- Guide to Digital Transformation
- What is digital transformation?
- The Catalyst Effect: Remote Work’s Role in Digital Transformation
- Enhancing the digital customer experience
- Digital transformation analytics
- AI and Digital Transformation: Driving the Future of Digital Transformation
- Cybersecurity: The critical role of cybersecurity in digital transformation
- Digital transformation challenges and opportunities
- Digital transformation roadmap
- Digital transformation examples and case studies
- Benefits of digital transformation
- Partnering with a digital transformation solutions provider
- Frequently Asked Questions
Guide to Digital Transformation
Using the Digital Transformation Guide for Success
This practical guide to digital transformation will provide you with the information and resources you need to identify, validate, create, execute, and report on the success of your transformation programme. In short, this definitive guide will blueprint your digital transformation roadmap from start to finish.
Throughout this digital transformation guide you will learn key strategies, overcome common challenges, and create a winning roadmap. You will find useful resources such as a workbook on planning a digital transformation strategy and tables highlighting digital business KPIs to define and measure success. This will help you formulate a successful digital transformation framework that meets your unique set of circumstances. You can start by downloading the digital transformation roadmap workbook and the digital transformation eBook PDF to use as a guide.
Download Digital Transformation Roadmap Digital Transformation eBook
What is digital transformation?
Key Components of Digital Transformation
‘What is digital transformation?’ is the first question you will ask yourself and, to be honest, it’s critically important you fully understand the answer as it will ultimately determine the success of your digital transformation framework. Digital transformation isn’t just about new technology, it’s about bringing the power and adaptability of digital technology together with a cultural shift in the way organisations are run.
Digital Transformation is probably a phrase that you have heard or read during the past few years as it has been widely used by analysts, CEOs and thought leaders when discussing how businesses can stay competitive and relevant.
In fact, it’s this final statement that defines what Digital Transformation is. It’s not a mind-blowing concept just for the enterprise – it’s simply understanding how to do business in a digital environment.
Digital transformation technology is already engrained into all aspects of businesses – whether this is recognised or not – through the adoption of business software, mobile technology and new machinery. It’s just how far do you exploit your digital transformation effort?
And this is the big question in relation to digital business transformation.
Every business is different and will have its own business transformation goals or transformation strategy, so it is difficult to give a specific definition of digital transformation. However, it’s widely accepted that it’s the adoption and integration of digital transformation technology, and thinking, into every aspect of the business that leads to a fundamental change in the way in which businesses operate and interact with customers.
So, what is digital transformation?
Put simply, digital transformation strategy steps include:
- Establishing very clear business transformation objectives
- Identifying where current business processes do and do not align with these objectives
- Validating that the business transformation objectives and proposed transformation changes will deliver the desired business benefits
- Executing a controlled rollout programme
- Monitoring and reporting on digital innovation achieved against the expectations set out during the validation stage. And then refinement, if required.
Diagram: 5 Digital Transformation Strategy Steps
The most important takeaway from this entire article is that digital business transformation is not fundamentally about new technology.
This might sound strange coming from a business that clearly provides business transformation software, but it is true. We only facilitate part of a much wider transformation strategy that incorporates more than business process automation, system integration and portal software. For example, it could incorporate strategic adaptions to the way people are deployed, suppliers are managed, or customers are serviced.
Why does digital transformation matter?
Quite simply, businesses that don’t start thinking about their digital strategy will be left behind.
Customer demands are extremely high, and they expect services and purchasing experiences to run smoothly, be mobile friendly and secure. If the business systems in place are not working, then customers will simply avoid the product or service and go elsewhere.
Likewise, the workforce also needs to be fully engaged and have the digital tools at their disposal to perform their jobs in the most efficient and productive way possible. This can range from utilising mobile devices and introducing intelligent business systems or artificial intelligence to remove manual processes through process automation or robotic process automation to enable them to concentrate on more productive tasks.
A good user experience for both customers and employees is critical.
Digital business technology has also made it extremely easy for new disruptive businesses to be established and replace activities and services traditionally carried out by more established companies. Organisations therefore need to make sure that they stay cost competitive by not only delivering products and services that customers are demanding, but also in an extremely efficient and customer centric manner.
Business survival strategies will be determined by the way that digital transformation technology is deployed and used, so every organisation needs to consider and constantly evaluate how effective its business processes and systems are. This can range from the initial customer experience on the website or eCommerce store, to include more targeted activities such as predictive analytics, accounting, accurate business forecasting, sales and marketing, real time monitoring and instant customer support. The technology needs to be in place to be able to adapt and react to market changes and facilitate company growth.
There are many reasons why digital transformation is needed, but whatever the end goal is, the customer must always be at the core of your strategy. With this focus, everyone in the organisation will be working towards a common goal and aligned around a common cause.
Most businesses will already have started implementing digital transformation in some form or another using CRM and ERP systems and social media to data analytics and distribution. However, it is the way that these systems and devices interact together that will determine successful digital transformation of the business.
Adopting digital transformation technology affects every part of the business. Everyone needs to be involved from the top to the bottom – from the accounting and marketing departments to senior management and the warehouse. As each department relies on its own business technology to operate specific functions and processes, these systems and technical devices need to be connected and fully integrated to work smoothly.
It’s almost impossible to transform business processes overnight, but organisations can easily start to focus on key aspects of the business that need to be addressed and identify opportunities that can help bring people, business data and processes together to deliver a great customer experience and maintain a competitive advantage.
