The 5 W’s of Digital Transformation
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital Transformation is the use of digital technology to solve traditional problems. It is the the change associated with a move from physical to digital for a product, process, or group of people.
The digital solutions arising from this process enable new types of innovation and creativity.
Rather than enhancing and supporting a traditional solution to “improve” current results, this process seeks to reimagine and potentially recreate the solution in a whole new way to identify new insights and opportunities.
A great example of a transformation can be seen when looking at how companies manage documents today.
Most companies are now implementing products like DocuSign or similar alternatives to digitize their documents and enable virtual signatures for quick execution. Practically no one is storing physical copies in a file cabinet and mailing them to be executed by the necessary parties.
Using this example, think of a process you have in your business or at your job that causes you to think “ there has to be a better way”.
Most often simply reimagining an experience will result in identifying a Digital Opportunity within your business.
Who will Digital Transformation impact?
Simple Answer is (eventually) Everyone;
Every business. Every employee. Every customer.
Currently, 89% of enterprises have plans to adopt or have already adopted a digital-first business strategy with Services (95%), Financial Services (93%) and Healthcare (92%) leading all industries.
Successful transformations result in increased productivity, profitability, customer loyalty and visibility of data.
Before starting a transformation it is critical to establish the metric of success or Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that will be measured to identify the overall impact and success of the project.
For example: Improve Order Fulfillment Turnaround by 10%
With a clear KPI defined, you can now measure the current solution or processes and identify sources of inefficiencies that would need to be address for the transformation to be successful.
Click the link below to review solution that resulted in the example shared above: Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Transforms Manual Scheduling Process to Real-Time TV Application
When will Digital Transformation Results be Experienced?
The results have already begun to present themselves for many companies and there is no discrimination in regards to industry, size, processes or overall business strategy.
According to the latest IDG Digital Transformation survey completed in 2018
Fortune 100 all the way down to newly founded start ups are implementing digital business strategies and experiencing increases in revenue up to 34% while enterprises are stating a 23% increase according to the latest IDG Digital Transformation survey completed in 2018.
Every business has an element that can be optimized through Digitization which is the process of converting information or an asset into a digital format which can be process by a computer.
If you still have a process on paper, this is your starting point. If not, look for a common bottleneck or survey your employees to identify inefficiencies.
Where can Digital Transformation Occur?
It can occur at any level in the business and is primarily derived from the company’s overall strategy to ensure the digital strategy is in alignment with the business goals.
Once this reconciliation has been made, a starting point should expose itself based on the priority of items based on existing challenges vs. opportunities available.
I’ve found there are three main categories of transformation:
1) Create — Develop a solution to address a specific problem, personalize your customer’s experience, or capitalize on a new opportunity.
2) Optimize — Improve your existing products or platforms to address key challenges through connectivity, personalization, and experimentation.
3) Automate — Empower your employees by supplying them with tools to improve safety, automate manual processes, and optimize communication.
Why Should Businesses Implement a Digital Transformation Strategy?
Simply put; If you’re not first, you’re last.
However, Howard King in an article for The Guardian, defines it a bit clearer.
“Businesses don’t transform by choice because it is expensive and risky. Businesses go through transformation when they have failed to evolve. “
Digital Transformation will be much like other technology trends that we have witnessed over the past several decades taking e-commerce websites vs. traditional retail for instance.
Initially there will be first movers and others that meet the need / want for change with a level of resistance.
Over time the scale will continue to tilt until the former has completely taken over the latter, where anyone left is now not keeping up with the norms for survival and in this example, losing customers because of it (think Toys R Us).
The time to act is now — no matter how big or how small. Begin to define a digital first strategy that will create a competitive position having a key differentiation when it comes to product, process, people, or experience.
How to Start Creating a Digital Transformation Strategy
Before technology is applied you need to have a clear vision and strategy for your business as technology is only the vehicle for innovation and requires a sound infrastructure supporting it in order to be successful.
- Start with your vision.
2. Look to identify key opportunities for growth, bottlenecks in your business, overlooked customer touch points, and/or overall employee productivity and satisfaction to determine areas of priority.
3. Analyze the market to see if any others are already proceeding in a similar direction or solving the same problem to save time by not reinventing the wheel.
4. While you outline and define the initial vision for transformation, be sure to focus more on the “ideal” experience or outcome and disregard any limitations based on current technologies or solutions.
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If you have any questions about Digital Transformation or how you Business can begin to implement a strategy feel free to reach out by visit www. Incipientcorp.com or drop me a line info@incipientcorp.com.
