Updated on by Hayley Brown
Integration is an integral part of digital transformation strategies. This is because it provides connectivity and access which optimises business processes and data sharing across an enterprise.
Therefore, the role of iPaaS whether it be embedded or traditional is important in regards to digital transformation.
Digital Transformation Overview
Digital transformation involves incorporating digital technologies to revolutionise a business or service. This can be achieved by replacing traditional or manual procedures with digital ones, or by substituting outdated digital technology with newer solutions. In addition to fundamentally altering operations and enhancing customer value, digital transformation is also a shift in organisational culture. It necessitates businesses to question established norms, explore available alternatives, and embrace the possibility of failure.
In essence, it is about optimising IT systems to help achieve business goals. It should, of course, feed into the overarching business strategy too.
Types of Digital Transformation Strategies
There are several broad types of digital transformation strategies an organisation may wish to undergo to help modernise their business.
Process Transformation
Firstly, process transformation involves changing internal processes and making them much more efficient. An organisation that chooses to undergo this type of digital transformation are aiming to reduce time, costs, errors and complexity by optimising their existing processes and strategies. It will also require an evaluation of their existing systems to understand how steps can be simplified or removed.
This transformation needs to be well thought out, planned and scheduled by business leaders because the adoption of new processes across departments can take time. As well as examine implementation times for new software as this may take up to a year.
Ultimately, all these changes will have a direct impact on employees, vendors and customers. Therefore, planning is essential to reduce the impact on key stakeholders as much as possible.
Business Model Transformation
This digital transformation strategy is a tad more drastic and involves an organisational revamp, which could be digitalising a product or service that has previously been delivered via other methods.
An organisation may choose to make this drastic change because leaders have identified an opportunity to adjust the way clients purchase or use their product/service. As well as remain competitive within their specific market as other similar organisations are moving in the same direction.
It is important when considering this approach to not be overly reactive to the market and competitors as this could require hiring employees with the relevant skill set or retraining your entire workforce.
Domain Transformation
This strategy means an organisation wishes to enter a new market because leaders are looking to diversify as a result of competitors and new disruptive technologies making it hard to progress on the existing business plan. As well as open up other opportunities and revenue streams for the organisation.
Cultural Transformation
A cultural transformation affects an entire organisation and can result in a major change for employees. This digital transformation strategy may occur if an organisation has been acquired or had a change of leadership.
Where does an iPaaS fit in?
I previously mentioned that integration is integral to digital transformation and iPaaS is a cloud-based integration platform that can facilitate integration with other third-party applications.
Therefore, it can help facilitate a digital transformation for an organisation. But to facilitate it you’ll need to determine the type of iPaaS you need. As it will depend on your organisation’s needs and the use cases.
Types of iPaaS
“Traditional” iPaaS
The two common types of iPaaS are what I term a “traditional” iPaaS where integrations will be developed outside of your platform and the provider is visible to your customers. This also means they will be required to have individual accounts with the iPaaS provider.
As well as this they tend to focus more on internal integrations rather than expanding your SaaS product. This iPaaS would therefore be more suitable for internal process automation and cultural transformation as they are internal organisation focuses.
Embedded iPaaS
On the other hand, an embedded iPaaS will sit invisibly within your own application instead of sending them off to a separate provider. As well as not requiring them to have an account with a different provider other than you. An embedded solution, therefore, enhances your product and expands your native integration library which also allows for simple and quick deployment in-app.
This type of iPaaS is much more focused on expanding your product offering rather than automating internal processes. Therefore, this iPaaS would be more suitable for business model and domain transformation.
How can iPaaS help your digital transformation strategy?
Essentially, iPaaS enables digital transformation as they have the ability to modernise legacy systems, enhance product features, automate processes and help change business culture.
For instance, they can provide a business with the ability to be quicker when completing tasks and running processes through integration and automation. iPaaS is especially useful for large enterprise organisations with disparate tech stacks across departments. As well as those who want to enhance their IT service management.
The adoption of digital technologies such as iPaaS can help improve overall business efficiency, innovation and value. As it fundamentally changes how the business operates, the business model and how value it is delivered to customers.
You can’t have Digital Transformation without iPaaS
The purpose of digital transformation is to create better experiences for customers, users and employees by improving processes and boosting productivity. iPaaS solutions are built and designed to help users save time with integration tools and automated processes. This means they can eliminate the need to enter multiple different systems to change the same piece of information or add to the development backlog for a new customer integration request.
If you would like to find out more about iPaaS and how it can help you check out one of our upcoming webinars or get in touch.
We are hosting a range of webinars discussing embedded iPaaS, integration building and more.
Check out the full list on our dedicated page.
