Digital transformation can change the way your business operates by introducing new technology and cultural change through experimentation and new ways of working. Changes in customer behaviour, advancing technology and access to information can all bring about a change to digital usage.
Digital transformation was growing year on year however due to COVID that has rapidly escalated with people needing more digital solutions to work from home, eCommerce functionality, online meetings and interacting through digital rather than face to face with customers.
However, the list is not limited to the above, digital transformation can mean many different things to different industries and individual companies. The basis of the term can be narrowed down into two areas – to help improve internal processes and business delivery and to improve the customer experience and stay ahead of change. The primary goal for both areas is a smooth adoption of digital technology that will have a measurable impact on your business and customer experience.
Some companies have been forced through this change to remain in operation, some have embrace the change whilst other companies may no longer be running due to a lack of cooperation with digital processes and channels. The risk is that high for some.
Steps to digital transformation
What is driving the change?
When introducing digital its good to take a step back and understand the current situation, what problem you are looking to solve or the benefit to introducing this change. Understanding the drivers of change at this stage is crucial. This could be something like finding new revenue, customer experience, change in the market or driving down costs.
What are you trying to achieve?
Once you understand the drivers you can then create a strategy for change and clear goals to be achieved. Clear pathways and milestones can define how you proceed and help to see what success will look like.
Digital transformation does not need to be complex and may result in small, quick changes being made. However, if you are thinking of digitalising a full team or way of working this may take more time planning, finding resource, budget and educating and coaching staff through the change.
How will you measure success?
At the start of the project success should be clearly defined so everyone knows what they are aiming for, and the benefits provided. A baseline should be taken to measure against, this might be stats on current time taken to complete a process or customer satisfaction of the current systems. As the project is delivered these stats can then be compared with new timings and customer satisfaction surveys.
What is a digital first approach?
As companies start to adapt to digital they may consider a digital first approach. This means that when approaching new opportunities or problems the solution should be focused around digital as much as possible.
Focusing on digital first can bring many benefits. Commercially this can result in you reaching a wider audience, generating more sales and possibly producing digital services to increase your offering. Digital can provide you more data to enhance the customer experience and provide better and possibly quicker services. All of this can help towards future proofing the business and continued growth.
Lessons learned
Reading up on the subject of digital transformation and after speaking to others there are clear lessons and key message to be passed on:
· Have a clear understanding of where you want to get to and the goals you want to achieve
· Leaders need to inspire their teams through change and show them the benefits of changing processes and procedures
· Being a good leader means including others in the change and making sure they feel involved
· Consider digital inclusion through the language you use. Not everyone will be aware of digital terms and my need educating
· Prioritise the order of change for the business but ensure to be flexible on the pace. Technology can through curve balls that you have to take an agile approach with
· Be open to experimenting with change and consider running pilots to see how digital change is adopted
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