Digital Transformation

What is Digital Transformation?

6.digital — Digital Transformation

Go to LinkedIn and ask three digital experts what digital transformation is all about. I bet you’ll get at least four different responses!

Why is Digital Transformation needed?

Many experts say digital transformation is about technology. They say it is the need to move from older, legacy systems to newer, open source systems. Some experts say digital transformation is about automating all business processes. They claim it is the need to streamline work and reduce budgets and staff costs. Few experts say digital transformation is neither digital nor transformative. They suggest the use of the word digital helps to get attention and secure money. They also state it is not transformational. They say it is just business change.

At 6.digital, we know your digital transformation is about your consumers’ experience. We know you need consumer-focused, capable, competent, self-organising teams. We know you need lean, agile, flexible processes too. We also know you need the right technology.

We know people, processes and technology are all important. They are important in non-digital businesses too.

Being digital is about meeting your consumers’ needs from request to fulfilment. It is about doing that as well as possible.

So, what IS Digital?

Think about your business and your own ambitions. What do you do and where is your business going?

Think about your teams and your staff members. What do they do and how do they do it?

Think about your consumers. What do they want, when and how?

Think about your providers. What do they do, who else does it?

Think about your products and services. What are they, who needs them, who buys them and how?

Now, ask yourself these six questions to determine the scope for your digital transformation:

1. Can your consumers tell you about themselves, what their needs and concerns are?
2. Can your consumers ask you about your business, your products and services?
3. Can your consumers know everything about their involvement with your business, products and services?
4. Can your consumers find out more information about your business, products and services?
5. Can your consumers see other products and services in more detail?
6. Can you show your consumers more about your business and future products and services?

It is likely that you have answered yes to more than one of these. Now ask yourself whether you can do this without any human interaction.

1. Can your consumers tell you about themselves, what their needs and concerns are? Consider whether they can do this online and mobile, from any location and any device, or not. Determine whether it is easy or hard. If you can record the details and reuse them.
2. Can your consumers ask you about your business, your products and services? Consider whether they know what they can ask for compared with what they can’t. Determine if they know what you do and what all your products and services are or if they only know some of them. Consider whether they can do this online and mobile, from any location and any device, or not. Determine whether it is easy or hard.
3. Can your consumers know everything about their involvement with your business, products and services? Consider whether you have a portal or an app where they can see all their interactions with you. Determine if this includes all requests, all orders, all compliments and complaints.
4. Can your consumers find out more information about your business, products and services? Consider whether all your digital content is searchable. Determine the format of your responses to their searches. Work out if they are just text, or whether you provide answers in other formats.
5. Can your consumers see other products and services in more detail?Determine if you use great videos showcasing your products and services. Consider how much detail they can see.
6. Can you show your consumers more about your business and future products and services? Consider whether you have a newsletter or a Facebook business page, a blog or a YouTube channel. Determine if you contact them often, with regular updates.

It is likely that few of you can continue to say yes. If you can, congratulations, you are well on your way to being a digital business. If you can’t, you have a transformation ahead of you.

Ok, so, what IS transformation?

All businesses, whether sole-traders or global businesses, exist for the same reason. To deliver value.

For many businesses value means money. For some, it means helping people, or animals or the land. For a select few it means creating new possibilities and opportunities. But for all, it requires the methods and actions that:

1. Start creating value
2. Continue delivering value
3. Stop destroying value

Simple, isn’t it?

But, unless you are already digital, you are going to have to change the way you do these.

At 6.digital, we know that this will have to be transformational. Normal business change won’t do it. The current strategies and patterns aren’t right. The methods and processes used need to change. The tools and technologies won’t handle it. Most important: the culture isn’t digital. Everything needs to change.

Business change is evolutionary. It is continual. We need business change to continue to maintain and grow our businesses.

Digital is revolutionary. It is unique. To create new value, with digital products and services, we need to transform:

1. Our strategies and how we create them
2. Our decision-making bodies and decision-making capability
3. How we direct our resources and capabilities and monitor their efforts
4. How we engage with our consumers and keep them
5. How we engage with our providers and integrate them
6. How we design and develop our products and services and innovate
7. How we deliver our services and improve them
8. How we sustain the momentum and continue to grow
9. How we deliver value and stay relevant.

Business change is about doing things differently.

Transformation is about doing different things.

To meet the challenges of the new digital world and deliver value, we need to do different things.

So, how do we DO digital transformation?

That’s for the next post..!

Thanks for reading.