Digital West 2021: Digital Transformational Summary

Key Takeaways

With 115,000,000 daily active users on Microsoft Teams as a result of COVID-19, digital technologies are expanding its abilities to become even more user-friendly. Aidan Kilcoyne provided advice on digital marketing strategies which can be summarized as “maximize the reach and minimize the waste” through digital tracking on spending and results. Valerie McTaggart added that digital transformation is about culture, business model, and process. It is important to note that in order to be successful, you must ensure you are optimizing your processes.

“There is a level playing field for innovation and collaboration.” — Orla Flynn

“Maximise your reach and minimise your waste.” — Aidan Kilcoyne

“Digital transformation is about culture, business model and process.” — Valerie McTaggart PhD (c)

It is no surprise that the pandemic had the largest negative impact on small businesses, and store owner Brid Conroy shared her experience navigating these hardships. She highlighted one important note to remember—“every order matters”. The pandemic has highlighted how important customers are to small businesses, which has been proven by the overwhelming number of online searches for local businesses to support in Ireland. 

“Every order matters.”— Brid Conroy

Digital transformation is easier for some businesses to develop than others, which is why business supports are available to ease the transition to online platforms. These resources include hard supports such as financial help, as well as soft supports where you can get insights and advice. 

“In order to meet the online demand of goodwill, you need to be online.” — Elaine Moyles

Although digital transformation has a lot of positive impacts, there are also drawbacks to working remotely. Ciara Gallagher shared two important plans that Microsoft has to enhance productivity for remote workers. First, Microsoft plans to partner with wellness organizations to restore the fatigue experienced by working remotely. Second is the implementation of Speech-to-Text (STT) to transcribe meetings and highlight the specific calls to action. Through these plans, Microsoft has shown that although they are ahead of the curve when it comes to digital transformation, there are always ways to improve.

“Microsoft is partnering with wellness companies for improved customer experience.”— Ciara Gallagher, CEH

Brian Hanly concluded the conference by sharing three important takeaways. First, it is important to deliver value early and often. In order to do this, you must first define what your definition of value, early, and often is. Second, in order to set yourself up for success, you need to visualize what exactly needs to be done. Lastly, the only way to know if an idea is going to work is to experiment with it in the market. Don’t be afraid to take risks, for the biggest risks often lead to the greatest reward.

“Deliver value early and often.” — Brian Hanly

It was a fantastic conference conducted by GMIT. Thank you for inviting me to MC a most insightful discussion.

Watch the video below for a full summary of of the conference. To keep up-to-date on new blogs, podcasts and future events sign up for our newsletter.

Talk to Sharon Boyle and Turlough Rafferty about learning and growth opportunities at GMIT Innovation Hubs.

Check out the full recording of the event at https://digitalwest.biz

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For more information on how to build your digital transformation, go to www.gmit.ie/gmit-innovation-hubs​