Digital Transformation IS NOT a ‘One-time’ Project

Customers are at the heart of any business. Therefore, companies go above and beyond to get positive feedback and improve customer service ratings. Hence, some companies employ more staff, others spend time and money on endless training, and only 35% of businesses implemented Digital Transformation in their workplace and already see improvement in Customer Service.

What is Digital Transformation, you may ask?

It can be defined as “the process of using digital technologies to create new, or modify existing, business processes, culture and customer experiences, to meet changing business and market requirements.”

It is a “reimagining of current business processes in the digital age”.

Put simply, it’s about looking at what you want to do or are currently doing, and seeking to improve that experience using digital technology.

And this is also the ‘why’ – “seeking to improve”.

You shouldn’t do Digital Transformation just because you think you need to appear modern, or because someone else is and you need to stay competitive. These can be valid reasons, but the primary goal of any Digital Transformation project should be to improve – whether that be your processes, your people, your customers, and our planet.

Another common mistake we see is when organisations treat Digital Transformation like a one-time project and stay focused on only the end goal they set out originally. Of course, keeping aligned to the end goal is important – but your industry, technology and the world around us are constantly evolving, and as such your goals should be evolving constantly too. Therefore, you need to consider these three tips to get the most out of Digital Transformation.

Digital Transformation is a long-term mindset.

Digital transformation is a long-term mindset, rather than a point project. If you break your goals down into smaller projects, you can then review at the end of each project what went well and what didn’t, and use this to improve your next one.

Review and re-evaluate your goals.

In some cases, through doing this review you might realise that the objectives you set out originally are no longer what you should be aiming for. This could be because you discover something has changed, or you realise there’s a better way to achieve the same end goal. Having these small projects allows you to pivot quickly and react to the changing world around you, without wasting time and resources on something that may become redundant or be inefficient.

Appoint champions of improvement in all areas.

In most projects of any type, there is a project manager who sees the project through to completion, and Digital Transformations are no different. However, with Digital Transformation projects, you also want to ensure you have a champion of improvement as part of the project team. Ideally, this is someone who understands the process that is undergoing Digital Transformation really well but can also fully see the benefit of making the improvements. This will differ from project to project depending on the area you’re looking at – but some examples we have seen of this are:

– A factory worker, who would rather spend time ensuring the machines on the production line is running optimally than filling in the paperwork
– A call centre operative, who would rather be on the phone with customers than typing in order details received via email or fax
– An HR officer, who would rather spend time interviewing and shortlisting candidates than chasing departments to get a new employee onboarded correctly and quickly

In all of these cases, it is the people who will get the benefit from the change day-to-day that have been the champions of improvement. They help those implementing the transformation understand the current or potential pain points. They also ensure that whatever the result is, it will work on a day-to-day basis for them and their colleagues. By being part of the project team, they can also quickly give feedback on what may make the process inefficient or add dissatisfaction to the experience. And because they fully see the long-term benefit, this will be honest feedback which will be invaluable to the wider team in ensuring success.

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