The Catalyst Effect: Remote Work’s Role in Digital Transformation
The shift to remote work became an unexpected accelerator for digital transformation across industries. This change in work culture has had far-reaching implications, including:
- Rapid Technology Adoption: Businesses swiftly embraced cloud-based collaboration tools, video conferencing platforms, and virtual project management software.
- Enhanced Digital Infrastructure: Companies invested heavily in robust IT infrastructure to support distributed teams and ensure cybersecurity in remote environments.
- Digital-First Mindset: The necessity of operating remotely fostered a company-wide openness to digital solutions and innovation.
- Flexible Work Models: The success of remote work has led to the rise of hybrid work arrangements, requiring further digital integration of physical and virtual workspaces.
- Skills Evolution: Employees rapidly upskilled in digital literacy, adapting to new tools and online communication norms.
Long-term implications of this shift include:
- Reimagined office spaces with enhanced digital capabilities
- Increased focus on employee well-being through digital wellness initiatives
- Geographically diverse talent pools, enabled by remote hiring practices
- Accelerated automation of routine tasks to support remote operations
As businesses navigate the post-pandemic landscape, the lessons learned from remote work continue to shape digital transformation strategies by driving innovation and resilience in an day-to-day operations.
Mobile first digital transformation
With remote working becoming more commonplace, and sales and field workers requiring instant access to data and information wherever they are located, digital business transformation has become essential. Mobiles, laptops and tablet devices all need to be connected to a central server and provide access to relevant information.
In fact, mobile devices are becoming more widely used within an organisation itself, whether this is by the sales team, in the warehouse or at companies who adopt a hot desk philosophy. Collaboration and networking tools such as Slack and Trello have also started to become essential within this environment, as it allows salespeople and frontline staff to identify experts and get questions answered in real time.
There are many avenues that organisations can explore and experiment with digital transformation. Whether it is the way internal business processes are implemented, the way people work and collaborate, or the way in which you communicate and serve customers, there are huge benefits to be gained. Ultimately though, any strategy needs a strong vision, complete buy-in from the entire organisation and the leadership to carry it through.
Enhancing the digital customer experience
Customer experience must be at the core of any digital business transformation strategy. It is vital that every interaction a customer has with your brand or organisation, at whichever touch point, is consistent and continuous. Their interactions, journey, and overall experience, with all aspects of your organisation, will determine their buying habits, attitude to your organisation and future engagement.
It’s not a simplistic process by any means. The digital age philosophy needs to be adopted and implemented throughout the company, from the board room to the customer front line. With some organisations, this could mean a radical shakeup of their strategy.
There are many examples of companies that haven’t acted quickly enough to change and suffered as a consequence. Customer behaviour is constantly changing at a rapid pace, so your organisation needs to make sure that it can react accordingly to changing market forces in order to stay competitive and, ultimately, survive.
Understanding the digital transformation customer journey
The first aspect to address is understanding the digital customer journey – What are they looking for? How do they want to interact? – then coordinating people, technology, and processes to make sure it is as smooth and stimulating as possible.
The customer experience in digital transformation is key to keeping them on the journey, therefore all touch points, whether web, mobile, instore or over the phone, must be coordinated and be able to deliver the right information at the right time. Organisations therefore need to develop a cohesive multichannel offering, providing the content that they are looking for to deliver the right experience.
To achieve this many organisations are turning to automation and even implementing self-service apps and systems. Automation is helping to reshape customer engagement, as a recent Forrester report clearly outlined: “The new opportunity in the age of the customer is engagement: deploying technologies that will help customers receive better service automatically or better serve themselves.”
It is something that West Lancashire County Council has invested significant time and money into, having built a bespoke self-service mobile app for its tenants. The app, approved by Apple and Google, provides its tenants with the ability to easily access tenancy information, make payments, submit anti-social behaviour (ASB) and arrange property and gas repairs.
This approach is becoming more commonplace as businesses utilise the technology at their disposal to replace historical methods with non-voice interactions. It enables organisations to deliver personalised, real-time information to assist customers on their journey, help them make decisions and, hopefully, make a final purchase.
Image: Customer portals may be used to enhance the customer experience in digital transformation.
Omnichannel customer engagement strategies
Customer expect seamless interactions across multiple touchpoints within a business. Omnichannel engagement strategies are crucial for delivering a cohesive customer experience. These strategies that can be used include:
- Unified Data Platform: Implement a centralised system that aggregates customer data from all channels, enabling a 360-degree view of the customer.
- Consistent Messaging: Ensure brand messaging and tone remain consistent across all platforms, from social media to in-store experiences.
- Channel Integration: Enable customers to start a transaction on one channel and complete it on another without friction.
- Real-time Synchronisation: Update customer information and preferences in real-time across all channels to prevent discrepancies.
- Cross-channel Analytics: Utilise advanced analytics to understand customer behaviours across channels and optimise the customer journey.
By adopting an omnichannel approach, businesses can provide a fluid, integrated experience that meet customer demands and expectations, enhancing satisfaction and fostering loyalty.
Personalisation at scale
Personalisation has evolved from a nice-to-have to a critical component of the digital customer experience. Maximising the use of data and technology helps businesses to deliver tailored experiences at scale to boost engagement and conversion rates. Personalisation can include:
- AI-driven Recommendations: Utilise machine learning algorithms to provide personalised product or content recommendations based on individual user behaviour and preferences.
