The term ‘digital transformation’ is pretty much common in business. The phrase “digital transformation” (DT) refers to a comprehensive framework and the corresponding plan created to combine employee effort, business processes, and technology to achieve better efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction. The fundamental procedures required to improve the technology-enabled blueprint for managing a specific business operation for maximum benefit are summarized in digital transformation best practices.
Digital transformation offers many benefits to businesses, including improved productivity, increased agility, increased ROI, more business growth opportunities, etc. However, it’s worth mentioning that businesses can only enjoy these benefits if they implement the best digital transformation practices.
In this article, we discuss the best digital transformation practices in 2023. So, without wasting much time, let’s delve into them.
- Identify the business problem
Production improvement, customer satisfaction, sustainability, etc.—call for applying various technologies and tactics. In this context, businesses must remember that technology is merely a tool for conducting business and that adopting technology solely for the sake of having fancy technology will result in a loss of resources. Digital transformation ought to benefit the company. Companies can identify a clear aim and KPIs they intend to attain through digitalization by understanding the business challenge, which aids in defining a plan.
- Put the customer’s needs first
Discover who your consumers are, what they want, and how they want to interact with your company using data gathered across the entire organization. Provide a detailed picture of the trends, preferences, and problems experienced by customers. The likelihood of a successful digital transformation will increase if you have a deep grasp of the demands and challenges of your customers. You can provide greater value by making it simpler for clients to do business with you and address their issues.
- Have digital-savvy leaders.
Throughout a digital transformation, there are changes at all levels, particularly regarding skills and competencies. About 70% of businesses report that the top teams in their companies change due to the transformation, especially when new leaders with experience in digital technologies join the management team.
The success of a transformation can be largely attributed to the addition of such a leader. It is also important to take on transformation-specific responsibilities, such as individual initiative leaders and program management or transformation office executives who devote their entire time to the change endeavor. Leadership dedication is also another major factor in success. A transformation’s success is more likely when important personnel—both senior organizational leaders and those in roles specifically related to the transformation—are more involved than in prior change initiatives.
- Unify data and information.
Workflow is constantly hampered by information silos, which constantly cause conflict. Customers will have more access to their orders if your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is upgraded or optimized to create a single source of information. Customers will then find it simpler to run their own businesses and customer connections. Also, it will lay the groundwork for enhancing your staff’s capacity to address inquiries from or problems with clients.
- Involve Employees
Workers frequently have more knowledge about information gaps, broken processes, and workflow obstacles. For the best return on investment, they can offer advice on deploying new technology or optimizing currently used ones. Increase the knowledge and skills of your staff members by training them beforehand.
Employee adoption of new procedures and technology increases when involved in planning and implementation. The installation will go more smoothly if more personnel are involved throughout the process.
- Measure your achievements
Decide on how to accurately track and identify the value that the digital transformation will produce. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be described and used to gauge your progress. It might be better operations, improved client experiences, higher employee productivity, and better goods and services. Regularly gather and evaluate relevant data throughout the whole organization to improve operations. To determine the ROI of the digital transformation, it is crucial to use the appropriate KPIs
- Establish a structure of corporate governance
To improve their chances of success, businesses must promote their cultural values through an effective corporate governance structure. In a good governance system, there ought to be:
The CIO office assembles the required teams, fosters communication among them, and tracks each stage of the digital transformation by choosing pertinent KPIs.
Leaders in the line of business are in charge of carrying out the CIO’s specified tasks within the allocated budget. Focuses on achieving KPIs and functional goals.
The council for digital transformation facilitates communication between the CIO and line-of-business executives. Setting the budget and distributing the funds among the company leaders’ lines of operation would be the council’s most crucial duty.
- Have a systematic strategy for transformation
Most individuals, especially employees, resist change. There is no doubt about that. Trying to digitize too many things simultaneously may result in failure or delays. A better approach is to change one process at a time. Develop digital projects gradually and encourage staff to accept change. Instead of pressuring them to adopt change, provide them with the tools to do so. Business transformation requires meticulous attention to detail, so pause frequently and evaluate your progress.
- Enhance customer operations.
If you go through a digital transformation, customers may find it simpler to do business with you. Your customers may find it simpler to address their business difficulties by using the same technologies and procedures that support your change. Higher levels of customer loyalty will result from services like anything-as-a-service (XaaS), digital twins, augmented reality, agile design, linked products, performance optimization, and others that lower customer prices and/or provide more flexibility, more assurance, and faster turnaround.