Openly embracing opportunities to optimize your company’s workflows can revolutionize your business. In this article we look at five organizations that have successfully undergone digital transformation. Each of these examples shows how digitizing different processes can impact the overall health of a company.
Best Buy
There have been few big box retailers that have embraced digitalization more than Best Buy. Best Buy’s changes were brought on more by necessity than anything else. In fact, the source of the financial struggles they began experiencing around 2012 can be summed up in just one word: Amazon. Amazon came along with a larger selection and undercut Best Buy’s prices. Many of Best Buy’s customers began “show-rooming,” physically viewing and interacting with products in Best Buy stores only to purchase them later at lower prices on Amazon. Best Buy responded by playing to their strengths, leveraging their existing infrastructure to improve the online shopping experience. They incorporated features like the use of AI into their online search functions and augmented reality. Artificial intelligence improved customer communication. For instance, the “On My Way” feature allows customers to alert a store that they are on their way to pick up an item. Staff can ensure that the item is waiting at the front of the store for the customer when they arrive. The convenience of online pickup allows customers to get their items even quicker than ordering from Amazon. Augmented reality features give customers a preview of how an item that they are shopping for online would look in their home. Best Buy also incorporated digital technologies into back office work processes. For instance, they use AI-powered chatbots in their HR processes to vet candidates and collect documentation. These efforts have freed up HR resources by reducing the amount of time that staff must communicate with job candidates.
PayPal
PayPal has come a long way from its early days of a serving as a convenient way to pay for eBay purchases. Now a massive global payment processor with a market value that exceeds that of American Express, PayPal can attribute much of its success to the adoption of AI and machine-learning (ML) technologies. The company has incorporated these technologies into many of their processes, like marketing and customer service. Technologies like “OneTouch” make paying for online purchases from a mobile phone extremely user-friendly. These technologies, however, have been particularly effective at managing fraud and risk. PayPal processes some around the world. For a financial services company that operates on such a large scale, mitigating the costs of fraud is key to their long-term viability. This is where AI and ML solutions have proved to be extremely valuable. AI and ML sort through millions of data points to predict when a particular transaction is fraudulent or not. Not only has PayPal made its platform safer, but it has significantly reduced its costs and losses due to fraud.
