What is digital transformation and what role does low-code play?
What is digital transformation? Ask ten different parties and you'll get twelve answers.

At Grexx, we think it’s important not to get caught up in the buzzword bingo. Whatever definition of digital transformation you use, we always recommend starting with digitalizing or automating processes or work. That way, you'll quickly get the hang of digitalizing, and new insights and ideas will emerge immediately. This is also how our low-code platform works best.
And that's also where most organizations can quickly and relatively easily make a lot of gains:
• Digitized and automated processes and operations are faster and less error-prone than when people perform them.
• This frees up human resources that can be used elsewhere.
• if you automate routine work (such as data entry), the people you free up are often happy about it. They can then pick up other, more varied (and often more challenging) work.
So digital transformation helps your organization function better, faster, and more efficiently whilst utilizes employees better. Our low-code platform is one of the tools you can use for this.
Benefits of digital transformation.
It’s hard to see the wood for the trees. With the abundance of theories, methods, tools, frameworks, strategies, and associated providers associated with digital transformation; it can be overwhelming to navigate through all the information. It’s challenging to make a well-informed decision amidst the forest of options.
We can easily agree that digital transformation is a good idea conceptually however, implementing this change is trickier. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so it’s important to choose a method that fits your organization’s goals and objectives.
In this article, you will read more about starting with digital transformation and we will specifically focus on how to digitalize and automate work processes, how to do that with low-code and why or when low-code is the right solution to choose. In that area, our team can provide you with extensive and honest advice.
Some of the benefits of digital transformation:
• Digitized and automated processes and operations are more efficient, giving you cost savings and higher productivity.
• Data collection and data analysis suddenly become a lot easier and more structured, which can provide new insights (into customer behavior, for example)
• You increase your flexibility and scalability: manpower and staff budget are no longer a bottleneck. So, you can easily respond to the market and changing needs of your customers, users, or other stakeholders.
Digital transformation can give you quite a competitive advantage:
'McKinsey recently published a very comprehensive report on the degree of standardization in knowledge work. 60% of all occupations can be at least 30% automated. Now suppose you delve into this earlier or further than the competition. Can you imagine what that would mean for your productivity, effectiveness, competitive position, innovation, and budgets? - Read more about the study here.
Also check out our blog "In 3 Steps to a Simple Digital Transformation Strategy" here.
Of course, digital transformation also has drawbacks:
• Digital transformation does not happen by itself, it needs to be actively pursued. This pursuit involves various investments, as financial resources, a dedicated team, focused attention and time. While the benefits are self-evident, building a strong business case still requires effort and consideration.
• The supply is huge, and it is not always obvious which solution fits your organizational plans. It can be complicated to select the right partner. Take failure costs into account and pay sufficient attention to orientation and selection.
• Digital transformation requires something of your employees: a certain digital fitness and enough flexibility to master new processes.
• You need a plan. If you have no idea where you want to go in the next few years and how you want the organization to develop, then digital transformation makes little sense and will only cost you time and money.
Examples of successful digital transformation
You can make digital transformation as big or small as you want. We all know some examples of gigantic transformations with global successes:
• Netflix once sent DVDs by mail. Today, they are one of the largest online streaming services in the world.
• Amazon began as an online bookstore. Now you can buy almost anything there and it is one of the largest e-commerce and tech companies in the world.
In principle, these are great examples, but this kind of digital transformation where a company transforms its entire service delivery is probably not what you're looking for. And this is also not the level at which you start digital transformation. Logically, you first address processes and operations within specific services and then gradually make larger changes that will impact the entire service delivery.
Even on a more subtle level, especially as an SME (+), you can make a big impact with digital transformation. Some practical examples:
• Offer your customers, partners, or other stakeholders a ‘myprofile’ section in which they can schedule appointments themselves, report changes, look up contract information or place new orders. Free up employees who are now constantly on the phone or in the mailbox spending hours on these kinds of processes.
• Automate repetitive tasks often found in administration, finance, and sales departments. This could include tasks such as sending quotes and invoices, registering payments and reminders, taking stock and ordering and providing insight into inventory or sales figures. Automatic processes and continuous insight into control data make your organization flexible and scalable.
• Improve collaboration between the various parties your customer, patient, or other type of user deals with. Make sure the right data is available to the right person at the right time and optimize the customer experience for all involved.
Digital Transformation is a process.
It is important to realize that digital transformation is not a one-time fix. It is a process that you start with in small steps and based on what you learn during the process you can adjust and take new steps forward.
A real-life example:
For credit evaluator Johan, his work consists, very briefly, of three different steps. When he assesses a loan application, he needs a lot of information and documentation (step 1), based on that he makes a decision (step 2) and from that follows a contractual settlement (step 3). The first and last steps are fairly easy to automate. The second step is a lot more difficult, and that is exactly where Johan gets his job satisfaction. Step 1 and step 3 are administrative side issues for him.
So, in this situation, it makes sense to automate step 1 and step 3 first. That saves Johan a lot of work and shortens the turnaround time. Then it’s time to start working on digitalizing (but not yet automating) step 2. Now that Johan's work is also fully digital, you can retrieve information easily, quickly and in detail. You can recognize patterns and implicit rules, see when certain decisions are made. You can see in which cases an external expert is called in, when Johan immediately rejects a request or which situations repeatedly require additional information.
With this information, you can make Johan's process a little easier. Part of step 2 digitalizing will include adopting parts of the process and make it declarative (if X, then Y). This way we start with very small pieces, and gradually make this complex process more and more automated as well.
This works well for Johan because he is more occupied with his work and less with peripheral issues. He works much more efficiently and experiences his work as more challenging than ever before. For Johan's manager this is also pleasant, because the credit applications are now processed much faster, which benefits both the company image and the workload.