- Dynamic Content: Implement content management systems that can adjust website layout, offers, and messaging in real-time based on user profiles and context.
- Behavioural Triggers: Set up automated, personalised communications triggered by specific customer actions or inactions.
- Segmentation and Micro-segmentation: Go beyond basic demographic segmentation to create highly specific customer groups based on behavioural and psychographic data.
- Personalised Pricing and Offers: Develop dynamic pricing models and tailored promotions that align with individual customer value and preferences.
When implementing a personalisation strategy, it’s important to balance customisation with privacy concerns to ensure transparency and to give customer full control over their data.
The role of Chatbots and Virtual Assistants in customer service
Chatbots and virtual assistants can help customer service teams to provide instant 24/7 support and free up employee time to handle more complex issues and enquiries. The role of chatbots and virtual assistants in customer service include:
- First-line Support: Use AI-powered chatbots to handle common queries, provide basic information, and allocate more complex issues to employees.
- Natural Language Processing: Implement advanced NLP to understand and respond to customer enquiries in a more human-like manner, improving the overall interaction quality.
- Multilingual Support: Deploy chatbots that are capable of communicating in multiple languages to serve a global customer base effectively.
- Proactive Engagement: Utilise chatbots to initiate conversations based on user behaviour, and by offering assistance or product recommendations at key moments.
- Integration with Backend Systems: Connect chatbots with CRM and other backend systems to provide personalised responses and access to account-specific information.
It’s important to remember that while chatbots and virtual assistants provide numerous benefits, it’s essential to provide clear access to employee support when needed and to continuously refine AI capabilities based on customer feedback and interaction data.
Digital transformation analytics
To provide the right information, businesses need to monitor customer behaviour, interactions, and satisfaction, analyse the data, and then make improvements to areas that are underperforming. Digital transformation analytics will enable your organisation to be able to react to market changes, if not predict future trends.
The data can then also be exploited for marketing automation, artificial intelligence and promotional activities, cross-selling and upselling products, or services because of purchasing habits or enquiries to relieve the pressures placed on marketing teams.
Analysing customer data and Implementing these tactics will improve the customer experience and put you in a strong position to retain their interest and custom.
Big data analytics and its impact on decision-making
The concept of ‘Big Data’ has become increasingly prevalent in the business world, with many businesses leveraging its power to transform various aspects of their day-to-day operations. From enhancing customer relationships to optimising marketing strategies and refining financial decision-making, big data has proven to be a valuable asset across industries.
While there’s a common misconception that big data analytics is exclusively for large corporations, the reality is quite different. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also harness the potential of big data to drive growth and innovation. In fact, the scalability and accessibility of modern data analytics tools have made big data more attainable for businesses of all sizes.
By accessing vast amounts of structured and unstructured data from multiple sources, organisations can uncover valuable insights that help to improve decision-making and strategic planning.
Identifying relevant big data
Big data analytics enables businesses to process and analyse large datasets from diverse sources, including ERP and CRM customer interactions, social media, IoT devices, and internal operations. Advanced analytics tools, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, enable organisations to identify patterns, trends, and correlations that were previously hidden or too complex to interpret.
The impact of big data analytics on decision-making is a key point here. By leveraging predictive modelling and real-time analytics, senior management can make data-driven decisions with greater accuracy and confidence. This minimises reliance on gut feelings and intuition, leading to more objective and effective outcomes.
Key benefits of big data analytics in decision-making include:
- Enhanced customer insights: Analysing customer behaviour and preferences to tailor products and services
- Improved operational efficiency: Identifying bottlenecks and optimising business processes
- Risk management: Detecting and mitigating potential threats and vulnerabilities
- Market trend forecasting: Predicting industry shifts and consumer demands
- Personalised marketing: Creating targeted campaigns based on individual customer profiles
As data-driven decision-making becomes the norm, businesses that fail to adopt these technologies risk falling behind the competition. To capitalise on the benefits of big data analytics, businesses should start by investing in robust data infrastructure and developing data literacy across departments to create a data-driven culture. Start by identifying key business questions and investing in analytics tools
Real-time analytics for improved operational efficiency
Real-time analytics refers to the process of collecting, analysing, and acting upon data as it is created. This allows businesses to make instant decisions and adjustments to their operations. Taking a real-time approach to data analytics will significantly enhance operational efficiency by providing up-to-date insights enabling immediate response to changing conditions.
Key benefits for operational efficiency include:
- Instant problem detection: Identify issues or process bottlenecks before they become a problem. This can be through automated alerts and notifications e.g. customer on financial hold, orders waiting release, monitoring of aged debt alerts etc.
- Dynamics resource allocation:Adjusting staffing, office equipment, or inventory levels based on current demand
- Predictive maintenance: Anticipating equipment failures before they happen e.g. automated alerts and notifications for machinery or fridge maintenance schedules
- Supply chain optimisation: Monitoring and adjusting logistics in real-time to prevent delivery delays or shortages
- Energy management: Optimise energy consumption in facilities based on real-time usage patterns
- Quality control: Detecting and addressing production issues immediately to minimise waste and rework
- Customer service improvement: Provide customer service teams with real-time data to resolve issues efficiently
As highlighted in the above points, utilising real-time analytics will enable businesses to streamline operational processes, reduce costs, and improve company performance. This added agility allows companies to adapt quickly to changes in market and consumer trends to increase competitiveness and profitability.
