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Whether your industry is already disrupted or is on the cusp of radical change, it is evident that traditional ways of doing business are no longer sustainable. Digital maturity across industries is at a major tipping point, according to the Gartner 2019 CIO Agenda survey.
“Only 4% of organizations have no digital initiative at all, which signals a shift from digital as an option to digital as a mainstream platform.”
~ Kasey Panetta | Gartner
The tipping point means that there is no room for tip-toeing into digital transformation — it means that digital transformation strategy needs to be your top business priority.
Many leaders wonder if they should build in-house digital transformation teams or work with outside digital transformation strategy consulting services. To answer that question, leaders need to have a strong grasp on all that’s involved with digital transformation.
In this digital transformation consulting guide, we cover everything you need to know:
Digital transformation is the process of radically changing your business’s ways of doing things with the adoption of new technology.
This process encompasses all areas of business — customer experience, operational processes and maybe even a complete rehaul of your business model.
A digital transformation strategy starts with a clear understanding of customers and the business itself. With an honest assessment and established goals, leaders can form their actionable digital transformation strategy.
Forming a digital transformation strategy may seem simple, but it is a very involved process with long term consequences. Digital transformation looks different for every company and will impact your organization (for better or for worse) for a long time.
One way to break down digital transformation goals is to categorize the changes you want to see in the following categories:
Changing products from physical to digital or how the product is delivered.
Improving customer and employee experiences by digitizing certain elements or forms of communication
Create a plan to update legacy systems, especially considering moving to the cloud-based systems
Explore your current data analytics capabilities and how your business will need to use data in the future
Just like any sweeping business change, a digital transformation strategy should also take into account the large cultural changes that will be required for the transition. Roles will shift, employees will be reskilled and communication will become much clearer.
Innovation, risk and willingness to keep learning are all necessary for a digital transformation strategy to succeed.
Technology never stops advancing; digital transformation is a process that is never fully completed. Companies need to be agile and committed to continuous growth in digital maturity — always seeking to improve their processes and deliver more value to the customer.
Developing and executing a digital transformation strategy can be difficult. That’s why many companies seek digital transformation strategy consulting services.
Digital transformation consulting provides experts who know technology and who can dream big about the possibilities with their partners.
Digital transformation consulting will help you tailor a digital plan that suits your unique business.
Netflix. Uber. Amazon. These are all digital businesses that have changed everything.
But we aren’t all major enterprises or scrappy startups looking to throw a tsunami at our industries. Most businesses seeking digital transformation strategy consulting need to explore what possibilities are out there for a company of their size.
Take a look at these digital transformation examples that any business can benefit from:
Legacy systems require expensive maintenance and are limited in their ability to scale. When businesses update their legacy systems, they improve their online security, drive organizational agility and open up more room for growth.
This transition allows them to scale more and deliver products faster to their customers. Just like large enterprises can update their legacy systems, mid-sized companies can also make the move.
Digital platforms have allowed mid-sized businesses to:
With powerful analytics tools, marketers can better understand how customers interact with the company and build personalized customer journeys.
Here at RTS, we are particularly excited for our partners will be able to benefit from Salesforce’s acquisition of Tableau. This union of CRM and data-analytics will allow businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Data science tools are allowing sales reps to understand front-end and back-end processes better. Analytics can provide key insights on customer behavior patterns and effective sales techniques. Take for example, one of our clients who is a key player in retail. This client was seeing erratic retail sales.
With the use of data analytics and Business Intelligence tools, the company was able to streamline their sales pipeline. Sales increased by 24% and rep attrition dropped by 90%.
As industries shift, regulations change with them. Often, businesses will need new technology and infrastructure to make sure they are in-line with new laws.
For example, new regulations designed to curb the opioid epidemic require electronic prescriptions for controlled substances. Imprivata supports healthcare services to meet these new regulations with the right technology and resources.
There are a number of reasons why businesses are hurrying to nail down their digital transformation strategy.
Some businesses recognize the need to compete with disruptors in their industry. Others realize that they have to innovate to keep up with customer expectations.
The bottom line is that traditional ways of doing business will no longer cut it.
A recent IDG study found that 89% of enterprises have adopted or have plans to adopt a digital first strategy.
If almost all companies are going digital first, it begs the question: what will happen to the other 11%?
The outlook for companies without any digital transformation strategy is probably dim.
If businesses aren’t seeking new possibilities, they will be replaced with companies that are.
But why are most businesses adopting a digital first strategy?
Digital transformation improves your business efficiency, increases profits and creates more value for customers.
A business that undergoes digital transformation will benefit from a number of new technologies, including:
As technology advances, the benefits your business can reap from a digital transformation strategy are limitless.
Do you fear that other companies are already too far ahead of you for you to catch up?
Don’t worry. Though most companies are pursuing digital transformation in a variety of ways, the actual state of digital transformation among most companies is still behind the curve.
There is time for you to get started.
Digital transformation looks different for each business.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital transformation.
