W.T.F. is Digital Transformation & Why Should You Care?
Growth of the Digital Economy But digital business has evolved into more than selling online. Successful companies are collecting and using Data to Increase Customer Engagement on all fronts. In today's digital world a having a a company like Oneighty.io on your side driving digital business growth is essential to success. As a growth strategist and digital growth consulting firm my team is focused on showing our clients how to use data, technology and analytics as the backbone in this transformation and using tools to connect sales, marketing and operations together capturing data so we can measure results. This digital transformation for company's of all sizes is ever more important as we can no longer ignore digital sale and we must use technology to measure and connect our people and clients. Using data and technology is no longer out of any businesses price range and allows your business to make real time decisions, increase sales, improve operations and measure efficiency in all aspects of your business.
The process that a is often referred to as Digital Transformation can seem very complicated but at its root takes a very simply approach. Today's business need to be connected and these connections require three things People, process and tools. As we dive deeper into the methods think about how your business is being ran and the connection between these three critical areas. How is your business measuring, tracking and utilizing data, how automated is it and what are you not measuring that might be needed or wanted to better understand or grow your business. Lets explore each one of these three areas of digital transformation and the role the digital business strategist in each section.
People
Your people are the most important and also the most volatile aspect of every business. As a business consultant, strategist and growth expert I have seen the difference between good and great companies and its all in the people. Leadership fuels and technology measures results. When it comes to your people it all starts with On-boarding.
On-boarding Allows New Employees to Be Productive Quickly. As new employees go through the on-boarding process, they quickly get up to speed with the employees who have been with the company for longer. This lets them reach higher productivity levels much faster than if they had to figure everything out on their own. Starting with a Good ATS (Applicant Tracking system) which is connected to your online job posting and internal HRIS (Human Resource Information System) is the data and technology needed to measure results and stay compliant. But more import the on-boarding of a new employee is the magic moment when new employees decide to stay engaged or become disengaged.
Disengaged Employees are the silent killer of businesses today, data shows 80% of today's workers are actively disengaged and using digital, data, and technology not only can identify problems with your people but as a growth consultant we need to always understand people are at the root of everything good or bad in today's businesses. With the right tools in place we can measure, and get a grasp on engagement (Employee Experience), measure performance (Key Performance Indicators - KPI's), provide training to improve all of these but without the data and the right objective eye you maybe missing the most important aspect of your business and why your not achieving your growth goals. Culture, and brand are also aspects which your people connect to in a company and to look more at your entire identity we must look at and create processes and procedures that reflect the misson, vision and core values of the company.
Process
Operations people love process and most every other department seems to put these to the side. My first professional working experience was with a large financial institution and when we first started we had 3-ring notebooks at our desks with our OI (Operating Instructions) This manual and the ones who knew it were the top performers of the the bank. As the years went by and digital became more of a standard (dating myself this was the beginning of the dawn of the internet) we stopped getting weekly additions to the our OI's and moved to an online manual. This digital transformation had many lost as most of the older employees were use to searching on paper and didn't adapt well to the new Online Manual. Now as a digital native I loved the fact we didn't have to spend upwards of an hour a week opening and closing a 3-ring binder replacing new procedure with the old ones. As a manager it always frustrated me when an employee didn't update or was using old procedures, and worst of all lost pages, ripped paper and the occasional paper cut I was ready to go digital and it increased my productivity and accuracy. As a growth consultant the focuses on digital it always has amazed me how most companies relay on memory and internal knowledge and written processes are not acknowledged as a problem. Process (and more importantly written process) is the difference between good and great, not only does this allow new employees a place to learn, but is also gives management a platform to train, and mange from. Documenting every process and procedure is a daunting task and can be overwhelming but as the saying goes how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Look at the most standard tasks, processes, procedures in your business and start there. Also look at this as a way to improve training, on-boarding, performance management and identify gaps and error, create standards, document, test and revise. The process is important but the tools we put in place will make the process go smoother and the people happier.
Tools
The tools we have access now a days can be overwhelming, when it comes to digital transformation, and operational excellence there are a few key tools that will make any business more successful when the people are bought in and the processes are right.
ERP & CRM - The most loved and hated tool is the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) & CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools. The success and failure for these tools have everything to do with the above topics. The success and failure of these tools is the backbone to digital transformation as it provides the data, and analytics. A well trained leadership team, SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) and training is key for these systems.
Website/Digital - Your Website is the most useful tool when it comes to digital transformation. Your website is the place where everyone lands to look up all the whos, whats, wheres, whys, & whens of your brand. Your digital presence can include social and anything online about your company. The most missed part of your website/digital is the analytics and the data. Consulting with small businesses I'm always amazed at how under utilized their digital is. When looking at this simply a website needs google analytics, lead captures, offers, clear calls of action, information and ways to contact. When you look at something like your website and overal digital presence its like a house or a car. You can have so many options, features you need to really understand your needs and uses and use it to its fullest potential. I've seen people spend hundreds and have a website function just as well as someone who spends tens of thousands.
Operational Excellence - Operational excellence is a mindset that embraces certain principles and tools to create sustainable improvement within an organization. Or to put it more simply, operational excellence is achieved when every member of an organization can see the flow of value to the customer. OpEx is a tool belt with tons of features and methodologies such as LEAN and Six Sigma but one of my favorite simple tools in driving OpEx is EOS (ENTREPRENEURIAL OPERATING SYSTEM https://www.eosworldwide.com/what-is-eos)
So why should I care about digital transformation? Data is now the most valuable tool for businesses, your people, processes and tools will make the difference between good and great and sometime the difference between the ones who survive and the ones that don't. Since starting my professional career I've seen industry leaders close doors because they didn't adapt, they thought they were different and they didn't need to change. Digital transformation is a mindset more than anything. Using the data to make real-time decisions that would once take months or years. Reaching a larger audience and having the analytics behind campaigns to improve. Having the sales data to know who is the best client, why you are winning and losing deals allows you to pivot make changes on offers, and marketing. In Operations and management procedure, KPI's keep you moving forward while the OpEx mindset and tools behind it always keep you agile and growing.
If your business is seeking a deeper knowledge in digital, technology, data and operations please reach out, or leave a comment with your questions and how we can help you navigate through your digital transformation journey.