The role of data lakes and data warehouses in digital transformation
Data lakes and data warehouses play crucial roles in managing and leveraging an organisation’s data assets. These two systems, while distinct, work together to support data-driven decision-making and enable advanced analytics capabilities.
What is a Data Lake?
Data lakes are large, flexible repositories that store vast amounts of raw, unstructured, and semi-structured data in its native format. They serve as a central hub for all data types, including text, images, videos, and sensor data. Key features of data lakes include:
Scalability: Can easily accommodate growing data volumes
Flexibility: Store data without predefined schema or structure
Cost-effectiveness: Utilise low-cost storage solutions
Data exploration: Enable data scientists and analysts to discover new insights
In digital transformation, data lakes facilitate:
- Big data analytics
- Machine learning and AI initiatives
- IoT data processing
- Real-time data ingestion
What is a Data Warehouse?
Data warehouses are structured repositories optimised for analytics and reporting. They store processed, cleaned, and organised data from various sources. Key characteristics include:
Structured data: Organised in predefined schemas
Query optimisation: Designed for fast and complex queries
Data consistency: Ensure a single version of truth
Historical analysis: Support time-based analysis and trending
In digital transformation, data warehouses enable:
- Business intelligence reporting
- Performance monitoring and KPI tracking
- Data governance and compliance
- Cross-functional data integration
Synergy in Digital Transformation
Data lakes and warehouses complement each other in the digital transformation process by providing:
Data flow: Raw data enters the data lake, is processed, and relevant information is transferred to the data warehouse for analysis.
Comprehensive insights: Combine structured and unstructured data analysis for a holistic view.
Agile decision-making: Support both exploratory analytics and standardised reporting.
Innovation pipeline: Use data lakes for experimentation and data warehouses for operationalising insights.
By using both data lakes and warehouses, businesses can build a robust data ecosystem that drives innovation, improves operational efficiency, and enhances decision-making capabilities which are all crucial elements of successful digital transformation.
AI and Digital Transformation: Driving the Future of Digital Transformation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in digital transformation has transformed how businesses operate and interact with customers. From automating complex processes to enhancing decision-making and personalising customer experiences, AI is proving to be an indispensable tool in the digital transformation journey. In this section we will take a look at how AI is changing the way businesses operate – including machine learning and natural language processing.
AI-driven automation
AI-driven automation is reshaping business operations, streamlining workflows and reducing human error. From robotic process automation (RPA) in finance to AI-powered supply chain optimisation, companies are achieving unprecedented operational efficiency and cost savings.
Machine Learning (ML)
Machine learning, a subset of AI, is transforming predictive analytics and decision-making. By analysing large datasets, ML algorithms can identify patterns and trends, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions with increased accuracy. This capability is particularly valuable in areas such as demand forecasting, risk assessment, and resource allocation.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is enhancing customer interactions through intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants. These AI-powered tools can understand and respond to customer queries in real-time, improving response times and customer satisfaction while reducing support costs.
AI Personalisation
AI personalisation learning is also playing a crucial role in customer experience enhancement. By analysing customer and user behaviour and preferences, AI algorithms can deliver tailored product recommendations, personalised content, and customised marketing campaigns, significantly boosting engagement and conversion rates.
As AI evolves, its impact on digital transformation will only grow stronger. Businesses that successfully integrate AI into their digital strategies will be well-positioned to adapt quickly to increasingly competitive and technology-driven environments.
[Related Article: Preparing Data for AI Machine Learning].
Cybersecurity: The critical role of cybersecurity in digital transformation
As businesses embrace digital transformation, cybersecurity has emerged as a cornerstone of successful strategies. The integration of new technologies and the shift towards data-driven operations have amplified both the importance and complexity of protecting digital assets.
Cybersecurity as a strategic enabler
When planning for digital transformation, cybersecurity is no longer just a defensive measure; it’s a strategic enabler that fosters innovation and builds trust. A robust cybersecurity framework allows businesses to:
- Accelerate adoption of new technologies
- Safeguard sensitive data and intellectual property
- Maintain regulatory compliance
- Enhance customer confidence and brand reputation
Emerging threats
The evolving digital ecosystem has given rise to new and sophisticated cyber threats. These threats can include:
- Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): Attack campaigns that establish a long-term presence on networks to mine sensitive data
- AI-powered attacks: Utilising machine learning to bypass traditional security measures
- IoT vulnerabilities: Exploiting weaknesses in connected devices and smart systems
- Supply chain attacks: Compromising third-party vendors to infiltrate primary targets
- Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS): Cybercrime business model for cybercriminals to launch ransomware attacks
Mitigation strategies
To counter these threats, businesses must adopt a multi-layered approach which can include:
- Zero Trust Architecture: Verifying every access request, regardless of source
- AI and Machine Learning: Deploying intelligent systems for threat detection and response
- DevSecOps: Integrating security practices throughout the development lifecycle
- Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM): Ensuring proper configuration and compliance in cloud environments
- Security Awareness Training: Educating employees on best practices and emerging threats
Privacy in data-driven transformation
As businesses look to maximise the use of data for insights and innovation, privacy considerations become increasingly important:
- Data Minimisation: Collecting and retaining necessary information
- Privacy by Design: Embedding privacy protections into systems and processes from the outset
- Consent Management: Implementing transparent mechanisms for user consent and control
- Data Anonymisation: Protecting individual identities while preserving data utility
- Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to evolving privacy laws such as GDPR, CCPA, and PIPEDA
By prioritising cybersecurity and privacy, organisations can build resilience, maintain trust, and fully fulfil the benefits of digital transformation.
