While hands-on client servicing might have its appeal, we live in a fully-digital age and it’s a shame not to rely on digital innovation. The reason why most companies avoid digital transformation is due to its namesake – it requires root-level change to how a business operates.
According to Forbes, 44% of companies have already started a digital-first approach to operations, with 27% who state that digital transformation is necessary for survival. Likewise, Finances Online reported that 50.4% of organizations are positive about technological disruption, with 23.4% which stated they are slow adopters of digital technology.
Depending on the industry you operate in, as well as your business portfolio, it’s more or less difficult to write a digital transformation strategy. That being said, let’s go down a digital transformation strategy checklist to define common bottlenecks and growth opportunities, in addition to benefits of digital transformation.
Audit your Business Model
Digital transformation will mean drastically different things to different companies. For example, a SAAS business with a stake in cloud computing is already digital technology reliant – however, they can always do better. Likewise, a local marketing agency with a retail office might want to invest into automation or new software solutions for their clients’ benefit.
The first step in digital transformation is to assess the current situation of your company. How present are AI, machine learning and cloud-based technologies in your business model? Do you offer such services to clients or intend to use them to augment the quality of your business portfolio? Audit your company carefully before you commit to any form of digital transformation strategy.
Beware of Chasing Digital Trends
Once you audit your company, you should think about how “necessary” digital transformation is for your business. While implementing chatbot customer servicing or automated content marketing may have its appeal, it might go against your company culture or service portfolio.
Be careful of implementing digital innovation for the sake of innovation. Only bring relevant changes to your business model in order for your staff to take full advantage of the tools you make available. Failing to choose digital transformation changes wisely will lead to rollbacks and loss of precious time and resources – don’t chase trends, chase meaningful innovation.
Assemble a Digital Transformation Task Force
Ad hoc digital transformation can only lead to detrimental effects for your business. As such, make sure that you assemble a project team which can consist of staff volunteers. Your digital transformation task force will be in charge of implementing upgrades and software solutions throughout the company.
It’s important that everyone on your staff is aware of upcoming digital transformation additions so that confusion or resistance is avoided. Make sure that the team consists of people with IT expertise and a project lead with managerial skills. Once you create a checklist of changes which will find their way into your business model, your task force should implement them autonomously.
Streamline & Automate
The role of digital transformation is to make every day decision-making and client servicing easier. You should aim to innovate in areas which are the most reliant on hands-on activities which require a lot of time to do manually.
For example, if your staff spends a lot of time chatting with clients about support tickets; why not bring chatbots into your fold? Likewise, if you rely on email marketing to communicate with your customer base, a marketing automation platform may be the thing you need. Any changes you make to your business model should make day-to-day work simpler and more automated, not the other way around. Ask yourself if a certain innovation will make your staff’s work harder or more streamlined and you will know whether to bring it on board.
Work on your Company Culture
The most essential part of the digital transformation checklist is to make sure that your staff actively employs the innovation you brought on. According to Business 2 Community, it takes hours for 60% of employees to gather data for an important business decision, despite advanced analytics being available.
Your company culture will have to shift to a digital-first mentality alongside the new tools and processes you made available to everyone. To that effect, you can use seminars, teambuilding and training sessions liberally to ensure that everyone is aware of new digital innovation. Such an initiative will also have positive effects on your staff’s engagement and professional development, seeing that you will train them to use new tools.
The Benefits of Proper Digital Transformation
Now that we’ve outlined the common pitfalls and growth opportunities related to digital transformation, let’s discuss its benefits in greater detail. Regardless of how successful your enterprise may be at the moment, rest assured that your competition is working hard on their digital innovations.
Given that most industries are highly competitive and require constant reevaluation and updates to existing processes, digital transformation can indeed prove highly advantageous for you. If we were to break down the core benefits of proper, planned digital transformation, it would include:
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Effective resource allocation and utilization
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Higher employee engagement, retention and empowerment
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Efficient time-management and streamlined manual processes
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Easier staff communication and collaboration through dedicated tools
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Improved, digital-first company culture, driven by innovation and creativity
Into the Digital-First Era (Conclusion)
Digital transformation is an ongoing project, one which will never really end if you wish to maintain a competitive edge on the market. However, it is a worthwhile project which will make your staff and clients happier as a result.
Look for ways to meaningfully implement new software solutions and tools into your business model without disrupting what already works. Digital technologies are only bound to become more critical for day-to-day operations as time goes on. Stay ahead of the curve and innovate in your niche to take full advantage of what digital transformation can do for your company.