enhance efficiency and effectiveness by utilizing technology to streamline tasks and workflows. 3. Execution (Technology Adoption) The final phase in the digital transformation journey is the execution phase, where the planned technologies are implemented, and the organization adapts to new working methods. This phase emphasizes adopting new technologies to improve various aspects of the organization. It includes changing how employees perform their tasks, how customers are served, and how communication, collaboration, and decision-making processes are enhanced through technology. By following these components—assessment, planning, and execution—a business can easily navigate the complex digital transformation process, effectively leveraging technology to drive its growth and innovation. Why Digital Transformation Is Important It is obligatory for any organisation to be fit in the modern world which automatically means adapting to technological advancement. Today, there is stiff market competition, and hence, one can do business and grow only if able to capture the existing market through the application of new technologies. Shifting strategies for brand building is important for various reasons. Enhancing Customer Experience Business consumers today have many choices in selecting who they should transact with. Firms that will be able to give positive experiences to consumers will benefit from it and achieve a competitive advantage. Due to digital solutions, it is possible to improve data processing, offer individual approaches, and provide exceptional services through a strong technological infrastructure. Organizations need to use these tools to be able to address the customers’ needs and anticipate them in order to provide acceptable experiences to the clients. For example, companies could employ customer relationship management (CRM) to gather customers’ information to be able to market to him/her better while serving him/her. Social commerce sites also order AI to recommend products and items depending on previous purchases and searches that enlarging the customer shopping experience. Improving Employee Experience The process of digital transformation improves customers’ communication and heavily invests in the employee experience. Implementing and upgrading technologies in the workplace has a positive impact on employee relations and productivity. Cloud computing technologies, collaboration applications, and more popular software like Zoom or Google Meet for meetings assistance in simplification of processes, improvements of communication, and better collaboration between different employees in an organization. By utilising these technologies, businesses are sure to increase their human resources’ performances, and staff members are expected to remain valuable employees since they are offered what they have to achieve their objectives and goals successfully. Also, through IT solutions, work-flowing activities may be mechanized, sparing the staff’s time and energy to concentrate on more productive and crucial processes. It helps to raise employees’ satisfaction and stimulates activity improving the organization’s productivity. Driving Innovation and Agility Having reviewed the concept of Digital Transformation we can note that such transformation empowers companies with the necessary ability in order to act consequentially with regard to the existing market conditions and trends as well as new opportunities and threats. Thus, due to the use of digital technologies, it is possible to manage changes in strategies and introduce new products and new markets. This is particularly important in the current world where the market can turn in minutes, and customer trends might change with the same swiftness. Technology can be used to place a bid, and the use of the platform is recommended to try out different ideas and thus test out new and improved solutions that should be installed in the business. Such a notion of innovation is important for going beyond the competitors and sustaining steady development. Ensuring Operational Efficiency Another largely realised change impacts directly on the business: operational efficiency increases with digital transformation. This is because when repetitive

At the present time, information and communication technologies and their implementations influence different spheres of human activity, and their dissemination around the world is much faster than any previous innovations. Therefore, the need to encourage the establishment of the digital economy cannot be overemphasised by any country. This article explores what Digitalisation means, its necessity for developing economies, digital skills empowerment initiatives such as Skillup Imo Cohort 3, and the challenges posed by technology. What is Digitalisation? The United Nations defines Digitalisation as the integration of digital technologies across the aspects of society: communication, commerce, governance, education, and healthcare. It spans from capturing information and digitising it to automating activities and creating new business solutions. As for the initiatives in the field of Digitalisation and digital competencies, it can be stated that they have great potential for the development of the economies of the developing world, including Nigeria, promotion of employment, and the increase in the quality of public service. What is a Digital Economy? Basically, the Digital Economy means buying & selling products and services across national borders that have been facilitated by information technology. Digital economy also known as New Economy is an economy in which digital computing technologies are a part of the economic processes. It marks a change from conventional economic activities to those that are very dependent on digital tools and the Internet. There are three main components of the digital economy: 1.E-business Infrastructure: This involves all the physical and non-physical infrastructure required for the conduct of digital economic operations such as the underlining hardware and software infrastructure, telecommunication infrastructures and skilled manpower. It entails a foundation upon which organisations are enabled to run their operations within a digital setting. It includes everything from the Internet and servers for fast connection to unique software and qualified IT specialists. 2.E-business: This aspect focuses on the manner in which business processes are carried out virtually. It covers any activities a firm performs over computer-based networks like e-marketing, electronic commerce, virtual supply chain, and electronic customer relations. E-business liberalises conventional business practices making them faster and frequently more involving to the buyer. 4.E-commerce: E-commerce in particular is a form of electronic business that easily involves the purchasing and trading of products or services via a computer and the World Wide Web. An example of e-commerce includes buying a book through the Internet through such sites as Amazon. E-commerce has altered the way that people shop providing an easy and sometimes cheaper route to purchase. These components together help facilitate most of the activities happening in digital commerce, helping banking to be done online or innovations that are connected with the marketing done online, etc, that aid the growth and development of the economic system. The Need for Digital Economies in Developing Nations Another aspect constituting the phenomenon of globalisation is the transition to a new type of economy tied to networked digital technologies, which is important for the development of the countries of the Third World. Digitalisation goes beyond merely having a Facebook account or merely owning a smartphone; it entails the use of Digital considerations to come up with new business models, redesign business processes, and improve people’s access to information as well as services. Thus, the digitalisation scenario is diverse, and developing countries can join two extremes – urban and rural areas, providing e equal opportunities and stimulating the growth of inclusive economies. Take China, for example. The Asian giant has seen e-commerce growth like no other, with players such as Alibaba and JD. Com becoming global powerhouses. Mobile payment platforms such as WeChat Pay have brought a very new style of financial inclusion in today’s world, and in many parts, they have spread their roots and services up to the village level where the normal banking sectors have not been extended up to that level. Such advancements are a clear indication of how digitalisation leads to the creation of jobs, the enhancement of innovation, and the enablement of citizens. However, being an enabler of digital economies, the concept of digital commodities is not limited to purchase and sale. Digital skills and tools can eliminate educational disparities because they ensure students in areas that may not be easily accommodated in regard to online learning tools and resources have easy access to the sources they require. Telemedicine delivers medical services in areas with few physicians, which is viable with e-government efficiency indexes affecting transparency. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, the level of innovation of mobile money has significantly enhanced financial transactions, whereby millions of people conduct payments transactions without facing the necessity of opening accounts in banks. Mobile money transactions form a massive 24% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product, contrary to a paltry 5% globally. The area has also been the pioneer in the digital sector, overshadowing the various activities in the fintech sector and effectively producing new services and apps. However, reaping the benefits of Digitalisation hinges on one crucial factor: DIGITAL SKILLS. Skilling Up for the Digital Age Digital literacy enables its workforce to embark on a discovery of the new world on the Internet, and learn how to use the new tools profitably, and participate in the new economy on the net. Perceiving such a necessity, most of the developing countries are coming up with unique strategies to solve the problem of the digital gap. Nigeria which is the most populous black nation in Africa, is a manifestation of this. The current SkillUp Imo Cohort 3 is a program by the Imo State government, supported by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy under the leadership of governor Hope Uzodinma to train the youths who are out of employment with relevant digital skills such as web development, social marketing, data analyst among others. This initiative, which engages the strategic empowerment of youths in the State to be more productive in the nation’s digital economy, is good for everybody and for the development of the country as well. SkillUp Imo is