Is improvement/growth possible without any change? Not certainly.  This makes digital transformations quintessential for businesses to accelerate growth and beat the competition. Nevertheless, digital transformations are long, risky and can either make or break your business. 

So, what is important or required for digital business transformation success? 

In this post I would be covering 7 must-know tips for business heads to enjoy successful digital business transformations. 

I’ll walk you through the tips along with some valuable information that will help you plan and strategize your digital transformation well in advance.  

Business transformation vs. digital transformation 

Well, there is a misconception that business transformations are digital transformations. They are not. Even a digitization or digitalization of your legacy systems to digital-enabled systems can be termed as business transformation. 

However, on the other hand, digital transformations globally impact your business structure including your stakeholders, processes, workflows, technology, and most importantly culture and it is more about conducting your business. 

This is why digital business transformations require utmost care and planning to succeed. 

It’s time to get started with the 7 tips that will make your digital transformation efforts worth the money and time.

• Identify your business need for a transformation program.

It gets extremely tricky and this is one of the areas most companies falter and you could too. First, ensure there is a strong need for transforming your business with digital solutions. 

As the program impacts your employees, customers, vendors, culture etc., it is a must to identify one or more strong reason(s) to invest in digital transformations to ensure success. 

Here are a few questions you can consider before planning for a digital overhaul.

• Do your customer experience need a transformation?
• Do you lack data-based insights?
• Is there greater collaboration between departments?
• Is your entire process agile and innovative?
• Is your process redundant?
• Do you have complete visibility over your business activities?
• Do you think your stakeholders will adapt to innovations quickly?
• Do you believe digital transformations could improve your RoI by at least 10x?

SEE ALSO: "Digital Transformation Success: Why Measuring Key KPIs Matter"

If you can answer these questions and you’re confident enough you can settle for transforming your business. However, you’ve just passed the first step. Let’s focus on the other elements. 

• Talk to your customers first.

As I stated earlier, digital makeovers are not just about changing one or two elements. They impact everyone involved in the process and customers are no different. 

It is always wise to discuss with your customers to understand whether they are comfortable with the present system or they would love to upgrade to a new one. 

Explaining them the benefits of transforming your business and interim challenges they might face during challenges will help them decide faster. 

If your customers aren’t convinced, you have to give up the idea as they are the ones that decide your business success. However, persuading with the right details will help customers accept the transformation project. 

Here are a few things you can share with your customers. 

• Talk about the convenience and comfort digital transformation can offer
• Talk about simple and seamless processes
• Talk about saving time and money
• Talk about improved customer service
• Talk about improving their business

SEE ALSO: "5 Proven Steps to Success in Digital Transformation"

• Wither the cultural change storm.

The biggest of all the roadblocks of digital transformations is negotiating the cultural change. Adapting a new culture hits hard at the luxury of most senior most employees, HR, even some C-level executives. Many fear the upcoming change might impact their comfort and luxury. 

It is quintessential to discuss with them about the cultural change your business will bring up to get the buy-ins. 

Without the stakeholders support, performing a digital overhaul could produce only disastrous results, so be prepared to wither the cultural change storm. 

 

• Communicate often to win your IT team/CIO’s confidence.

As soon as you start discussing the digital transformation project, it is better to communicate early, often with your entire IT team. 

CIOs and IT administrators are the ones who will be responsible for the digital efforts and they should know exactly what has been planned and whether that will work for them or not. 

As they know the business infrastructure and technology enablement in and out, they can help you make the right decision at the right time. 

Many companies falter because they don’t communicate the digital transformation plans to their IT teams and this is the common cause of most failures. 

• Get your digital transformation strategy right.

Digital transformation program without a strategy is like a bird without wings. As the entire project is a long haul, having a set of strategies for every phase of transformation is the key to success. 

There are definite protocols for getting the right strategy which is well-defined and resourceful. Where to start and end your project really matters and every single phase is critical for achieving success. 

Here are few points you can consider when planning for a well-defined digital transformation strategy. 

• Align digital initiatives with business goals
• Run pilot tests
• Identify resource gaps and skills
• Look out for risks and manage effectively
• Negotiate cultural setback
• Keep your eyes on the roadmap
• Start with core process and fill knowledge gaps
• Do it right and secure your advantage for the long run

• Take a digital transformation expert’s help.

Complete digital transformation is never short of challenges and roadblocks. With a plenty to cover from and a lot to spend, monitoring, tracking and managing the complete transformation project can be overwhelming for many enterprises. Your technology partner can guide you with right solutions, technology, tools to ensure success with your digital efforts at a reduced cost. 

And, this is the reason why most companies partner with leading digital transformation companies with proven expertise and track record. 

However, hiring a partner for your digital project is equally challenging as there are a dime a dozen companies available in the market today. 

Let’s see what you must look for when hiring a reliable digital transformation company for your enterprise.

1. Specialized services in developing digital solutions combined with elegant UX/design, support teams
2. Proven track with references, testimonials, case studies
3. Strong technology alliances/partnerships
4. Proven industry experience
5. Company size, team size and skill sets
6. Transparent pricing, communication and prompt follow-ups 

Here are some of the benefits of hiring a digital transformation service provider for your business. 

1. Reduces the onus on your in-house team
2. Saves your time significantly
3. Allows you to focus on the core activities and improvements
4. Uninterrupted business activities 
5. High operational efficiency
6. Improved customer satisfaction

Conclusion

If you really think your business needs a major transformation, you really have to consider the above elements. As per the latest reports, the number of companies that transform their businesses for accelerating revenue and improving customer experience are on the rise. Get started today before your competitor does.