Digital Transformation is passé - time to focus on the 3Ps

Digital First is the new normal for businesses across the globe – whether for Customer Experiences or for internal Efficiency Gains. This is the mantra for measurable growth and to stay ahead of the competition. 55% of startups have begun adopting a digital business strategy compared to 38% of traditional enterprises (Forbes).

The changing mindset of consumers (most of them being digitally-aware-millennials) has led many businesses towards the path of embarking on agile customer experience initiatives that are data-driven, fuelled by consumer feedback cycles, and have touch points across the customer lifecycle.

There is a constant pressure to deliver the best customer experience along with protecting consumer data and enterprise network. With security becoming a business priority, IT leaders must step up their game and enforce data compliance. Conventional methods have been replaced with newer technologies for businesses to stay competitive in the digital race.

While tech leaders acknowledge the potential behind transforming businesses digitally, almost 84% companies lack the skills and expertise to successfully adapt the transformations. This makes it important for businesses to chalk out a streamlined strategy that will result in successfully transforming them digitally.

Focusing on the 3Ps - People, Process & Product

People

Digitally-skilled leadership is vital for a successful transition – the people leading and running your business need to transform before the business itself is transformed. Do the people have the right skillsets? If yes, how fast can they be aligned towards building the transformation engine?

Begin with these 3 questions:

1. What does Digital First mean for your business?
2. What does it mean from a customer touch-point perspective?
3. How can I optimise my operational efficiency?

To address these important aspects, identifying leaders and defining their roles is the foremost step to embark on this journey. Without building this foundation, it is highly likely that the entire exercise becomes siloed and ends up being another technology project on the side.

According to Forrester, 43% of firms with a mature digital strategy see competing departments wanting to own the digital initiative - as the most significant barrier to effective digital transformation in their organisation. This necessitates having the right leadership with a clear vision of the goal and leads to the next key ingredient – Process.

Process

Digital transformation must happen for all the business functions, but not necessarily ALL at once. Start where you think your business will have the greatest impact in terms of growth as well as profitability. 89% enterprises across platforms are investing in tools and tech to enhance their customer experience and marketing initiatives. It is crucial to identify and choose the function(s) in your business that are ripe for a digital change.

For industries like Retail, where margins are under pressure, it may also make sense to look inwards and focus on Operational Efficiency, whether for warehousing needs or to fix the upstream inventory and supply chain problems. Data and prescriptive analytics can play a key role here. And with an iterative model, it may need not necessarily be a large ticket CAPEX conversation. As the saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned. Business process management (BPM), Enterprise Service Management and application of Process Automation (RPA) are some great examples of places to begin.

Product

Products and technology offerings are the vital cogs that run the engine of a business. It is crucial to identify the right product/ technology mix to drive and support these initiatives. Hyper personalised customer experience data platforms offer real-time and accurate insights that are widely considered for measuring success. Integrating people with the product is a sure shot way to chalk the path for digital success for a given business. 

Conversations around build-vs-buy, differentiating buzz-words from the actual need, and time-to-market are key technology considerations that may require you to tap into expert help. While machine learning and AI are the buzz, not every business needs them for an effective digital strategy. You do not need a battleship for every skirmish.

Again, technology is only a part in the mix, and has to tie well with the other 2 critical aspects – People and Process. An effective digital strategy is about ensuring continued business success with incremental and tangible gains.

Conclusion:

You know YOUR business the best. Complement that with external help around business and technology consulting to bridge the gap from planning to execution. This can help chart a course to navigate from the broader vision on paper - to a phased execution that yields tangible returns for your business!