Digital Transformation Is the Key to Enabling Digital Commerce

Digital transformation is the key to enabling digital commerce for B2B companies looking to compete effectively in today’s landscape.

On-Demand Webinar: Enabling Digital Commerce: Architectural Considerations and The Role of IT 

According to Gartner’s sixth annual Chief Data Officer (CDO) survey, 72% of data and analytics leaders are leading or heavily involved in their organization’s digital transformation initiatives. Additionally, in the Gartner 2021 CEO Survey, technology-related and digital change was the second highest strategic business priority over the next five years. This data speaks to how digital transformation is no longer a luxury and is critical for enabling B2B companies to compete effectively in today’s landscape.   

At Zilliant, we define digital transformation as the process of using digital technologies to create new or modify existing business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet the ever-evolving business and market requirements. In essence, it’s about applying technology to solve business problems.  

But why is digital transformation important for B2B companies? As Zilliant Chief Technology Officer Shams Chauthani shared in his breakout session at MindShare 2021, with many B2B buyers being digital consumers in their personal lives, they are used to the convenience of the B2C eCommerce experience. Therefore, they are starting to expect that same ease and convenience when conducting business with their B2B suppliers. Additionally, the younger generation of both buyers and sellers have high expectations of what the digital shopping experience entails. 

Here are some additional emerging trends with regard to digital transformation in the B2B space: 

• Focus on eCommerce Channel: The idea is not just about making eCommerce available, but it’s about providing a unified customer experience across all channels. Give the user the ability to pick their preferred channel, whether that’s picking up the phone, going online, or meeting with a sales rep in person, and ensure consistency across those channels when it comes to pricing and experience. 
• More Frequent and Urgent Market Triggers: A company must be able to respond to evolving market triggers, such as cost changes, competitive dynamics or macroeconomic events with appropriate tactical adjustments to pricing, selling methodology, and even go-to-market strategies. Therefore, there is an increasing need for companies to be nimble enough to be able to quickly react to these market triggers or even capitalize on them.  
• Flexibility is Critical: Complex systems and processes have tied the hands of pricing, sales, and marketing for years. Previously, something as simple as a quarterly price update often took months to execute. Technology advancements and innovations including self-service tools, automation, and data-driven insights are allowing businesses to unshackle their users from technology limitations.  

Today’s technology leaders and IT organizations are uniquely positioned to champion digital transformation, and B2B companies that can capitalize on this once-in-a-generation transformation will undoubtedly flourish over the next decade and set themselves apart from the competition. However, the shift to digital commerce is increasing demands on IT organizations, as speed, flexibility, reliability and scale are paramount to enable commercial success.  

Gain valuable insight into enabling digital commerce within your organization with our on-demand webinar: Enabling Digital Commerce: Architectural Considerations and The Role of IT. Presented by Zilliant CTO and SVP of Engineering Shams Chauthani, the webinar explores various architecture and system and data integration dynamics that can power intelligent commerce in your business and better support the new digital normal. In addition, Chauthani covers how a cloud-native solution with a microservices architecture, delivered with an API-first approach, provides B2B companies unprecedented agility and unlimited scalability.   

Watch On-Demand Here: Enabling Digital Commerce: Architectural Considerations and The Role of IT webinar.