Digital Transformation

Digital transformation consulting

Digital Transformation really is a new buzzword floating around the business community but it really is not about digital at all. Yes, of course, we live in a digital world but the keyword here is transformation.

We could probably call it business transformation or process transformation because that is what it really is about. It is about businesses transforming business processes to create benefits such as reduced cost, greater efficiency, greater automation and becoming a leaner, more strategic thinking business for the future.

A simple overview of the term digital transformation is the use of modern technology, any sort of technology that helps to improve and create leaner, quicker and less costly processes and tools in your business.

These could be ERP (enterprise resource planning) software or they could be CRM (customer relationship management) software which companies can use to make greater use of their sales and marketing team and various marketing assets.

We could be talking about other tools like financial and accounting software and when we talk about “real digital” we talk about AI, BI and IoT, all tools that businesses use to create transformation.

Digital transformation and new technologies

Lot’s of new technologies have arrived over the last decade, things like the blockchain, artificial intelligence, business intelligence and the internet of things. To many, these are things that seem like rocket science to the majority of people. You are likely to have heard about these but may not understand them, and more importantly, may not understand how they can help and improve and grow a business.

All of these new terms plus some of the different types of software we referenced earlier all fall into this great big bucket we call digital transformation consulting. So as we say, the word digital is just part of the buzz and it is processes that are the key here. You can have all the technology in the world but if your business processes are not designed to gain the maximum benefit from this technology then you are setting your company up for failure. We know that is a blunt statement but it is true.

What are organisations trying to achieve with this approach?

Companies are trying to improve their efficiency, they’re trying to provide a better experience for their own customers, they’re trying to make the jobs easier for their employees, therefore creating more time and as a by-product creating a higher level of productivity. So really it’s driven by the business needs and of course technology is one way to develop those benefits. The key word in all of this is transformation.

Transformation means to change, alter, grow and develop and that’s the operative word within digital transformation, you could in fact just scratch digital and call it a business transformation. Yes, digital is a key part of developing any business nowadays but there’s much more to it than just the technology, it is more about how the processes are built to take advantage of technology and we would go even further and say that people need to be a key part of the whole re-engineering process.

Digital transformation and organisational change

It is vital to not underestimate the organizational change or the human capital input within a project. In fact more digital transformation projects fail than succeed and this is not due to a lack of technology, it’s not because the technology can’t do certain things, it’s because companies do not take note of the business transformation and process transformation that is needed to make a project like this successful. If you neglect the business or people side of things you are setting yourself up for the whole digital transformation project to fail. It does not matter how good the digital transformation platforms and technology you use if you have not taken into account people and processes as well.

If you haven’t addressed people and processes more clearly than you have invested large sums in technology, the probability of failure is very high.

If you are looking to undertake a digital transformation in your business then feel free to contact us. We know the technology inside out but we know people and processes even more so. We can provide a wide range of digital transformation consulting services.

Feel free to contact us for a no obligation chat. Further information can be found on our Digital transformation consulting page.