Digital transformation challenges and opportunities
On the surface, digital transformation appears to be a big business subject, but this assumption is wrong.
The fact of the matter is that changing business processes, working culture and systems within an organisation of 10,000 employees is much harder when compared to one with just 100 employees. So, the great news is that smaller organisations can be in a better position to achieve the opportunities faster.
Technology is obviously the driving force and enabler behind digital transformation. The last decade has witnessed incredible advancements in mobile technology, significant advancements in programming and application development, as well as a substantial increase in the adoption of digital technology, by both customers and employees. It’s obviously a phenomenon that is not merely going to disappear.
One of the main hindrances to organisations adopting digital transformation is their inability, or reluctance, to get rid of legacy systems and replace outdated processes. If these are not addressed, then digital transformation is simply not going to be achievable. Research from Forrester suggests that businesses only spend 28 percent of their budget on innovation and projects in comparison to the 72 percent spent on managing existing IT systems. Not exactly a progressive strategy for digital transformation.
Organisations need to have the technology and processes in place to be able to change and react quickly and easily. This scalability will provide forward thinking organisations with the infrastructure and capability to deliver a better service, explore new opportunities and survive in this digital age.
But what are the common digital transformation challenges and opportunities?
Businesses only spend 28% of their budget on innovation and projects in comparison to the 72% spent on managing existing IT systems.
Digital transformation challenges
Knowledge
Most businesses, regardless of size, struggle with the strategic planning aspect of business transformation. In too many instances, businesses rush out and purchase business systems badged with ‘digital transformation’ with no clear objective, process-aligned plans, validation, or rollout, monitoring and reporting plans.
Existing Systems
Digital transformation in IT can be a major challenge when trying to modernise your business model. It is often too expensive. This is exactly why the validation stage is critical in a digital roadmap, as it is this activity that can burn through the largest of budgets.
It is also important to understand that business transformation does not necessarily mean new systems. In many instances, software integration, process automation or portal creation will enable you to leverage your greatest assets: your existing processes, data, people and systems.
Money
The availability of a budget is often the number one challenge you could face, but it really shouldn’t be. If you have planned your automation and digital transformation initiative correctly the validation phase will remove any budget objections you may face. If the business benefits exceed the initial investment there really cannot be a case for not pursuing a business transformation strategy.
[Related Article: 4 Common Data Integration Challenges and Solutions].
Digital transformation business objectives
The most critical stage of any business transformation project is establishing your business goals. At this stage you should be defining very clear strategic objectives that are not technology based. Technology is just an enabler and potentially just one tool in your armoury.
Make a note of your primary business objectives by downloading the digital transformation roadmap workbook below.
Download Digital Transformation Roadmap Digital Transformation eBook
Below are 3 common digital transformation strategy objectives examples that illustrate the above:
Business Objective 1: Change or diversify the company’s business model
COVID19 completely transformed the way that businesses think. Digital transformation for small and medium enterprises very much became a ‘thing’, with many organisations pivoting their business from Manufacturer – Retailer – Consumer to Manufacturer – Consumer.
Image: Digital Transformation and Changing Business Strategies
Therefore, manufacturers adopted eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce in their droves to facilitate transactions directly with the customer. However, this technology-led pivot in business models opened-up a whole host of problems down the line because adequate digital transformation initiative and planning was not undertaken. Problems included:
- Manual order processing between eCommerce and accounting solutions
- Heavy administration when processing orders through courier services and handling returns
- Adapting to more rapid changes to stock levels
- Establishing JIT systems with material suppliers
- Dealing with customer service issues directly
- Aligning marketing activity with production and stock activity
- Bank reconciliation pressures placed on under-resourced financial teams
- Onboarding and management of trading partners
Some manufacturers that pivoted without an end-to-end digital transformation roadmap in place haemorrhaged money through ‘pushed down’ administration, struggled with customer experience and damaged brand reputation.
If this sounds like a familiar experience, or is something you are looking to implement, please download our mapping eCommerce processes workbook and learn how to map your eCommerce processes to avoid the pains so many have experienced.
Download eCommerce Process Workbook
Business Objective 2: Reduce operational costs
An example of digital transformation is cost reduction. Cost reduction can be a perpetual business objective, but decision makers often focus solely on siloed cost centres without considering the wider business process. For example, finance departments are increasingly moving towards the digital capture and processing of employee expenses through spend management solutions, such as SAP Concur.
Without question, spend management tools significantly reduce administrative overheads and play a role in transforming business operations. However, like so many siloed approaches they can, in some instances, inevitably ‘push down’ costs.
Processed expenses ultimately need to be written back into an ERP or accounting solution. Therefore, whilst some of the administration has been removed, other manual costs are often created. This gets even more complicated when intercompany trading is part of the value chain.
Learn more about expenses management and how to avoid pushing costs further down the company value chain within your digital business transformation strategy by reading: Expense Management Integration with Accounting and ERP Systems.
