Companies that have already embarked on their digitalisation journey will tell you: the road to transformation is full of pitfalls. There are many obstacles that can easily derail an organisation's desire for digital transformation. Generally, the following objections are common:
“Our operating processes are far too complex to be transformed.”
“We don’t have time to transform.”
“Our teams will resist change.”
“Digital transformation is not suitable for my industry or for the size of my company.”
We are not going to dismiss all these concerns with a few one-off answers. Through this post, we would like to share some indicators that will help you assess the performance of your digital transformation and address the obstacles you may face.
Agility and Customer Focus: Key Success Factors
The term "agility" is a hot topic these days. A company’s ability to streamline its processes, rapidly evolve them, operate in a more cross-functional way, and so on, is very telling in a climate of constantly changing markets. For example, shortening decision-making time and time-to-market for a new offering is one of the biggest challenges of digital transformation. These timeframes are therefore excellent indicators of the shift towards an agile organisation.
However, while digital transformation can bring about positive changes to a company’s internal processes, it is essential that it also drives transformation that is customer-focused.
The move to an agile organisation encourages more interaction and better communication, and ultimately leads to a deeper understanding of customer needs. It also makes it possible to respond to these needs quickly. An organisation that focuses on "customer-driven" digital transformation has a sustainable competitive advantage. Recent studies show that customers are increasingly placing customer service at the top of their decision-making criteria.
Through efficient data use, digital transformation can also help improve customer experience. For example, analysing your customer database with the right software gives you fast access to information about your customers' buying behaviour and allows you to quickly adjust offers to better suit them.
Aiming for Operational Excellence to Drive Further Growth
Digital transformation can turn into a fiasco if you make the wrong choices. It is therefore important to pursue operational excellence in each of the decisions you make during your digitalisation process. Think about your processes and how to optimise them: how can they be improved? Is it possible to share certain tools? Can digitalisation help break the silo mentality within my company?
Operational excellence is measured by several indicators, including:
- Employee productivity
- Employee recruitment and retention
- The quality of new processes and error analysis
- Information system costs
- The influence of innovative development partners
Nevertheless, operational excellence is not an end in itself. Digital transformation should ultimately drive business growth and extend your reach into new markets.
To assess the impact of digitalisation on your business, look at how clearly you stand out from competitors, the new digital solutions you have put in place, and of course the additional revenue streams created since going digital.
Your Guide to Digital Transformation
For a successful digital transformation, we believe an ERP system is a critical part of your software stack. In this e-book, we explain why.
- The Best Software for a Successful Digital Transformation
- Preparing Your Company for a Fast, Seamless Transition
- Why ERP Matters in Digital Transformation
- Finding the Right Service Provider for ERP Integration in Your Business
And much more…