DIGITAL transformation is the new trend in today's fast-changing business environment, leading to organisations' haste in using digital technologies to protect their competitive advantage, significance, and market share.
However, when organisations rush, they tend to make hasty and inaccurate decisions that could hinder progress and even lead the company's digitalisation journey astray.
Maxis chief enterprise business officer Prateek Pashine advises businesses to have a clear goal and purpose for digitalisation, and not just use technology for the sake of it.
Prateek says that business owners may make the mistake of jumping into digitalisation without adequate planning and trying to fix everything at once, making them neglect the fit of their digitalisation strategy with the overall corporate strategy.
He suggests businesses to first determine the urgent priorities and goals to attain before choosing the right technology to be competitive in the market.
“Companies, large and small, need to have a clear goal for digitalisation. Digitalisation helps reach customers, improve and monitor employee performance, and simplify operations.
“Digitalisation can change the way an industry operates. It is essential for businesses to identify what issue or problem they want to solve before they go digital,” says the expert who has three decades of experience in sales, marketing, procurement, project financing, technology planning, and business planning and strategy.
Prateek stresses the importance of reviewing a company's processes before digitalisation. He says, “Many companies neglect to rethink existing processes — to check if the processes need to be simplified before adopting digitalisation.
When companies and businesses expand, their processes often get more complicated and less user friendly. Digitalisation helps to simplify, improve and enhance processes that focus on customer and business results above all else.
Prateek advises business owners to understand that each business has its own characteristics, and therefore needs different solutions that fit their specific needs. He also emphasises the importance of knowing the market to stay competitive and enhance their distinctive advantages.
“Businesses need to keep comparing themselves with the latest trends in the market, where there are faster and fresher players challenging the status quo. Digitalisation can be a key advantage and a plan for working in the market and overcoming competition.”
Moreover, Prateek recommends that businesses look for the right partner for their digitalisation journey, especially for small and medium enterprises.
He says the basic steps SMEs should follow is to look for a partner that will serve as their virtual CIO, be skilled and experienced, has a national presence and has helped other businesses through their digital transformation.
“There are many service providers in the market, but I would advise the companies to avoid the cheapest, unreliable operators because poor digitalisation could affect and even damage your operations.”
Leveraging technology to your advantage
Maxis has been at the forefront of digital services for 29 years, committed to growing and scaling businesses of all sizes with the right solutions. Through Maxis Business, the company has designed offerings that cater to varied business segments and needs.
For small businesses, Maxis Business guides business owners through a single-stop solution to solve productivity, connectivity, voice, and application requirements, among others.
As for SMEs, the emphasis lies in understanding the issues and solutions needed and seamlessly integrating with other ecosystem providers, such as productivity, software, and human resource solutions companies.
This integrated approach ensures businesses avoid the complexity of managing multiple vendors, streamlining their operations efficiently.
For medium and large enterprises, Maxis Business’ sales and solution teams would dedicate time to understand the issues faced and tailor bespoke solutions from a portfolio consisting of connectivity, cloud, security, and Internet of Things solutions.
With Maxis Business’ managed services, businesses can rest easy knowing that their business needs are addressed while they focus on running their business.
Discover how digitalising with Maxis Business can help you grow and scale your business here.
