Digital Transformation: What is it and why your business can’t afford to ignore it.

This post originally appeared in Aurigny Envoyage Magazine November/December 2014

Digital Transformation is the journey from where a company is, to where it aspires to be digitally. It is about creating an organisation that focuses on customer experience (irrespective of channel) and has a digital culture.

Companies in every industry are trying to find new sources of value through digital technology. Increasing competition, technological changes, financial upheaval, political uncertainty and other factors are all forcing organisations to change faster.

In recent years we’ve seen the BBC, the UK Government and traditional news outlets invest in complex digital strategies. These giants recognise and understand that digital transformation is actually just business transformation.

Companies that are most likely to be successful in making this change work to their advantage are the ones that no longer view digital transformation as an event, but as a constant opportunity to evolve and future proof the business.

This is as much about cultural change as it is about technology or systems.

But how do you manage and integrate these challenges into the commercial environment successfully? If you are the person within your organisation that has been tasked with getting buy-in and digital acceptance, consider the following:

Create a Framework

A business has to change from the inside out in order to capitalise on the rewards that a digitally open culture has to offer. You need to consider your processes, the systems and technology that you have or don’t have, the people within your organisation that use these tools in their day to day jobs and create hypothetical scenarios based on what will (or won’t) happen if digital investments aren’t embraced.

This touches every element of your brand, but needs to start from within. Identify and fix those gaps internally, before you do anything external.

Create the Right Environment

Your framework helps to form the roadmap and the parameters of strategy, but how are you going to get your staff on board? What about at Board level?

In order to get buy-in you need to audit the current position of your business and reveal that research transparently, warts and all. Then address how the current culture doesn’t support the improvements you need to make.

What stops most businesses from even getting to this stage is often fear. Lack of knowledge. Big, scary myths that you need to debunk. Be prepared for some resistance to change by backing this up with both qualitative and quantitative research.

Have a Strategy

How are you going to implement the roadmap to digital transformation? Are you going to include your customers in the journey? You should be, because nothing resonates more with customers today than a business that co-creates with it’s loyal advocates.

Plan how you are going to equip your teams to do this, create more streamlined processes by looking at how investment in technology can improve the speed and efficiency of day to day business. Digital transformation is part of business strategy and needs to have a plan and P&L. The road to ROI is often long, but vital.

Seek out those employees that are naturally advanced digital natives; today this often means including those younger team players who have inherent digital skill sets, and are attuned to how consumers respond across digital platforms. Tap into this knowledge and help them grow with the business too.

Measure, Analyse, Repeat

Many businesses don’t understand how to access, let alone interpret, the vast amount of data that surrounds their digital footprint. If this resonates, get some support or invest in training, because data is here to stay, and is the currency on which nimble and successful businesses will trade in.

If you don’t understand what your customers think about you, how they feel about your levels or service or your product, how can you realistically remain competitive when every competitor has the opportunity to have a dialogue with them across channels that make them more accessible and visible than you?

Create a fluid loop of feedback and data, analysis and integration. Marketing Planning should be set as part of a strategy, but it should also have the flexibility to move with on the fly tweaks, dictated by this analysis. Marketing (from the old world) isn’t really working anymore because consumers have changed. Make sure you don’t miss the opportunities to change with them.

In summary, becoming a human era brand embracing digital is key to long term survival.

Are you still suffering from “fortress behaviour” e.g. sending emails from “no reply” addresses to customers? Refusing to listen to what people say about you or your products and services online? Or perhaps you think investment in digital tools is irrelevant because you remain successful and “have always done business this way”?

If the above sounds like your company, come and talk to us. Crowd Media’s consultants have successfully helped organisations to face their fears, strip away the hype and hand hold them through Digital Transformation. Without falling over and without losing control of their brand.