In an exclusive interaction with Dataquest, Deepak Mittal, CEO, TO THE NEW, talks about the importance of Digital transformation for enterprises and how does To The New help organizations traverse the complex digital transformation journey. Excerpts:

Q. Why is Digital Transformation important for enterprises? How does it define their future?

In 2016, the number of internet users worldwide was roughly half of the world’s population or ~3.5 billion, up from 2.21 billion in 2015. According to another report, 80% of the internet users own a smartphone and use it for online searches. The digitally evolving customers spark the need for Digital Transformation to provide superior experience, introduce differentiation and remain competitive. In the current business scenario, enterprises should be able to leverage digital technologies to launch new products, processes and services as well as to provide personalized experiences for their customers, partners and employees. Digital transformation helps enhance customer experience, remodel business processes and create new revenue streams. Transforming business processes and customer experiences are the two critical elements of digital transformation.

In the near future, next-gen enterprises will have geographically distributed workforce, the ability to embrace innovation and render flexibility in business processes.

Q. In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle to enterprises who want to go through a digital transformation, but are getting stuck?

While everyone agrees on the need to transform businesses to be more digital, many are still trying to grasp the magnitude of the task at hand. Many global organizations are moving forward with digital transformation at varying paces however, the path is complex and full of challenges.

For successful digital transformation, CIOs need a strategic roadmap and the ability to take calculated risks to combat challenges such as constant product evolution, reduced time to market, communication & collaboration as well as understanding consumer behavior. Working in uncertainty is another huge challenge as evolving new age technologies, changing customer demands and dynamic market environment can lead to chaos and uncertainty. Going for digital transformation with a clear vision will translate into a robust and scalable digital roadmap.

Q. Why is it necessary for enterprises to redraw their strategy to deliver better customer experience using digital as the core?

Digital transformation isn’t just about creating digital solutions, but about practicing change management across the organization. It’s about creating digitally mature business models as well as superior customer experiences.

Businesses that have a higher focus on customer experience thrive in this competitive market. The need of the hour is a strategic roadmap for implementing technology that can transform businesses. There is a need to connect data points to interpret customer behavior and integrate user experiences across multiple channels.

Q. Should digital mean different things to different customers? Or is it ‘one-size-fits-all’ kind of scenario?

Digital Transformation cannot be achieved overnight, rather, it’s is an ongoing process. In today’s competitive market, businesses of every nature are aware of the need to transform digitally.

However, digital transformation calls for a strategy which should be tweaked as per the nature of your business. Without a business focused strategy, enterprises lose on out on the advantages of fully going digital. The strategy should complement the businesses and customer needs.. And lastly, an internal push from within the organization that encourages people to truly adopt digital is a one common and critical factor involved in the success of a complete digital transformation.

Q. How is TO THE NEW helping organizations adopt digital?

TO THE NEW helps organizations traverse the complex digital transformation journey with the help of 4 pillars, namely, Digital Strategy, Experience Design, Development and Engineering and Data Analytics.

With a coherent digital strategy helps companies adopt and implement digital technologies, we create unique value proposition for customers and drive innovation as well as growth. User experience design helps create meaningful, persuasive interactions across multiple channels. The industry is moving towards UX led engineering, cloud, mobile and web development to develop new platforms with a faster time to market. We help organizations adopt digital by covering the entire gamut of product engineering including Experience Design, Product Development, Cloud and DevOps, Content Management, and Testing. Finally, by combining the power of analytics, bespoke marketing solutions and technology we offer 360 degree integrated digital strategies focusing on acquiring new customers and retaining the existing ones.

Q. Can you name a few of your customers who you have helped in embracing digital?

 We have helped startups as well as Fortune 500 companies from across the world traverse their digital transformation journey with the latest technologies and solutions. A couple of such companies are HDFC, India for whom we have designed & built consistent, personalized experience across channels including multiple websites & mobile applications for the investors and distributors. Westcon Group in the United States is another customer for whom we have built a global online marketplace to simplify ordering, delivery and management of cloud services. We have also helped Alibaba Cloud, the largest public cloud service provider in China, in crafting and implementing a comprehensive digital roadmap to revamp their digital presence and launch in international markets.

Read the full interview here.