But there are some key indicators that might indicate you are ready to adopt modern tools and a digital-first business culture.
Digital transformations typically start from the top of the organization.
This investment requires a great deal of planning, time and resources. Executive leaders need to be fully committed to a digital transformation strategy in order to be successful.
Remember:
Some leaders will have resolute vision for radical operational change, and others will be risk averse. Executives needs to be on the same page to make the transformation successful.
Digital transformations require a ton of technical know-how — and the reality is that this tech talent is coveted across industries.
The demand for programmers, DevOps engineers and data analysts far outweighs the supply. You will need to expect to pay top dollar to recruit or train skilled tech employees.
The new skills you need will create a change in management and responsibilities. You will need to nail down what roles are needed, who owns certain tasks and where you are going to find this team.
The challenge to develop highly equipped tech teams often leads business to seek partnerships with digital transformation consulting companies.
Digital transformation looks different across industries. That’s why you must understand what customers in your sector are doing, thinking and expecting.
If your digital transformation strategy doesn’t have the customer experience at the heart of the plan, you may make some strides in efficiency but you will miss out on larger gains.
With the use of data analytics, you can access deep insights on customer behavior patterns. Use this knowledge to meet customers where they are.
You need to identify your business’s pain points and opportunities for revenue growth to develop a successful digital transformation strategy.
On top of focusing on operational friction, you need to see this organizational change from your employees’ perspective.
Many employees fear that digital transformation means that automation will replace their job. Others may be willing to change, are not capable of navigating the new skill sets they will need to take on.
Resistance or inability to change can slow down digital adoption. Instead, have a conversation with your employees about the process, how it will impact them and why it is important. The McKinsey Global Survey on digital transformation found that companies that communicated a company’s digital change story with employees were three times more likely to be successful.
Check in with employees on how they are doing and what their perspective is on the change. Open and honest communication is critical for any organizational change.
Every organization is different and has a different level of digital maturity.
The digital transformation process will vary across industries and businesses, but there are a few central components that businesses need to have in place.
Your business already has a digital stack and some level of digital connection with the customer. The first step is to take an assessment of your current digital capabilities and digital culture.
An assessment should take into consideration your current digital capabilities, the strength of your IT support, operational efficiency, employee capabilities and customer centricity.
Through the assessment, leaders should be able to identify achievable goals — short-term and long-term. Once goals are established, you can start to develop a digital transformation strategy to achieve low-hanging fruit objectives and more extensive changes.
Just as you are keenly aware of your own operations, you need to keep your eye on competitors.
Explore questions like:
Your top competitors may be setting the stage for changing customer expectations, and you don’t want to just keep up, you want to be leading the way.
There needs to be organization, communication and the right people in place to make digitization a reality.
You will need to source talent with advanced skill sets and reskill many of your current employees. Clear roles and responsibilities allow change to happen.
Though there will be internal roles who carry the responsibility of transformation, many businesses choose to hire additional outside partners. Outside consultants help businesses create a digital roadmap that supports business objectives, the integration of new digital tools and best practices.
A digital roadmap gives you a way to organize and communicate your strategic plan. Creating a visual for your digital transformation strategy gives you a birds eye view of which goals you want to achieve in 3-5 years.
Once you can see the overall picture, you can start to break down actions step by step.
The roadmap should cover:
After you create your digital transformation strategy and action plan, you can get started making the most critical changes.
Large-scale business changes are hard.
70% of digital transformation initiatives don’t meet their intended goals.
Digital transformation strategy consulting can help you reach your desired outcome.
Digital transformation consultants work with you to develop a digital plan and provide you with what you need to execute each change. They will also help you set and measure KPIs to make sure your digital transformation efforts are having a positive impact.
In the beginning stages of forming a digital transformation strategy, you will have many questions:
These are just a few questions digital transformation consulting can walk you through, not to mention providing the actual strategy, tools, and technical support you may need.
Many companies will have a vision of where they want to get to, but don’t know the steps or tools needed to get there. Digital transformation strategy consulting helps companies with vision nail down the strategic steps to achieve their goals. Digital transformation consulting companies will help you gather the data you need, transition to new infrastructure and implement new technology.
The best digital transformation consulting companies not only advise you on data, journey mapping and the implementation of new tech. They work alongside you, getting to know the in’s and out’s of your business. They will get to know your customers, industry and points of optimization.
If you are a leader in healthcare, retail or finance, your backbone might not be digital. When you use digital transformation strategy consulting, you can focus on what you do best, while the tech engineers focus on all things digital.
Here at RTS, we are excited about the work our clients are doing and want to be a part of delivering excellent business. This is what you should know about us:
We work hard to get to know your company, employees and customers. That investment in gathering data and really connecting with out clients allows us to dream big with our partners and create solutions that truly set our clients apart from competitors. We believe that acting preemptively creates more long-term value. We help our clients lead the way in software innovation, product delivery and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Set up a call to get started with Digital Transformation Strategy.
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