Business Objective 3: Improve customer service
Amazing customer support and service is the hardest competitive advantage to copy. As a result, businesses are beginning to look hard at their current digital transformation vision and evaluating whether it is still fit for purpose when aspiring to create this competitive advantage.
Enabling customers to purchase products or services when they want, have their complaints resolved quickly or get the information they need via any device, is the backbone of great customer service. Choice is also very important, so businesses should not undervalue the importance of person-to-person contact.
Improvements in customer service will inevitably result in some form of digitalisation, but enhancements to employee training, process flows, and feedback loops may play a more fundamental role.
Discover how The FD Centre revolutionised its customer service levels, reduced costs and exceeded customer expectations through the enhancement of existing IT investments and the addition of a simple customer portal.
“The first benefit received is the saving of time. From a finance perspective, having automated the billing process we are saving around three to four days a month in the UK alone. Once each country is added, I believe we’re going to save a month of an individual’s time. I estimate it will save us around £50,000 per annum in time / monetary savings. The system will ultimately pay for itself (and some).”
Financial Controller, The FD Centre
Make a note of your primary and secondary business objectives by downloading the digital transformation workbook below.
Digital Transformation Roadmap Workbook Digital Transformation eBook
Key digital transformation success metrics
The success of your digital transformation project ultimately depends on realistic planning and robust implementation. The key Digital transformation success metrics typically include:
Clear Objectives
Digital transformation objectives are the foundation of everything and are key to the success of your digital transformation plan. They need to be clear in terms of business benefits delivered to the business, customer, supplier or other stakeholders.
More importantly, these objectives must be clearly communicated to people that play a role in the delivery of your digital roadmap.
People
Digital business transformation is not about technology. The relevant stakeholder(s) must buy into the strategic objectives of the company. However, you must accept that in some circumstances this may not be possible.
For example, call centre operatives will not go above and beyond to define the question trees for a self-service, customer portal unless it is made clear at the very onset that this will not result in their role being made redundant.
Typically, the common stakeholders required to achieve digital transformation include your company’s leadership team, employees and value chain partners.
Processes
Mapping existing business processes upfront can save you a lot of time and money. The temptation of any digital transformation project is to acquire lots of new systems when it is the business processes that flow through them that can impact most on the success of your project.
Measuring digital transformation success metrics
Measuring digital transformation success metrics ultimately results in the creation of digital transformation KPIs being set at an operational level. It is important that at this stage you do not go KPI crazy and set hundreds of key performance indicators when only a core selection really matter.
The key to setting digital transformation KPIs is to set a weighting to them in terms of importance. For example, digital business KPIs defining and measuring success in the customer service function, which KPI is more important between:
- Processing more customer services requests per hour, or
- Achieving a higher customer satisfaction score
You would think the answer to the above is obvious, but what if you customer satisfaction score is already the best in the market, or your own 90% of the market with no short-term competitive risks? Therefore, setting digital transformation KPIs should be intrinsically linked to the organisations overarching business objective(s), strategy, and current market position.
Common business-specific digital transformation KPIs examples that may be relevant to your project or industry may include:
- Customer revenue types
- Reduction in operational costs
- Order to fulfilment times
- Employee performance
- The speed in which new products can be launched
- Market share
- Brand recognition
- Profitability ratios
Applying an agile digital transformation strategy to internal processes can have a significant impact on a business, greatly improving efficiency and performance, resulting in a reduction in costs and an increase in profitability.
The key aspect here is the management and manipulation of big data. Each department and employee needs to have access to real-time, relevant data to achieve this. However, far too many businesses have department or system silos with data stored on various databases contained within a wide range of business systems – accounting, CRM, ERP, HR, product development.
These systems often lack the integration required to share and use the data to best advantage. Organisations therefore don’t benefit from the business intelligence and strategic insight available that can help drive the organisation forward.
Embracing system and data integration will enable your business to bridge the gap between systems and cloud computing applications, providing an environment in which they can talk to each other. This will help reduce process bottlenecks and remove repetitive data entry tasks, thus having a significant impact on efficiency.
Digital transformation roadmap
If you’ve scanned through this article and are looking for how to create a digital transformation roadmap, the good news is it’s all laid out for you below with your own project planning workbook available for download. This section will help you to outline your digital transformation blueprint that is unique to the way your organisation works. Following the digital transformation roadmap examples detailed below will enable you to establish your unique digital transformation framework by considering the business requirements and resources available within your organisation. Once your digital transformation roadmap has been defined, you will be in a strong position to discuss the options and next steps with your chosen digital transformation solutions provider. A digital transformation roadmap can help you identify areas for improvement, where automation is required and where technology can be used to improve operational processes. A visual overview of a digital transformation roadmap example can be seen in the image below:
Diagram: Digital Transformation Roadmap Example
How to create a digital transformation roadmap
Start planning your digital transformation framework by downloading the accompanying digital transformation eBook PDF and workbook. By following the process outlined in this section and using the digital transformation workbook you will be able to identify key areas, capabilities and potential bottlenecks within your organisation to build a digital transformation roadmap.
Download Digital Transformation Roadmap Digital Transformation eBook
Follow the steps below to create your unique digital transformation blueprint:
Decide what you want to achieve in your digital transformation framework
The key to making a digital transformation roadmap is to smart small. It may be to create a self-service experience for customers or to streamline purchase / payment processes. For example:
Business Objective | Business Benefits | Primary Risks |
---|---|---|
Enable customers to self-service | Reduce costs | Customers might prefer speaking to a person |
Map your current and proposed business processes
Map the current and proposed business processes and itemise the points where people, systems or other stakeholders contribute to the process. Having a visual flow of your business processes will help you to identify any prerequisites and constraints involved within the project. A great resource for helping you start this process can be found here: Guide to BPA Project Management.
