Are you really ready for Digital Transformation?

Many corporations see this simply as going paperless, but it is much more than that.  It is also more than looking only at technology for solutions.  Digital transformation is transformation of business and its organizational activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies.

Corporations of every size and in every industry see digital transformation as a key to keeping them competitive in their marketplace.  Whether it is new product development and commercialization or new services, becoming more agile and quicker to market are keys to growth.

Organizations around the world invest a great deal of time and effort into digital transformation.  This includes research into what exactly digital transformation is, as well as surveys of leading executives to get an understanding of how it applies to them and their businesses.

In this first section we will focus on the work done by i-SCOOP, a research organization from Belgium which specializes in digital business strategies and has developed an on-line guide to digital business transformation:

This guide is extensive and in-depth.  They look at digital transformation from a strategic perspective, understanding that it is an enterprise-wide endeavor.  They look at various industries, as well as relating to the customer experience and marketing, taking a holistic approach.

Some Keys of this report:

• The human element, understanding that any digital transformation will have an “off-line” aspect.
  • This means not only the business stakeholders, but everyone that will touch the technology, including the technical staff that works directly with the it.
  • Proper focus and understanding the impact on the customer.
  • The customer not only refers to your external customer, but the internal customers that will be touching the systems or solutions.
• Pushing the digital transformation to the edges.
  • The central portion is the core business goals and the connections between the internal silos.
  • The edges are the customers, external and internal that will interface with the technology.

It may be difficult today to determine what or who is driving the transformation.  Is it technology responding to customer demands (the chicken) or is it technology taking the lead (the egg).  Regardless of which came first, the chicken or the egg, the end result is that if companies do not keep up they will most certainly be left behind.

The role of IT in this process has been changing rapidly over the last several years.  It has moved from the background, helping provide support to business operations to the forefront as a key part of the business process and planning.

The i-SCOOP research points out that it is a mistake to assume that all organizations (businesses) are ready for this digitization or automation of processes.  There is a great deal of work that needs to be done in closing the gap between back-office processes and front-end systems.  In many cases this means that the software systems that interface with your front end customers do not necessarily play well with the back-office applications that run your core business processes.

If your organization is struggling with any of these processes, Volano Solutions may be able to assist you.  Visit us at; https://volanosoftware.com or call 402-934-3733.