Modernize your operations with cloud technologies

What is digital modernization in business operations?

For a robust digital modernization strategy, you must connect people, processes, data, and technology to transform how your business runs. And cloud technologies are a future-proof foundation for it all.

My colleague has already explored how businesses can modernize applications, so in this blog, I'll focus on how enterprises should modernize operations.

The three levels of digital modernization

In an ideal world, businesses would reach something known as zero operations (ops). Zero ops is a zero-touch, zero-wait, zero-exception, and zero delay operations model – less effort for employees and customers alike.

But modernization journeys differ from company to company, depending on their industry, resources, and current technology landscape. And it happens at the deepest levels of a business – think commercial lending or, to go a step deeper, loan servicing.

Ultimately, there are three broad levels of ops modernization:

• Level one: This is the simplest approach focused on the digital modernization of manual tasks. Most of the processes stay as they are, but automation enhances them to increase productivity. Plus, cloud-enabled low-code/no-code workflow apps like ServiceNow or the Microsoft Power Platform on Azure replace spreadsheets and email
• Level two: Here, front-to-back processes become more intelligent and more connected. There's a shift to smarter systems of engagement that eliminate steps and orchestrate work across different systems. A company at level two will improve processes incrementally. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)-enabled extraction-as-a-service can transform insurance claims by intelligently receiving, collating, and processing both structured and unstructured data.
• Level three: At the highest level, a company totally re-engineers processes, front to back and end to end for value beyond efficiency. They also reach new heights of business agility by shifting their legacy platforms to modern composable architecture on a cloud foundation. The broad adoption of AI/ML delivers data-driven insights that empower employees and more intelligent operations. Better still, companies can modernize their customer-facing platforms with fully automated self-service experiences

Successful digital modernization examples

So, what does this look like in practice?

At a major media company, accounts payable (AP) sent out 4,000 invoices every month – and 3,600 of those were one-off invoices. Vendors had to submit and manually process every single invoice on an outdated system. Using cloud technologies as part of its digital modernization strategy, Genpact recommended a standardized self-service portal for one-off vendors to create profiles and submit invoices. With this portal, vendors can get paid more quickly, and AP can focus on more strategic work.

Another example comes from a drugstore chain that lacked a single system of engagement for trade promotions. As a result, unofficial negotiations happened between suppliers and districts – leading to discrepancies downstream and revenue leakage. So, the company set out to speed up the trade promotions reconciliation process and tackle underlying upstream inefficiencies. Today, the retailer uses a portal to document and standardize promotions using cloud technologies to protect profits and empower employees.

As these stories show, when you modernize operations in the right way, everyone wins. So, while the digital modernization journey may seem complex, there's never been a better time to start.