Stress test your proposal
This is when the senior management team should look to analyse the potential gains against the investment. A simple scoring card can help with this analysis.
Benefit goal | Change required and its projected cost | Measurement of success | Proceed with project (Y/N) |
---|---|---|---|
Reduce cost of customer service Improve customer satisfaction levels Change customer behaviour towards self-service | £20,000 | Likely adoption rate of self-service compared to contact centre calls to exceed 50% Customer satisfaction levels to increase by 20% Potential £70,000 cost reduction to be achieved through self-service | Y |
Start planning your digital transformation roadmap by downloading the workbook below.
Download Digital Transformation Roadmap
Execute your digital transformation project
Project plans differ significantly between organisations, but at the very core of you plan should be the following elements:
- Clear summary of the project
- Roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders
- Realistic timelines
- Agreed budgets
- Monitoring and checkpoint systems
- Agreed criteria for the closure of the project
Run the outcomes of the project against your stress test
By the time you reach this stage of your digital transformation project it will already be clear whether you’ve achieved your goals. However, it is very important to collectively share and analyse the results with the senior management team.
The reasons why you should formally review your project post-delivery at board level include:
- To get collective acknowledgement of the outcomes delivered
- To identify common problems to avoid for the next digital transformation project
- To discuss the speed in which future projects can or cannot be achieved
- To evaluate the value-add of external suppliers and their future relationship with you
- To establish reward systems for key stakeholders that are key to future projects
- To recognise gaps in people, resources, and knowledge that the project highlighted
Digital transformation technology is very accessible and can be extremely easy to deploy. Whereas businesses used to have to adapt business strategies to fit technology systems, many have realised that this shouldn’t be the case and are exploiting the wealth of applications and SaaS products that have become available to address particular aspects of the business.
With Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) readily available, businesses can build their own SaaS applications from scratch.
The refreshing thing about these customisable applications is their ability to exploit application program interfaces (APIs) – a secret weapon for embracing true digital transformation.
APIs have opened software technology in an unprecedented way. They now provide organisations with the ability to integrate a wide variety of best of breed digital technologies together to create an ecosystem that is fast, flexible and can handle incredibly large volumes of data fast.
Sales orders, documents and any type of data can be easily transferred from one system to another quickly and easily. With dedicated business process automation software, it is also possible to remove much of the manual processing that businesses rely on by automating the transfer of this data. This can help organisations streamline business processes and free up staff and departments to concentrate on more proactive and lucrative tasks.
Digital transformation examples and case studies
Through 25 years of implementing business process automation software our team of consultants have performed thousands of digital transformation projects to help organisations of all sizes enhance their digital capability and operational performance. Every business has its own unique processes and will approach its digital transformation strategy differently to its competitors. The following digital transformation case studies will provide you with an indication of how businesses of all sizes across various industries and specialisms are becoming more agile and effective by using technology to accelerate digital transformation.
Digital transformation case studies
- French Connection moved to the Shopify Plus enterprise eCommerce platform in November 2021 as the replacement platform for its eCommerce websites (French Connection UK, US & EU and Great Plains). However, it needed these websites to integrate with Options, French Connection’s existing customer service and warehouse fulfilment solution. Using BPA Platform it integrated these four websites in time to meet its deadline and automated numerous eCommerce processes, including processing of orders and payments, as well as order risks and fulfilment information.
- Moore Stephens LLP needed an automated cross-platform database monitoring solution to integrate and monitor over 500 databases linked to its document management systems, issue notifications and alerts regarding data problems and distribute reports, purchase orders and correspondence. This has improved internal services and quality, and reduced manual administration tasks
- The Woodland Trust integrated its CRM, fundraising and charity management system with its other business systems to automate Direct Debit checks, financial management tasks and other day-to-day repetitive, manual processes to improve productivity.
- Graff Diamonds gained significant ROI by automating a multitude of business processes with BPA Platform. Using it to integrate SAP Business One systems, over 50 EPOS systems and SAP Concur, the Graff family and employees now have a complete overview of the company’s operations and can reallocate resources to expand the business.
- West Lancashire Borough Council saved over £1m in 12 months by providing up-to-date, modern services to its customers whilst trying to reduce costs and resources. By automating specific tasks and processes it resolved certain pain points and enhanced services offered.
- Grant Westfield improved its digital transformation framework by upgrading its existing integration and automation digital technologies with a new platform that could take on the tasks already being run, whilst improving stability and maintenance, as well as allowing for future functionality with other systems.
- Fashion Edge transformed its business processes by integrating its primary ERP system with three external business systems and then automated the transfer of SKU data, reports and dispatch notices. Fashion Edge has also used BPA Platform to automate the creation of good receipts, POs and invoices, thus automating supply chain management.
- Ardent Hire saved hundreds of hours per month by improving customer service whilst increasing revenue streams through digital transformation.
Discover more digital transformation case studies.
Benefits of digital transformation
Automating processes in daily operations such as order management, fulfilment, invoicing, cash collection and expense approvals enables businesses to eliminate manual data inputting and each system can utilise real-time data.
