The challenges and benefits of implementing a digital transformation initiative

Digital transformation is more than just technology adoption; it is a holistic approach to building better processes, enhancing employee engagement, and optimizing your firm for long-term growth through the adoption of the right technology. Whether you operate a small company or a startup, digital change is unavoidable. It aims to digitally alter your organization and its assets to boost productivity. Numerous businesses invest in digital transformation initiatives and look to digital transformation as a means of keeping up with trends and staying ahead of the competition.

In an era dominated by exceptional customer experiences where companies are racing to become more customer-centric, digital transformation is at the top of every CEO’s list of priorities. However, not all digital transformation initiatives are fruitful. As businesses begin to explore their digital transformation pathways, they come across many challenges to successfully implementing digital transformation initiatives. In this blog, we will look into what digital transformation is and the challenges and benefits of implementing a digital transformation initiative. But before we dive in, let’s look at exactly what digital transformation is.

Every instance of digital transformation is unique; hence, there is no single, all-encompassing definition. Every business will undergo digital transformation in its own unique way, but there are some common factors that must be considered. Digital transformation is a continual process of adjusting to client needs through the use of new technologies to restructure all aspects of your business, from marketing to management, to enhance their business processes, culture, and customer experience. This could entail adopting more cloud-based technology, improving data utilization, implementing newer working patterns for staff, or shifting to more online sales channels. Digital transformation provides a way for enterprises to rethink their business model and realize their full potential, something that could never have been accomplished without the advent of revolutionary technologies.

Digital transformation is more than just deploying new software, technologies, and processes that are more efficient and automated than old business practices and processes; it is an entirely novel and innovative approach to achieving something important to your organization. Therefore, businesses must consider all factors before starting a digital transformation program, including how employees will react to the change, how it will affect customer relations, the cost, how it will align with corporate objectives, and so on. Through digital changes, firms may move into the future and position themselves for competition and market expansion. Businesses that refuse to adapt to the changing digital landscape are doomed to fail. It is difficult for businesses to keep up with the rapid speed of digital change, especially those that cling to antiquated methods of operating.

It is reasonable to anticipate that an organization will face a variety of obstacles and problems if it goes through significant structural changes. This is also true for enterprises undergoing digital transformation; if the shift is not carried out in a seamless manner, the organizations may come up against certain difficulties.

The purpose of digital transformation is to facilitate the achievement of strategic business objectives over the long term by means of digital tools. Unfortunately, many companies jump into digital transformations without first defining their goals. Thereby, many reforms fall short of their potential as a result of unrealistic expectations and vague objectives.

Solution: The first step toward a successful digital transformation is to ensure that your initiatives are aligned with the goals desired by your organization. Investing in digital technology should be prioritized based on its influence on certain goals. When deciding where to allocate your budget and which projects to put the most emphasis on, outcome-driven criteria should be used. Business owners must have a clear understanding of their motivation for their digital transformation efforts, their desire to switch to digital systems, the areas of operation that need improvement, and the ways in which digital transformation initiatives will help the company achieve its strategic goals.

Aidan Sowa, CEO Sowa Marketing Agency and Co-Founder Startup Penguin, tweets a quote on the importance of digital strategy, “90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy.” — MIT Sloan and Capgemini

“90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy.”
— MIT Sloan and Capgemini

— Aidan Sowa (@AidanCSowa) November 14, 2021

While technology is essential, it is only one piece of the puzzle that must be solved in order to achieve digital transformation. The installation of new technology is often rushed through by businesses that wrongly assume it will address all of their problems. Despite the widespread belief that implementing new technology will immediately resolve one or more of their difficulties, only to find that doing so often leads to more complications.

Solution: Evaluate your current technology and identify any gaps to fill before making the digital transition with a thorough technology evaluation. Identify the most significant problem to tackle and then determine the best technology (or technologies) to address it. Always look for other ways to solve a problem, if at all possible. Include probable shortages of technical resources in your risk management plan in order to reduce the likelihood of potential risks

Budget constraints

Financial constraints could be an issue for many businesses as they contemplate their digital transformation initiatives. The costs of implementing new technology, staff training, the acquisition of specialist digital skills, and employing business advisors all add to an organization’s expenses. Due to the initial technology expenditure, organizations struggle to consider digital transformation as a strategic investment and devote insufficient funding to it. The company’s executive board or senior management may also be skeptical about the process’s ROI and not be prepared to allocate the necessary expenditures. It limits the proper implementation of digital transformation initiatives and prevents future flexibility and adaptation.

