We are facing a new paradigm in which the internet and disruptive technologies are transforming society and companies. In this new competitive environment, consumer habits are changing and therefore the business models of companies.
It is time to accept new challenges and take on a cultural change in our organization that allows us to successfully tackle digital transformation.
What is digital transformation?
It is the process of adapting the entire organization to digital technologies to obtain an optimization of the customer experience.
It affects all the departments of the company, human resources, marketing, production, sales, administration, customer service and of course management. A new business vision is necessary based on a new organizational culture that involves the core of the company, its strategy, its processes, its people, its products and services.
The success of a digital transformation process leads to an increase in income and cost savings for the company. But there are other benefits that should be taken into account, such as improving customer service and experience or getting more motivated and involved employees due to the reduction of repetitive tasks thanks to the automation that technology allows.
Phases and keys of the Digital transformation
In order to carry out the digital transformation of companies in an effective and efficient way, below we describe a model that has been successfully applied in many companies from Espinosa Consultores.
Vision:
The digital transformation of an organization is only successful when there is a total commitment from the management, that is, the CEO of the company must be the engine of the company’s digitization process. Without the maximum involvement of management it will be totally impossible to make a change of this nature in the corporate culture.
It is necessary to rethink a business vision based on a new digital culture that is transmitted transversally to the entire organization.
Committed leadership will make the difference between a simple implementation of technologies and the true transformation of the company.
People:
Digital transformation is not a technological change, it is a change in business culture through technology. Companies are made up of a human team, therefore it is not the companies that transform digitally but people. This clarification is necessary to highlight the importance of people in the process of digitizing companies.
The human being by nature is afraid of the insecurity of change, for this reason one of the main challenges is to make the human team lose their fear and glimpse the opportunities and advantages of digitization. This requires training in different digital subjects, promoting Employer Branding, detecting digital influencers within the organization, creating less vertical structures or promoting collaboration among others.
In addition, we must incorporate digitally-oriented management positions that help the CEO facilitate the transformation. For example: Chief Digital Officer, Digital Marketing Manager, Chief technology Officer, etc. Other more operational digital roles are also necessary, such as the figures of the SEM specialist, Web developer, Social Media Manager, SEO specialist, Data Scientist… How do we attract this digital talent? The selection of personnel must be according to the digital world: talent detection in social networks, creation of a positive digital image as an employing company or defining employee strategies as brand ambassadors.
Processes:
Digital transformation involves a certain automation of processes, which allows us to guide our human team to more strategic functions. The automation of processes thanks to digital technology, reduces times, costs and also human errors.
Through digitization we will obtain new data about our processes. It is necessary to implement a system for capturing, measuring and analyzing such data. Thanks to the optimization of our processes we will be able to improve decision-making, we will be a more agile company and ultimately we will add more value to our clients.
Client:
The consumer is becoming more digital, and adopting greater digital interaction with companies. If it does not exist or is not optimized, it can cause consumer discomfort and lead to the search for other brands that do have an optimal digital model. Therefore, digital transformation is a process that does not have to be led by technology but by the customer.
We must focus on digitizing the customer experience. For this, it is necessary through Social CRM, to study and get to know our client through active listening and analysis of social networks. Customers interact with companies through different channels, it is vital to identify all customer contact points to improve their experience. Customer service through different channels such as the immediacy of Twitter is a reality for many sectors. The Customer Journey Map is an excellent tool to identify and analyze the different points of contact of the customer with the brand throughout their purchasing process.
Metrics:
If we carry out a digital transformation of the company, we must also monitor the results of the strategies and actions carried out.
We must take into account the objectives that we want to achieve with the transformation process and the investment that we are going to carry out, to subsequently select those KPIs management indicators of the objectives that we want to measure and that we will later include in the scorecard.
Some examples of metrics are: agility of change, indicators of use of digital tools by employees, visits to the site, conversions made, time in processes, quality of service, etc.
As we have seen throughout the article, digital transformation is not just technology. To carry it out successfully, it is necessary to work on many aspects of the organization, such as: redefining processes, selecting digital talent, vision, customer experience and measuring results for continuous improvement.
Without a doubt, if companies want to be competitive, they have to adapt to this new digital environment to find new opportunities and be more efficient. The changes necessary to carry out the digital transformation should not mean the end of the world, but the beginning of a new one.
