If you’re like most small business owners, you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the talk of digital transformation. It can feel like an impossible task to try and figure out where to start or what technological solutions to get.  At Dell, we know exactly how this feels. Our guest experts break down some of the critical technologies that could affect your business and how you can make the right decisions.  

Stacey Schulman is the Vice President of the Internet of Things Group at Intel. Matt Baker is the Senior Vice President at Dell Technologies Corporate Strategy.  In this Tech Talks, they shared intel about digital transformation, how you can get started, and the technological trends around hybrid work. 

What is digital transformation?  

Digital transformation is codifying business processes into technology and largely into software. But it’s also hardware.  

It’s not just the technology but the people, processes, and technology that must be addressed holistically. And that’s where many technology implementations go wrong because they’re technology-focused.  

Digital transformation is really applying technology to your business to help it move forward. So, always start with the problems that your business is facing and then figure out the technological solution.  

How do you start the digital transformation journey? 

Find the areas in your business that you can automate first. Usually, look at processes where you have to print a piece of paper and eliminate those. What would happen if you got rid of your printers in your company? What things would you need to change?  

The next thing is to look at where you use spreadsheets to do things you may need to automate. Automation helps a lot in organizing and finding information quickly.  

Which technology do you focus on? 

Focus on technology that helps you understand your customers and employees better. That’s your top priority.  

For example, during the pandemic, you should understand your employees well because they’re really hard to keep right now. They’re going through a moment of reflection, trying to figure out where they want to be and what draws meaning in their life.  

What are the technological trends in hybrid work? 

The way we do our work is forever changed, and it’s forced us to have a different level of discipline in how we document things and how we share information.  

You know everyone talks about, “We missed sharing information over the water cooler. And my question was, “Well, was that ever effective for a global company?” Who did you exclude in that conversation that really needed that information?  

It makes us rethink what collaboration really is and the different tools to collaborate.  There are some really great online tools for collaborating, but it’s hard for those of us who want to write things down and who want to touch and feel paper and write on whiteboards.  

There’s a billion-dollar opportunity for the small business that creates an ideal whiteboard solution for remote workers. If I could get a less-than-hundred-dollar whiteboard that shows me my drawing and other people’s drawing in different colors that are not on my primary screen, that would be great technology.