This will boost the capacity of a business, as staff and business processes become quicker and more efficient. It will also enable businesses to redeploy staff to higher-value activities to help the business innovate and grow and help avoid new hires that would otherwise be required to manage these processes.
With full integration between systems, every department will have access to the most up-to-date information, which will enable them to perform their jobs better as well as explore new growth opportunities and improvements to procedures.
This is particularly relevant for the marketing department which will be able to analyse all the data available to deliver effective campaigns and content that customers are looking for. Much of this can also be automated, thus improving response times and making sure that the message is timely and relevant.
To achieve this, however, organisations need to understand the habits of consumers and deliver the information via the channels that they are using – which, as we know, is now mostly digital: apps, online eCommerce stores, social media, etc. Even email is still a useful and effective medium.
Digital transformation technologies provide organisations with the platform for digital innovation and the ability to explore new opportunities. Application development is becoming much easier with platforms available to develop apps quickly and easily, system extensions and web portals with little or no code at all. This flexibility ensures that businesses can react quickly to changes and allows them the scalability that is required during growth periods.
Diagram: Business benefits of digital transformation
Digital transformation checklist
When starting your digital transformation journey an assessment of business practices, customers, company vision and culture, strategic goals, technology, and data should be performed. The following digital transformation checklist may be used in conjunction with the associated transformation roadmap and brings together your digital transformation challenges, objectives, success factors, technology, and people to help build your digital roadmap.
Transformation Strategy
Develop and establish a clear vision of business transformation objectives and outcomes.
Strategy | Business Benefits | Primary Risks |
---|---|---|
Define business overview. Where are you now? | ||
Where do you want to be? Detail future plans and strategy | ||
How will you get there? | ||
Obtain Stakeholder buy-in | ||
Outline business objectives to the wider organisation |
People
Establish your project team, roles and KPIs as well as prepare the organisation for change.
People | Business Benefits | Primary Risks |
---|---|---|
Establish a project team | ||
Define project team roles | ||
Provide training and instruction where needed | ||
Centralise access to documentation for strategy plans and progress | ||
Set and define attainable KPIs, targets and roles |
Technology
Establish existing business systems, department systems, where critical data is found and how technology will be used to improve processes.
Technology | Business Benefits | Primary Risks |
---|---|---|
Detail business systems and where data is held (Cloud, On-Premises, Hybrid Mobile etc.) | ||
Do these systems need integration? | ||
Establish in-house skills, servers, and back-end administration tasks | ||
Establish budget and deployment costs | ||
Map business processes for each department involved | ||
Establish Governance e.g., are there any legislations on where you can store data? | ||
Establish a digital transformation technology and partner |
Partnering with a digital transformation solutions provider
Identifying the right digital transformation partner can be a tough task. Your partner must have a wide range of technology consulting experience and specialist knowledge, whilst having an understanding of business operations with a wide range of digital technologies that can help you on your journey.
Look for digital transformation solution providers that can entertain detailed business transformation discussions, provide product demonstrations, and highlight case studies and transformation examples on the type of project that you are looking to achieve. You need to ensure that your chosen digital transformation expert is a good fit for your organisation and can deliver projects that provide you with an ROI.
Codeless Platforms has a proven track record in deploying digital transformation projects, delivering system integration best practices, and streamlining business processes that enable organisations of all sizes to achieve successful transformation. Its highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce offers consultancy, professional services and technical support to end users and its partner channel, providing them with the knowledge and freedom to achieve end-to-end transformation efficiency.
Your digital transformation project can be a challenge which requires people, processes, and technology to adapt to changing business requirements and customer expectations. Our digital transformation blueprint has been established through customer requirements and insights with examples of digital transformation projects that span across a wide variety of departments, processes, systems and industry specialisms.
Conclusion
You now have everything you need to start your digital transformation strategy. However, the most important takeaway should be that digital transformation is not about technology. Don’t be duped into buying software just because it’s positioned as such. Engage with your colleagues, suppliers, and stakeholders in a consultative fashion to identify what will really make a difference to your business. When you have planned your digital transformation roadmap, enhance your integration strategy by becoming familiar with system integration best practices to increase performance.
System integration and business process automation software provides companies with the agility to further explore and implement digital transformation and removes the digital silos that are often found in many organisations. Sharing real-time information around the company is paramount for success.
Data analytics can be used to shape digital marketing activities, explore new opportunities, and understand how customers use and think about products or services. It will improve collaboration between departments, enable digital innovation to flourish and ultimately provide customers with a better service and experience.
Technology is also central to user experience, whether this is from the viewpoint of the customer or an employee. Digital technology has been adopted by most people and they now expect this to be reflected in the workplace or with the companies that they interact with.
Customers expect faultless online services, mobile applications, and simple payment systems. Employees require intuitive business systems, the ability to work remotely and relevant information at their fingertips.
Business owners and IT teams need to understand what the users of the applications need, whether internal or external, and how they use them. It isn’t a case of simply providing access. They need to provide the functionality and flexibility that they have become used to with digital technology.
Remember, digital transformation isn’t just about new technology. It’s about bringing the power and adaptability of technology together with a cultural shift in the way organisations are run. Only then will they be able to truly explore the benefits of digital transformation.
For more information on how you can start planning your digital transformation journey download the workbook below or arrange a call with one of our business transformation experts.