Is Digital Transformation Still Relevant in 2025?

The definition of digital transformation

Today, the definition of digital transformation is something more like this:

Digital transformation means optimising and integrating technology across the entire value chain to extract, analyse and action data in a way that enhances decision-making and improves company performance.

Digital transformation in 2025 is not solely focused on streamlining or automating business processes. Instead, it’s about using data to reinvent old processes and reorganise systems around the customer. Sometimes, that means making a series of marginal gains with targeted projects. Sometimes it means rebuilding organisations from the ground up. In every case, it’s about becoming data-driven to deliver better experiences and capture more value.

So, short answer? Yes, digital transformation is still relevant today. It just doesn’t look like it used to.

Side note: What digital transformation isn’t

In our view, “digital transformation” is no longer interchangeable with “digitisation” or “digitalisation”. And look, there might still be some companies out there running on manual processes (there are exceptions to every rule). But in most cases – certainly with our clients in markets like the UK, USA, Australia and Continental Europe – digital transformation has evolved and left its origins in history.

What’s driving digital transformation in 2025?

Several factors are pushing companies towards digital transformation:

• • Increased competition: Even unflappable legacy brands are feeling the heat of increased competition. Succeeding nowadays means being on the front foot with customers. You need to find new ways to impress them or they’ll walk.
  • Access to better tech: Sure, generative AI features are cool. But the real value we’re seeing is in integrations and automations. These save more time where it counts, in campaign creation and customer intelligence.
  • Customer expectations: You need customer data to be recent, reliable, integrated and accurate if you have any hope of delivering the seamless, personalised experiences customers expect and deserve.

Your customers are at the heart of all this. Digital transformation today is fundamentally about reimagining the customer experience. 

In fairness, it was in the ’90s as well. But back then, businesses embarking on “digital transformation” projects were computerising procedures and chasing customers into a nascent Internet. Today, we’re more concerned with meeting customers’ demands and expectations. The script has flipped. Customer centricity is everything. 

But if you get digital transformation right, there’s a lot to gain.

The advantages of effective digital transformation

Enhance efficiency

Digital transformation reduces manual effort and automates repetitive tasks. This almost always leads to increased productivity and cost savings with no quality loss. We’ve helped clients cut campaign development timelines by 90% or more.

Improve decision making

With smaller margins and tighter regulations, you can’t afford to make risky decisions. Data-driven insights provide a clear foundation for strategic choices and risk mitigation.

Boost innovation

Technology was always meant to free up time for higher-order work. This is why we say that the best martech is often the one you already have. Digital transformation should foster a culture of collaboration and experimentation by simplifying processes. If your tech isn’t doing that, let’s talk.

Strengthen customer relationships 

Personalised experiences and efficient interactions deepen customer loyalty. Our digital transformation expertise will help you leverage data and automation to:

• Anticipate customer needs
• Provide tailored solutions
• Ensure consistent, high-quality service

Gain a competitive edge

With a more integrated and automated system, you’ll start to outpace competitors in the race to reach customers first. Existing customers will also be chuffed that you’re showing up for them. We know customer loyalty is a challenge. This is the way to make meaningful headway.

Scale success

Most digital transformation projects fail in 3-5 years because they focus on immediate problems. That’s a hangover from the digitisation mindset. We approach transformation differently. Instead of using tech to patch holes, we trace problems to the source. That way, the transformed processes and systems scale with you and allow you to adapt. You’re not back here in five years when things change again.

Delivering value to customers: A step-by-step guide to digital transformation

1. Set clear goals

Define what you want to achieve with your digital transformation project. What problems are you trying to solve? What opportunities are you aiming to capitalise on? Whether converting more customers, cutting campaign development timelines, increasing martech ROI or gaining customer loyalty, specific objectives are your guides and guardrails. Make sure the goals align with your business strategy. That way, you can demonstrate how a project like overhauling data clean-up rules adds value to the organisation. 

1. Identify customer needs

Put your customers at the centre of your digital strategy. Understand their needs, preferences, pain points and behaviours. There might still be gaps in the picture. That’s ok. Do what you can. Use this knowledge to design the processes and services that contribute to your goals. Resist the temptation to skip this step (and the next) because they might upset the apple cart. Clarity around your customers’ needs and behaviours is the only way to design effective, scalable processes and invest in technology that works.

1. Establish new processes

Analyse your current workflows to identify weak spots. You’re looking for:

• Gaps in customer understanding
• Data siloes
• Tech integration opportunities
• Double handling
• Manual processes that could be automated
• Data-heavy processes that slow systems down
• Rigid procedures
• Too many approvals

Now rewire those processes. 

At every junction, ask, “Is this the best move for the customer?”  If the answer is no, backtrack until you get a yes. After doing that, run through the processes again to streamline things.

1. Choose tech wisely

Tech is important. But adding new tools won’t solve your problems. It’ll likely just bog you down and cost a bomb. Evaluate your options to integrate, upgrade or update existing tech before even thinking about new platforms. Choose the option that’s secure, scalable, fit-for-purpose and fits your budget.

1. Restructure 

It’s often necessary to adapt team structures to accommodate redesigned customer-centric processes. This could involve redefining roles, creating new teams or altering project management styles. Our tip? Creating cross-functional teams is a great way to avoid information getting cloistered. If you’re worried about pushback, here are some tips:

• Make the goals visible; translate them to team-level KPIs so people know what they’re working towards
• Communicate often and encourage feedback so people feel they’re a valuable part of the process.
• Training. Confidence with new features, tools and processes does a lot to reshape uncertainty into enthusiasm

In our experience, people are more responsive to change when they understand the value. How will it make their life easier? How will it make them better at their job?

1. Execute the digital transformation

Wait, haven’t we been doing this the entire time? Not really. This is the “digital” part of “digital transformation”. It’s when you finally get to roll out changes:

• Integrating siloed platforms
• Automating workflows
• Overhauling data management
• Rebuilding platform processes
• Designing templates
• User testing
• A/B testing new ideas

We usually recommend starting with a pilot. Very few things are perfect the first time. That’s why we start with a low-risk trial, monitor the results and adapt.

1. Allow room to move

Digital transformation is a journey. Encourage continuous improvement and experimentation within the guardrails you set in Step 1. Be ready to adapt your strategy. Market conditions, customer expectations and tech capabilities evolve in unexpected directions. Flexibility will help you stay ahead of the changes and continuously deliver value.

What does digital transformation mean to you?

Digital transformation isn’t buzzword territory. It’s business imperative. It might happen on a smaller scale nowadays, with individual processes or systems being scrutinised rather than entire organisations ‘going digital’. But it’s no less important. Just like digitising brought businesses into the technology age, a customer-centric and data-enabled approach is essential for what’s coming next. Whatever that might be, we’re here to help you prepare for it.