What Is The Key Ingredient For Digital Transformation?

The process of digital transformation is taking place in a range of industries, however perhaps no more so than manufacturing. There are a number of different examples of thriving digital transformation, but the recorded success of digital transformation at scale is quite sluggish.

In the early part of 2019, the World Economic Forum – in association with McKinsey & Company – reported that more than 70% of industrial companies were in “pilot limbo” when it came to their choosing of Fourth Industrial Revolution technology.

This same report found that only 29% actively companies deploy Fourth Industrial Revolution technology at scale while a greater number (30%) have yet to lead this technology or are on the cusp of doing so.

Customer Experience As A Promoter Of Digital Transformation

Whether they be external or internal, customers now have the expectation that business technology will match the experience of their personal technology.

• They would like to be able to self-service; that is, buy, request, change at the click of a button, and
• They would like to understand status of what they have done in real time.

Efficiency And Waste Reduction

The stark reality is that numerous businesses are still spending way too much time internally on printing, entering data manually as well as tracking customer requests. This is just not sustainable in the new era of self-service as well as great customer experience.

Business Agility

In order to remain competitive and grow, organisations need to be able to improve and innovate continually. For most of our clients, digital transformation is not just about making sure that a project gets done. A fundamental outcome is that they are seeking to remain agile beyond a programme of work.

If chosen properly, digital technologies are far more adaptive to change as opposed to legacy systems. These types of technologies allow organisations to launch new products and services in order to market quickly, make solid connections with new business partners and improve their customer support channels.

What’s The First Step?

First and foremost, senior leaders in the organisation need to collaborate – as well as share – their vision and commitment with the important stakeholders. These senior members of staff need to help put together a ‘Digital Strategy and Transformation’ roadmap.

Remember that the success of all convoluted Digital Transformation initiatives will depend on the senior leadership’s commitment – it’s always driven from the top.

The roadmap should chiefly focus on the overarching goal, in addition to enhancing the overall experience for customers and employees. This is as opposed to of solving current problems.

The digital transformation roadmap should be:

• Progressive,
• Agile, and
• Scalable.

This is to accommodate future changes which emanate from organisational dynamics, business processes, other economic influences and learning from the pilot/beta launches.

Finally, the same requirements to be communicated with all team members and stakeholders on a regular basis. The purpose of this is to drive the behavioural and cultural change across the organisation.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Want to become a digital transformation specialist? If you do then you need to do our Digital Transformation Course. Find out more by following this link.