4 Ways Small Businesses Can Create A Stellar Digital Transformation Strategy

The business model will more than likely take longer to execute, but it needs to be done in parallel. Beyond remote working and Zoom meetings, organizations large and small have had to find ways to digitally engage with everyone from their customers and employees to their supply chain, and operate their businesses through technology. Digital transformation puts technology at the core of business strategy.

It should be a cross-functional endeavor involving multiple departments, so you should ensure that these teams are staffed accordingly and looped into the project. Artificial Intelligence has become a crucial part of business growth by providing companies with the ability to mimic human intelligence. Businesses who have properly gathered business data can utilize this data to create personalized experiences, predictive maintenance, process automation, and much more. Many companies like Walmart, Stubhub, Marriott, and Domino’s Pizza are already implementing digital transformation methodologies and seeing dramatic results.

How can I get started on digital transformation or improve my strategy?

A good and effective digital transformation begins with an honest and comprehensive assessment of the current state of your business. This detailed assessment should evaluate your strategic business goals, potential growth opportunities, and key performance indicators. The best place to start is with your organization’s strategic goals– let’s say a 5-to-10-year business plan.

Digital transformation strategy

Some traditional banks like Barclays and Lloyds have revised their back office process using STP (straight-through processing), so that they offer a 2-day turnaround process. In terms of digital experiences, the challenger banks perform even better and some of the traditional companies offer a much poorer experience. From a consumer perspective too, a multichannel integrated approach is best since customers are channel-agnostic and will want a seamless experience across digital and traditional channels. For example, if your goal was to increase customer retention rate from 80% to 100%, then what would happen?

Home Depot’s Retail Digital Transformation

For example, if your desired state is achieving 100% customer retention in one year, the desired course of action would be to develop a marketing campaign to ensure that all customers are retained. This means taking a step back and looking at what you do currently to understand the metrics that are important to you. what digital transformation means for business For example, if your goal is customer retention then what drives it? “Today, with a vast portion of the workforce now remote, employee experience of digital technology has gone from “nice to have” to “the only way work gets done. Consequently, it’s getting the problem-solving focus it likely long deserved.”

  • As we move into the 2020s, it has become increasingly apparent that if businesses are to grow and compete, they must take steps to become more resilient, competitive, and responsive.
  • In order to execute on digital transformation, there needs to be a compelling business case and clear business value identified.
  • The renewed mobile app and website experiences resulted in an increase in sale.
  • It is highly recommended to learn more about digital business transformation.
  • In practice, it requires building many bridges to remove gaps and chasms that are still prevalent.
  • I understand that the data I am submitting will be used to provide me with the above-described products and/or services and communications in connection therewith.

It can greatly support efforts to deliver products and solutions efficiently, improve business outcomes and support strategic objectives. Agile is about being flexible, respecting the unknown, looking at the big picture and granting teams autonomy to determine the fine points and their approach. Remember, leadership sets the “why” in the digital transformation strategy and teams develop the “how” to deliver. It is advisable to appoint a Chief Digital Officer or digital transformation expert within your organization—these roles can help drive the cultural change. A strong talent strategy- Today, technology changes at a much faster rate than people can adapt, making a robust talent strategy crucial for an organization to be relevant throughout the digital transformation exercise. This is a process that must operate across every section of the enterprise–from managers down to regular workers.

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Digital transformation is a business transformation and a company-wide change management project. When digital transformation projects fail or stall, it is seldom a technical problem – it is almost always a cultural one. In reports and articles from McKinsey and others, we learn that poor planning, misaligned goals, and unclear strategies are the cause of the bulk of transformation setbacks. In order to https://globalcloudteam.com/ process and make sense of Big Data, it’s necessary to have the power of AI and machine learning. For AI and machine learning to deliver accurate and meaningful results, both must have large enough data sets to support robust learning and analysis. The partnership of Big Data, AI, and analytics is at the core of business and digital transformation – driving predictive planning and responsive automation.

Small companies are also harnessing digital transformation’s power, modernizing business models, optimizing internal processes and building new value chains. According to Cisco, they are expected to increase GDP growth by about $2.3 trillion by speeding the digital transformation initiatives. You should ensure that your technology vendor offers services to assist you in preparing and executing your unique road map. This means not just helping you integrate your new software and tools but working with you to optimize your business processes and identify new business models. Support and solutions that are tailored to your business help you get the best return on your investment – to adapt more quickly to evolving customer demands and to be more agile and responsive to both opportunities and threats.

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In their fifth annual State of Digital Transformation report, the Altimiter research group finds that, typically, the bulk of ownership is shared between the CIO and the CEO. For these changes to occur, it is an essential requirement to have a digital transformation strategy that helps companies achieve the desired objectives and adapt to the digital age. There are different plans to achieve the goals and it is important to consider your company’s characteristics and needs. According to 47% of the global executives surveyed by Progress in 2016, one of the greatest challenges of adapting to the digital transformation is the risk-averse culture in which we live. Digital transformation must be embraced in corporate policies or emphasized in the core values of the company. You should be effective and efficient in persuading the resistant members of the business organization to openly embrace digital transformation.

Digital transformation strategy

As seen in the 2020 Oxford Economicsreport, highly interconnected organizations are better able to work quickly and adapt to changing circumstances, and are likely to prove more resilient than businesses with siloed departments. The better the picture you have of your business – and its current strengths and weaknesses – the better placed you will be to make the most informed decisions about technologies and digital transformation. Of course, this varies from business to business, but for most companies a modern, AI-powered cloud ERP with an in-memory database is at the center of any digital enterprise. Within the ERP system are the brains that analyze, direct, and process all the data and information from across the business. Digital transformation in retail can automate and optimize logistics networks – customizing and speeding up delivery.

Identify the key drivers

Digital transformation strategy is about taking care of the pre-requisites. By formulating an effective, clear and robust digital transformation strategy, you will be able to ensure that your company undergoes digital transformation as seamlessly as possible. Digital transformation strategy is like a personalized map to bring about huge modifications in your business operations. It requires a lot of financial investment, time and technical expertise. It always helps to ensure that your teams are being led by highly qualified and experienced technical leaders to reduce risks. To do so, you need to grasp what role they play in the bigger picture of digital transformation, while identifying the glue that connects them and that in the end enables you to make a solid difference with your strategy.

Digital transformation strategy

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