How to Prepare for Digital Transformation

With new technologies and digital advancements being introduced almost daily, it's becoming increasingly beneficial for organisations to adopt a digital-first approach. However, ensuring your organisation's digital transformation is a success isn't always easy – and there are a number of things you should consider when taking this journey on.

With each organisation and industry having different requirements, processes and customer needs it's essential that you have both a clear definition and clear vision of what digital transformation means for your organisation
specifically before embarking on your unique journey.

It's also important to consider which technologies would work best for your organisation. This could include cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), tailored applications, automation tools, the Internet of Things (IoT) or mobile devices. They all work towards streamlining business growth through customer engagement and improved products and services, but depending on the processes you currently undertake, some may be more advantageous than others.

When it comes to your desired vision, the ultimate goal should be to become more agile and innovative, so that you can respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs. Your vision should show your organisation becoming data-driven in order to improve your business model and customer expectations, as well as to create new business opportunities. This means focusing on data-driven insights to minimise human error and make smarter decisions when it comes to business processes and operations.

What approach should organisations take to prepare for digital transformation?

There are a variety of different approaches your organisation could take to digital transformation; the approach you choose will depend on what your organisation has focused on in your outlined vision. However, regardless of the approach you choose, careful planning and execution is always crucial.

Define your vision

Before embarking on your digital transformation journey, it’s vital that you develop a clear vision of what digital transformation means to your organisation, as well as how it’s going to help achieve any organisational goals. It’s important to think about what your organisation wants to gain from making this change, and the benefits you are wanting to take advantage of. As mentioned above, the outcome of your vision will heavily depend on your current processes, customer needs and market trends within your industry – and it’s important you take all of these into consideration to ensure your transformation is a success.

Conduct a digital readiness assessment

You’ll need to assess your organisation’s current state of digital maturity as well as analyse both customer and operational data, as this will help you identify any key areas of improvement that you should be focusing on. The assessment needs to cover your technology infrastructure, but it’s also important to cover your employee skills and organisational culture to ensure every aspect of the business has been considered before taking any action.

Define your strategy

Before actioning any changes, it’s important to create a digital transformation roadmap by outlining your key initiatives, timelines and required resources. Using strategic importance and potential impact, you can prioritise the initiatives as well as develop a realistic plan of implementation – this will ensure a smooth and easy transition for your organisation and its employees.

Build your digital capabilities

It’s important that you invest in the right digital technologies that align with your business transformation goals. This could be a change of software applications, upgrading your IT infrastructure or adopting up-and-coming technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Establish a culture of digital innovation

Encouraging your employees to adopt digital transformation is an important part of your approach and making sure they understand the benefits it brings to your organisation, as well as to their specific role, will mean they’ll be more comfortable with the changes and will result in improved performance. By embracing digital culture, your employees can benefit from opportunities for feedback, involvement, a sense of ownership and commitment to the digital transformation journey. You could consider setting a focus on improving and promoting collaboration and cross-functional teamwork to steer innovation across the organisation.

Invest in employee training and development

Employees need to have the right knowledge and skills to drive an organisation’s digital transformation. Whenever there is a change in technology, there should also be an assessment for change in employee skillset. Training programmes can enhance employee skill development and competency across the business. This could include data analytics, digital marketing, customer relationship management, and more. Investing in skills will ensure that any new adoption of technology is utilised to the highest standard and provides the best productivity gains possible.

How does digital transformation benefit organisations?

Digital transformation can help organisations become more competitive, innovative and customer focused, as well as positively impact their vision and targets.

Customer experience

Using technology, your organisation can develop new, innovative ways to engage with your customers, such as through mobile apps, social media or personalised marketing campaigns. It also allows you to tailor experiences to meet specific and individual customer needs and demands, boosting both customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as delivering better value to your customers.

Efficiency

Digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, data analytics and automation, can help streamline your most common processes and eliminate tedious manual tasks and human error, saving you both time and resource, as well as increasing operational efficiency and optimising performance.

Marketing

When it comes to launching new products and services, digital technology can support the creation and launch of successful marketing campaigns – providing a much quicker turnaround time in comparison to previous manual processes, and possibly even leading to a decrease in market competition.

Reporting

Data analytics and business intelligence tools can help you make better-informed decisions by providing real-time insights into customer behaviour, market trends and operational performance, all in one easy-to-access location.

Agility

With automated processes, real-time updates and consolidated data, alongside other innovative digital technologies, you can become more agile and responsive to changing market conditions, allowing you to quickly adapt to any new opportunities or challenges.

Collaboration

Digital technologies, such as cloud computing and collaboration tools, work to improve communication and cooperation between employees – which can lead to better productivity rates and boosted employee satisfaction.

Competition

Digital transformation allows your organisation to leverage new technologies and processes to your advantage, enabling you to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Technology advancements are moving at an incredibly fast pace, allowing your organisation the chance to create new products and enter new markets, and by doing so, you could establish your company as an industry leader.

Tisski is here to support your journey

For all organisations, regardless of industry or size, embarking on a digital transformation journey can be a difficult challenge. Tisski is here to support organisations looking to adopt a digital-first approach or upgrade their current processes. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we’re experienced in delivering cost-effective, tailored Microsoft solutions to a variety of different industries and organisations – so get in touch today if you’d like to see how we can help your organisation thrive.