Solution: Making a financial plan ahead of time will help organizations streamline their operations. It is important to create a financial plan that takes into account the whole picture in terms of objectives, requirements, strategies, priorities, timetables, outcomes, returns, and other

factors. The budget needs to provide room for maneuver in case there are unexpected problems.

Organizations should create a financial roadmap to facilitate these processes. A budget should be prepared based on overall goals and needs, strategies, priorities, timelines, planned outcomes, return on investments, etc. The budget should be flexible in case any challenges or issues arise. When planning the budget, businesses must involve more departments or their representatives and use a collaborative approach.

Security Threats

Potential threats to data security and privacy could be a roadblock for businesses attempting to undertake digital transformation initiatives. As more and more firms adopt digital initiatives, they become more vulnerable to data breaches and malware assaults. The majority of digital transformation efforts entail migrating on-premises systems to the cloud and integrating all data sources into a centralized system. In this case, there is a much higher chance that cyberattacks will steal sensitive customer information and trade secrets.

Solution: Organizations can overcome cybersecurity threats by implementing security controls and policies, implementing risk management, focusing on data privacy, investing in new tools and technologies, and training employees. In addition, make sure to conduct security audits and review incident response procedures on a regular basis. Furthermore, when moving to the cloud, it is important to respect the privacy of your customers and adhere to all security regulations.

Employee Pushback

Employees may be resistant to change out of fear of losing their job or out of apprehension that their expertise or capabilities will not be sufficient to contribute to the company’s success in the future. This apprehension and resistance to change can make it hard to implement a digital transformation initiative in such a setting. It also lowers morale and hampers efficiency in the workplace.

Solution: Focus on creating a customer-centric culture where business processes are flexible to adapt to the changing needs and preferences of customers to mitigate employee pushback. That will get the message across to your staff that upgrading their skill set is an investment in the company’s ability to provide better service to its clientele.

Digital skill gap

As businesses start implementing their digital transformation initiatives within their organizations, practically every position will require some level of digital proficiency. It’s becoming increasingly clear that even non-technical jobs require some familiarity with technology. As a result, there aren’t nearly enough people with the range of digital skills needed to transition successfully. The lack of experts in the essential competencies necessary for the change is exacerbating the lack of digital skills. Unfortunately, it can be difficult and even expensive to identify the proper personnel in a small talent pool.

Solution: Expertise in the cloud, analytics, enterprise architecture, digital experience, cybersecurity, and other areas is vital to digital transformation. Digital transformation requires re-skilling programs in areas such as the cloud, collaborative tools, digital experience, and data-

based decision-making. Businesses without in-house IT support specialists may also choose to have these tasks performed by a third party.

Upskilling your employees with education and training builds digital dexterity. This ensures they have the necessary skills and capabilities to adapt to the digital transformation and effectively integrate digital tools into their work processes. In addition to reducing the digital skills gap, this empowers and encourages your employees’ performance.

Aadil Bandukwala, Senior Director of Marketing, HackerRank, tweeted Eric Pearson, CIO, International Hotel Group (IHG) quote on importance of adopting digital transformation initiatives, “It’s no longer the big beating the small, but the fast beating the slow.”

It’s no longer the big beating the small, but the fast beating the slow. – Eric Pearson

— Aadil Bandukwala (@aadil) August 30, 2019

For businesses, digital transformation is more than just a quick fix; it’s an overarching strategy for overcoming conventional obstacles and capitalizing on emerging technological trends. Simply put, it’s a long-term endeavor that businesses should aim to enhance and refine over time so that it accurately reflects the company’s current needs and objectives. For businesses that lack technical resources and IT skills to carry out digital transformation initiatives, one of the best options is to outsource their digital transformation efforts.

Solution: To achieve long-term success in the digital age, businesses must carefully consider the wide variety of available technological solutions and select the one that is the best fit for their operations and their digital transformation objectives. Organizations must analyze the prospective service provider with a clear grasp of their digital transformation objectives and ask specific questions regarding how the vendor would facilitate and/or expedite the fulfillment of those objectives. Use that criteria to evaluate potential partners: are we able to see alignment between this vendor’s technologies and/or services and our fundamental digital transformation objectives and long-term vision? Can we count on this provider to sustainably accommodate our digital transformation strategy and maybe even grow with us?

