Digital transformation is a reality that presents new challenges each day for businesses. Digital transformation aka DX is always a hot topic in the tech/business arena. But what does it really mean? One definition says that Digital transformation is the application of digital tech to fundamentally impact all aspects of business and society. When companies are already digital and digitized well enough so how do they transform?

In this case, transformation means metamorphosis, adaptability and the ability to survive the digital evolution. This means changing not only the way you do business and business processes but sometimes the business itself to be able to survive. The future of the workplace and human resource capital depends on leveraging these changes well. Employees already expect a highly collaborative, intuitive and modern office that has a seamless workflow. And several productivity software apps are making this happen. For instance, SharePoint has really picked up because this ECM fosters team work, collaboration and integrated resources.

Some features SharePoint that make it a digital-first productivity platform:

Intranet Portals

Document & File Management

Social Networks

Websites

Extranets

Advanced Search Functionality

Increased Business Intelligence Solutions

Digital transformation means the ability to change rapidly without getting disrupted. The digitally-powered world makes things easier and simpler. From the digital user’s vantage point, the change is quite stark from 15 years ago when any task was chiefly physical and time-consuming. In the age of new IT, productivity is also simplified. With products like Office 365, OneDrive and SharePoint, the approach to work is more integrated and connected.

SharePoint was launched by Microsoft as a portal solution that enabled organizations to collaborate. Today 15 years later, practices like SharePoint development is helping people and organizations to move towards digital transformation. In the new IT paradigm, this means intelligent systems and processes. SharePoint and Office 365 enable both of these by getting web services down to on-premises, with functionality such as Skype, Office Graph, cognitive services, CRM online, and more. Let’s see some ways in which SharePoint facilities change.

Powering Sales and Marketing:

CRM helps manage relationships between organization and customers in various functions — including those of Sales and Marketing. Using DocuSign, customers can sign contracts stored in CRM. This can accelerate the pace of the deals and the company database is automatically updated.

Powering Delivery:

Developing project sites in SharePoint Online is one great way to increase collaboration. Since it has external sharing capabilities, users outside the organization can access projects without any difficulty. Combine this with the power of document management features in SharePoint — all teams and groups involved can liaise using the same information. DocuSign can further make it easier for documents that involve signature in project roadmap, for instance a contract, technical drafts or transmittal can all be handled effectively. Information Rights Management feature can help restrict and protect the intellectual property aspect of projects.

Powering Procurement:

SharePoint Online and DocuSign combined can enhance various contract management scenarios. Managers can use the Document Set functionality to store contracts and documents in a dossier. Metadata can be easily shared between a Document Set and the files stored within resulting in better data quality without additional effort. The metadata can also incorporate information related to contract parties such as company name and address. The Business Connectivity Services (BCS) component allows access for this information in SharePoint. DocuSign will again be useful here for decreasing time needed to process contracts and agreements.

Summary:

These are only a handful of ways in which you can leverage SharePoint to streamline your processes and enable digital transformation. With modern software and productivity tools, there is wide potential for change and growth. What measures has your organization employed to be digitally agile? Please let us know in the comments section.