Digital transformation consists of introducing and integrating new digital technologies into a company’s work processes to improve efficiency. The ultimate goal of digital transformation is not to throw away the corporate budget on cutting-edge technological solutions. Digital transformation means streamlining, reworking, and optimizing the processes of your company’s operational areas to offer customers a better service.
Benefits Of Digitization
Implementing a digital transformation plan in your company is the first step in obtaining benefits for your business. Let’s see the main advantages.
Cost Reduction
Improving the efficiency of internal processes thanks to the introduction of new digital technologies makes work more efficient and scalable. A standard digital transformation case that allows net savings is represented by the physical store that decides to open an e-commerce store and bring its company online. This way, fixed costs (generally the highest), such as rent and bills, are eliminated. If you start dropshipping e-commerce, you can also forget about warehouse and inventory management costs, increasing the profit margin.
Improved Responsiveness
Constant innovation framed in a digital strategy allows companies to be more flexible. And thanks to this, it is possible to adapt more quickly to constantly changing circumstances such as the current ones (especially in times of pandemic and solid economic instability).
Access To More Qualified Human Resources
It’s full of qualified professionals: many are sought after by many companies, and others (perhaps freelancers ) are still waiting to receive a job offer. A proactive company that is attentive to innovation and has embarked on a digital transformation journey is a natural magnet for talents of all ages. The digital transformation thus allows you to attract professionals with strong digital skills to improve your company’s efficiency further.
Drive Towards Innovation
Innovation allows every business to improve and progress. However, it can be challenging to drive toward change constantly: innovation requires efforts, resources, and a fertile ground capable of welcoming it. A team with a welcoming mindset toward change will be more proactive and driven by innovation. And, in the end, novelty generates novelty: in small steps, improving day after day, you can change your company without even realizing it.
New Business Opportunities
By digitizing your business, you can access new market segments that, until recently, would have seemed unreachable. You can focus on new target audiences and expand your target audience or move to other market niches. With digital transformation, the possibilities for expansion and change are more or less infinite.
Survival Of Your Business
A company that can constantly shape itself is also a company that can survive the most challenging times. If we were to use a similarity: a brand must be like water and adapt to the container it is found to resist. Embarking on a digital transformation journey is a great way to learn to be flexible, fluid, and adapt to all the new recipients the market asks you to enter.
Improved Communication
Digital transformation plans make any communication more fluid and practical, thanks to the introduction of tools and infrastructures that reduce friction in the passage of information. Think, for example, of the shared CRM that includes a user’s entire history, from the pages visited, to the forms filled out: a perfect way to keep marketing and sales teams up to date and ready to meet a potential customer. No more information lost along the way or cases where you are unprepared for communication with your audience. Therefore, there is greater efficiency in internal communications between colleagues and external company-customer contacts.
How To Tackle A Digital Transformation Journey
We have defined the digital transformation concept and listed its main advantages. Now, all that remains is understanding how to bring digital transformation into your company. So here are some tips.
The Main Obstacles Preventing Digitization
Implementing a digital transformation plan is not always easy; in many cases, the matter becomes more complicated when the average age of your work team is high. The first point to keep in mind is that your company’s digital transformation must not be a source of stress or tension between workers. It’s no easy feat, but getting everyone involved in developing your business is essential. Those who are reluctant shouldn’t be excluded and shouldn’t be set aside, but should be accompanied gradually in a new mindset. Now let’s see what the main obstacles that can arise during the process of digitization of the company are:
- Bad leadership: if you entrust the execution of the digitization process to a person who needs help understanding its importance, things will certainly not go your way. For this reason, this digital transformation should be guided-also at a strategic planning level by a person who shares its benefits and advantages of her so that she is 100% involved in the project;
- Unfluid communication: the lack of information generates tensions. If your collaborators do not understand the reasons that led to your new digital transformation plan, you risk causing discontent, friction, and refusal to collaborate on the project;
- No training plan: embarking on a digital transformation journey without thinking about worker training is useless. Just as you cannot get behind the wheel of a Lamborghini without a license, you cannot hope that your collaborators know how to use the new technological tools and infrastructures without adequate training;
Exclusion of some areas: all workers must be aware of what is happening, without anyone. This is the only way to cooperate and row in the same direction.
Create A Digital Transformation Plan
If you need to create a digital transformation plan, remember to keep the following points in mind:
Create A Specific Digital Strategy For Your Company
Whoever will lead the digital transformation process will have to create a plan with concrete actions. The general strategy must involve all areas according to your business objectives. In this phase, it is necessary to introduce new technologies, redefine the sales funnel, and create new operational processes.
Redefine The Organization Chart
In light of the changes introduced in the first phase, the tasks of each work team will have to be redefined, and it will be necessary to provide the training needed to understand the new tools and make the most of them. The objective of this phase is to optimize the impact of each role to improve efficiency and productivity.
Set Deadlines
Setting dates is the best way to complete your digital transformation plan in the short term. If, for example, you decide to buy a new CRM, you have to take into account that you won’t be able to implement it overnight: you have to integrate the tool with all the infrastructures already present, make it accessible, and give adequate training to those who need to use… Creating timelines will help you distribute your work and be more efficient.
Allocate A Sufficient Budget
Every modification and adjustment has associated costs; for this reason, it is good to define the budget necessary to complete the digital transition. Do you need to invest in tools? Or in advertising? Funding in the hundreds or thousands of euros? Try to answer these questions, so you don’t risk running out of budget!
Measure The Results
Once you have completed all the phases of your digital transformation plan, you must keep track of the results against the goals you set yourself at the beginning. Are there any possibilities to improve? What are the areas struggling to progress?
Digital Transformation: In Conclusion
The digital transition process is complex, and it is expected that, at least at the beginning, it is intimidating. For convenience or conservatism, many companies prefer to stay within their comfort zone, generally expressed as “it’s always been done this way.” This attitude, however, can be counterproductive, especially in an era like ours that travels at the speed of light.