Why digital transformation is so significant and how to master it

For many years, consultants have been pushing stuck-in-the-middle companies to transform their operations more tech-friendly. Nevertheless, most people remained hesitant. However, with COVID-19, digital solutions were suddenly in high demand everywhere. The following article will examine digital transformation, why it is so important, and how you can ensure successful digital transformation in your company.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is when a company changes its current workflows, processes, and systems to incorporate more digital technologies. Entire processes that previously had to be done manually are often automated. Digital consultants can support you throughout this transition.

“Digital transformation, when done right, is like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. However, if done incorrectly, you only have a fast caterpillar.” – George Westerman.

How do you benefit from digital transformation?

Digital transformation promises many more benefits than just increased security during a pandemic. Below are some of the most important of them:

Better customer experiences

You no longer have to sit on hold at a call center for ages. Instead, you can chat with an automated bot that answers customers’ most frequently asked questions. Automatically responding to email queries makes customers feel heard.

This gives you the certainty that your request will be taken care of. In addition, you no longer have to wait for a sales representative to contact you about a product. Simply select the desired number of items, add them to the shopping cart, pay through numerous payment gateways, and wait for your package.

Increased profits

Companies that have undergone digital transformation see an average increase in revenue of 23%. Why? When sales go faster, and you can handle multiple sales simultaneously, profits increase, and employees have more time for other tasks.

Increased productivity

This typically happens when valuable team members outsource time-consuming tasks to bots, computer software, AI, etc. As a result, they can focus on the things that matter.

Access to data-driven insights

With the proper implementation of sales funnel technology and digital processes, you can collect and track a wealth of data. These are invaluable to the success of any company.

Why the hesitation?

There are many reasons why companies resist such changes. Many of these concerns are unfounded fears based on a lack of knowledge. Unfortunately, many of these fears are also why attempts to initiate digital transformation successfully fail. One reason, for example, is the fear that technology introductions will make jobs redundant. Another reason is a more corporate culture problem (the old “But we’ve been doing it that way for decades”). It’s easier to do things the way they’ve always been done. When faced with such doubts, digital advisors are crucial, Meaning to enlighten and calm minds.

Also Read: Guide to a career in AI consulting

Why does digital transformation fail so often?

As mentioned, many of these failures have to do with fear. Others, however, are technical. Here are some of the most common reasons why digital transformations fail:

Unclear goals

Saying that technology implementation will increase and you will “become more digital” can mean many things – especially to team members who do not understand digital transformation. For such a change to be successful, you should have clear goals that include milestones associated with specific deadlines. These goals must be communicated to the entire company and its team members. Digital consultants can also support you with this communication.

Lack of skills

This may be partly due to a lack of technical training, but partly also due to a generational and skills problem.

Corporate culture question

As mentioned, corporate culture plays an essential role in successful digital transformation. Over time, people automatically get used to things happening a certain way and then get stuck in certain routines and habits. To overcome this, it is worth consulting digital consultants.

Ignore the customers

You are highly motivated to create an excellent, modern, interactive, responsive landing page. However, if your target audience is insurance brokers in their mid-40s, you may be missing your mark. Digital transformation doesn’t just encourage you to adopt the latest digital technologies. Instead, it’s about keeping the user experience in mind in everything you do – internally and externally.

Five steps to master the digital transformation process

Once you understand what digital transformation means and what pitfalls there are, it is easier to start the process and manage it correctly. Below are five steps on how to master digital transformation in your company:

1. Set your vision – As noted, unclear goals can prevent successful digital transformation.
2. Involve management and team leaders – This is a cultural aspect: If a company’s managers are on board, you are 1.6 times more likely to manage the digital transformation successfully.
3. Address the cultural problem head-on – The first step is to get the executives on board. However, as a second step, you also have to get the rest of the company excited about the upcoming changes and get them going.
4. Assessing and Acquiring Resources and Skills – If you don’t have the right developers in the background, you will most likely outsource your digital transformation. But who will manage this in the long term? To do this, looking internally for people with the necessary knowledge and skills to manage these technology partners and work with them is advisable. Companies often have many hidden talents just waiting for the right opportunity based on your skills.
5. Choose the right technical solutions for your business – your technical team should be able to help you with this. Nevertheless, it would be best not to forget to ask everyone in the company for ideas. Again, these might surprise you. There are numerous programs, platforms, plugins, etc. to choose from. However, not all of them may be suitable for your business.