Digital transformation affects every facet of your organization. Businesses can take a variety of paths toward digital transformation, depending on their unique circumstances. The one thing they all have in common is an ambition to improve their company over time and to triumph over any obstacles that may occur. Let’s look at the benefits of digital transformation.

Enhance Customer Experience

With new competitors constantly entering your market sector, you need to provide your clients with more than one customer journey option. While many companies claim to put the client first, it can be difficult to truly deliver on this promise if you haven’t taken the time to identify and understand their unique set of demands. Headlines about digital transformation tend to focus on the company’s internal benefits, but what really matters is how the company’s efforts will affect the consumer experience. How will the game-changing organizational shifts improve service to the company’s core demographic of consumers? Upgraded quality? Improved originality in the market’s offerings? More rapid service? The outcomes listed above are only a small sample of what could happen. Examining customer complaints and responses provides a firm foundation

from which to launch digital transformation efforts. Digital transformation can enable closed-loop engineering, which feeds real-time product performance and usage data back to product developers to make design modifications faster and more in line with customer preferences.

Make Data-Driven Decisions

Data that is more complete, accurate, and contextual can enhance all business functions and lead to better decision-making. Frequently, in digital transformation, businesses seek not just to obtain superior analytical insights from their data but also to provide enterprise-wide product lifecycle feedback to employees across the organization. Once products are in the customer’s hands, technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) provide real-time visibility into industrial processes and product performance. Using this information, organizations may make informed decisions to target inefficiencies and gain a deeper understanding of how customers utilize the product in order to enhance future versions.

Increase Operational Efficiencies

Trusting new technologies is risky, especially if you’re still using a legacy system or point-to-point manual processing paradigm. Digital transformation improves operational efficiency and simplifies integration. Using the correct digital tools and making sure they function together will automate manual data integration and streamline your workflow. Efficiency is created and scaled by digital transformation. You may have the latest, costliest technology toolbox, but it’s how those tools communicate and work together to streamline operations specific to your organization. A trustworthy solution to automate your processes reduces downtime, system delays, and technological performance difficulties. Furthermore, every department benefits from digital transformation by removing manual processes and technological hurdles.

Gain Faster ROI

Often, the adoption of new technology is quite expensive and may require multiple years to generate a measurable return on investment (ROI). It might be difficult to translate strategy into KPIs, but digital transformation provides real-time insights into every aspect of your business operations. Rapid ROI analysis helps you obtain and assess the immediate impact of rapid deployments. You must determine the amount of additional revenue attributed to your recent digital investment. It is the only method to ensure that digital transformation is worthwhile.

Improved competitiveness

Improving your company’s infrastructure gives you a leg up on the competition. To be competitive in today’s ever-evolving business environment, companies must embrace digitalization. Organizations have a better chance of competing and surviving in the digital age thanks to the continual transformation of the business environment. As digital-first infrastructure becomes the industry norm, it becomes more challenging to maintain a competitive edge through digital transformation. If your company wants to stay ahead of the competition and better meet the requirements of today’s connected consumers, it needs to undergo a “digital transformation.”

Faster time to market

Shorter product cycles are one of the greatest advantages of digital transformation. With the right digital infrastructure and automation in place, businesses can speed up the introduction of

ground-breaking new goods. It involves not just the use of digital channels to communicate with customers but also the internal operations of the business. By enhancing cooperation, shortening time-to-market, and boosting customer involvement, digital transformation can expedite product release and facilitate early feedback collection.

Increased scalability and flexibility,

With digital transformation, you may ditch your inefficient legacy systems and antiquated infrastructure in favor of cutting-edge, scalable solutions. Software development today has made it simpler to interconnect disparate systems, allowing businesses to break down departmental and functional data silos. With the right technological infrastructure in place, businesses are no longer restricted to a single location, and employees have the freedom to go about their day without losing contact with the rest of the team. The ability to scale up in response to increased workload and customer demand is bolstered by well-thought-out and well-executed systems.

Digital transformation is a process, not a destination, so there is no need to seek a conclusion. Overall, digital transformation is a difficult process that demands significant effort and commitment from your firm. You cannot simply dip your toe in and hope for the best; you must be prepared for a lengthy and challenging process that will test the resolve of everyone involved. If you are now going through this transformation or plan to do so in the future, ensure that your organization is prepared for the change. Address the aforementioned concerns, and you will be well on your way to achieving success.

Sparity is a thought leader in the domain of business transformation, having worked with numerous companies to help them make the transition to digital operations. If you are curious as to how digital transformation can affect you and your company? Reach out to us right away!