What Is Digital Transformation and What Does it Have to Do With You?
Digital business transformation is the process of integrating digital technology into all areas of an organisation. It will change the way you operate and adapt your company’s culture to help you make more informed decisions. But what are the benefits of digital transformation? And what’s the best way to lead your digitisation strategy? We’ll talk you through everything you need to know to kickstart your transition.
Benefits of Digital Transformation
There are many benefits of digital transformation for each industry, but these apply to all:
- Improved efficiency: from the way you communicate to the improved flow of data and information management.
- More transparency: thanks to digitisation, you can gain a better view of your processes and productivity across all levels by managing workflows and generating reports.
- Saving costs: simply going paperless can save a lot of costs on resources, but digital transformation can also lead to improved integration and, as a result, streamlined processes which will cut additional costs in the long run.
- Better client experience: increased transparency and improved visibility of tasks will help businesses track progress internally and externally, to ensure that deadlines are met and teams can collaborate more effectively.
- Enhanced data collection: rather than storing and collecting data across various software and platforms, all information is brought together in one central location – making it easier to manage and access.
How to Lead a Digital Transformation Strategy
Are you interested in remodelling your business? It can be tough knowing where to start. Here’s a rough digital transformation roadmap to help you figure out how to lead a digital transformation strategy:
1. Establish Your Rationale
The first step in a digital transformation strategy is to establish your reasons for going digital. So, identify your business pain points and make a note of what’s working well for you and what’s not. Take a look at your current set-up and evaluate how you use your data, what you’re missing and what’s vital to your business, so you can determine exactly what it is you need in your digital transformation strategy.
2. Create a Plan
Once you know what it is you need, it’s time to establish exactly how you’re going to get it. Explore your options in terms of software and digital systems to ensure you find the best fit across all areas of the business. You’ll then need to create a plan of action for acquiring and implementing the technology, setting timelines and outlining the steps you’ll need to take to fully make use of it. You should also plan ahead for any issues you may encounter along the way, to ensure contingencies are set in place.
3. Motivate Your Employees
Make use of short-term quick wins and complete tasks with guaranteed outcomes to help keep employees on the right track. Management will also play a part in this. They need to lead the way for their teams to ensure that all employees are following the right steps in the digital transformation roadmap.
4. Engage and Communicate
Put a plan in place to communicate the digital transformation framework to employees. If they have any concerns or questions about digitisation, address them and get their feedback to streamline your strategy. From then on, ensure that you provide regular updates on the progress of your strategy so that all those involved can stay up-to-date and offer thoughts or feedback along the way.
5. Uphold Your End of the Bargain
As with any change, you must ensure that you maintain the change culture and don’t slip back into your old ways. It might be difficult at first, but soon enough your new procedures will become second nature and the changes will become part of your business’ culture – with a goal of striving towards innovation. Organise ideation sessions to get together and come up with ideas for innovation, allowing employees to get stuck in.
How to Measure Digital Transformation Progress
Executing a digital transformation is a major task for all businesses, no matter how much experience they may have. But measuring the way new digital processes and software are utilised can give you a clearer picture of what's working and what isn't. Here are some steps you can follow to monitor your progress:
- Compare the number of software licenses you purchased to the number of employees who are actually using the software. This will give you a basic understanding of how many people are adapting to the new way of working and the progress of implementing it across the business.
- Take a deeper look at how the software is being used to understand how well people have adopted the new strategy. This will help you to identify bottlenecks and gain a more solid interpretation of the overall success of your digital transformation.
- Count the number of processes and tasks completed using the analytics within your software. This will give you an overview of how much value the investment is bringing to your business. If the number of processes completed is low, you may come to realise that the software isn’t right for you, or that your employees need help adapting to this digital tool.
- Calculate the amount of revenue you have secured as a result of your digital investments. E.g., how much money has automation saved you? Or has the new technology brought in new business opportunities?
- Likewise, you can also measure productivity. Evaluate your employees’ output against the investment you’ve made into time and resources.
Are you interested in kickstarting your digital transformation strategy? The Virtual Cabinet work management software is your first step towards digitisation – helping you manage your documents, communication and workflows all in one. Book your free demo today to discuss your needs with our industry experts. We’ll tailor your software to you, ensuring you have everything you need for a smooth transition.