A Guide To Enterprise Digital Transformation Success

Digital transformation is a megatrend that is completely transforming the business world as we know it. As society becomes more and more digitalised, outdated processes and technologies in every sector must be replaced in favour of ones that ensure every enterprise has the capability to compete with brands already embracing digital processes. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight, which is why brands need first to develop a capability-centric transformation roadmap. This will give everyone involved a clear idea of how the transformation is going to play out, who will be involved, and what their responsibilities will be. Here’s how to turn your transformation dreams into reality:

Step 1: Look At What You Have In Place

There’s no use wasting money and time on completely overhauling your company’s digital infrastructure, to keep up with the rapidly transforming digital world if you already have certain digital processes in place. By identifying working digital processes, you’ll see where the gaps are.

Step 2: See Where You’re Already Winning

Of the existing digital solutions you have in place, are any of them already driving value for your organisation? For example, if you’re using manual email marketing (which is already considered outdated) and it’s working, you don’t have to rush in order to replace it with, say, and automated system.

Step 3: List Possible Digital Improvements

At this step, you’re assessing your findings from steps one and two, looking at the existing digital solutions you use, and the opportunities to include digitalisation to improve your analogue processes. Make a list of how you think each of your existing digital processes could be improved.

Step 4: Engage With Stakeholders To Determine Needs

Before going out and paying for a host of new digital solutions, speak to your organisation’s stakeholders to determine what their digital needs are. For example, there’s no use forking out thousands of Rands on, say, Adobe Photoshop if your designer prefers to work on Canva.

Step 5: Match Needs With Digital Resources

Now that you know what your staff, suppliers, partners, and customers require in terms of digital interaction with the organisation – the next step is to see if your existing digital solutions can be used to fulfil those requirements as they are. If they cannot, then the next step is to procure solutions that can.

Step 6: Work Out What Everything Will Cost

At this point, you should have been able to identify where your organisation has already started transforming digitally, where there are shortcomings, and what your stakeholders expect from you in terms of having a digital marketplace presence. Now you need to call service providers and figure out what your imminent digital transformation is going to cost the business.

Step 7: Finalise & Formalise Transformation Plan

Steps one through six are information-finding activities, and once your data is collected, you’ll need to collate it all into a workable plan. This plan should be simple enough for everyone in the business to understand, and comprehensive enough to ensure that – if it is followed meticulously – all areas needing transformation will be addressed.

Step 8: Continuously Revise And Realign

After the plan is pulled together, all that is left to do is put it into motion and slowly get your business aligned with the digital requirements of modern society. However, keep in mind that transformation is an ongoing process, and your digitalisation will need to be reassessed periodically to make sure that you’re keeping up with the technologies shaping your industry in the next normal.

Companies that neglect to monitor their digital needs are going to find it hard to compete in the new normal marketplace. When a business embraces digital processes, they are able to serve their customers better, and greatly improve their internal productivity.

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