How To Unleash The Power Of Digital Transformation

Business leaders who take steps in order to break down cultural and organisational barriers can effectively realise the value represented by transformation opportunities. Dealing with new technology may be challenging, particularly when operating a small business with limited resources as well as competing priorities.

Not every small business operator has a background in technology, and if you’re aged over 30, you’re not a digital native. Over 40, and you probably didn’t even get an email address until you were in your mid-twenties – approximately the same time as you bought your first mobile phone – and your company probably wouldn’t have had a website until after that.

Success in digital transformation requires bringing together – as well as coordinating – a far greater range of energy than most leaders appreciate. A bad showing in any one of four inter-related domains — technology, data, process, or organisational change capability — may thwart an otherwise well-conceived digital transformation. The very important stuff, from creating and communicating a persuasive vision, to putting together a plan, adjusting it on the fly, to going through the details, is everything to do with people.

Digital Transformation Success

More than anything else, digital transformation necessitates talent. Indeed, collecting the correct team of technology, data, and process people who are able to work together — with a strong leader who is able to bring about change — may be the single most vital step which a company contemplating digital transformation can take. Yes, even the best talent does not guarantee success. However, a lack of it almost guarantees failure.

Make Use Of Outcome-Based Transformation Opportunities

While an unpretentious business function, the order-to-cash cycle affects your ability to be paid on time, minimise credit risk as well as spot and react to possible problems before they impact the business.

For example, AI-enabled AR and treasury systems generate opportunities to simplify operational processes radically and free up people to focus on mitigating risk.

It is very likely that more leaders will be investing in digital transformation projects where they can show real business impact — especially in areas of working capital as well as cash flow. These outcome-based digital transformations have the potential to enable long-term sustainable improvements to business processes.

Data Underpins Successful AI-Based Digital Transformations

A great place to focus your digital transformation effort is the finance back office. It instinctively consists of data-intensive functions for example procure-to-pay, treasury as well as order to cash.

Also, it is where a lot of value may be added by going beyond just the automation of repetitive manual work. It’s a homogenous outcome which shouldn’t be difficult for any digital transformation to achieve.  The actual pay-off comes when you are able to help human analysts make improved decisions which have a straightforward impact on working capital and cash flows.

If you would like to establish real business impact with AI — it is necessary for you to focus it on a business function which has a lot of data and where improved decision-making will result in bottom-line improvements.

If you trace back the main cause of AI project failure, a large proportion will be caused by inadequate data. If your chosen AI vendor which access to large datasets which are gained from working with multiple customers, it means they are in a healthier position to pre-train the AI algorithm and then fine-tune it with your own data. This offers a sizeable advantage in terms of deployment timescales while improving accuracy and productivity.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

If you would like to become a digital transformation expert, then you need to do our Digital Transformation Course. For more information, please follow this link.