Digital Transformation Initiatives
Digital transformation cuts through the silos and shows us how connected our customer's experience really is to our internal operating procedures.Bigger Is Not Always Better
When people hear the phrase “Digital Transformation” they often jump to various conclusions. Most common impressions are that it will be very expensive, that it will take a long time and that it replaces one of the most fundamental elements of our businesses: people. There are certainly companies who can afford multi-million, multi-year initiatives but for the more lean and nimble operators small but regular incremental progress is a more practical approach. Reaching our goals takes time, but being able to measure (and benefit from) progress along the way is reassuring way to feel good about the path you are on.
Set Yourself Up For Success
We’ve all heard the term “Analysis-Paralysis” and no one wants to be a bottleneck to progress, but an ounce of planning and understanding the current state can go a LONG WAY. Whether you’re building a new product, trying to understand or manage the ones you have or map out a new process for your team it is going to involve CHANGE. Whenever there is any change there is always a FROM state, a TO state and gaps between the two. Understanding the current state is integral to success and is worth its weight in gold. It ensures nothing critical gets overlooked, key stakeholders aren’t left out, communication is handled properly and no balls get dropped.
It's Not Only About The Customer
Digital transformation is frequently associated with digital marketing and customer facing solutions. Many clients fail to realize digital transformation is not limited to growth alone and can be applied internally as well. Digital enablement projects have very important roles to play in your over-arching digital strategy. Modernization programs help us to build and deliver better products and services at lower costs. They help us to reallocate budget to other areas of our business that support growth and they help to build out better data sources with which to engineer even more intuitive experiences. Don’t be surprised if, when evaluating your roadmap, there are some internal digital transformation initiatives that make it to the top of the list!
You’ll know you’re ready if…
1
Your Growth Rates Have Slowed
You aren't attracting new clients at the rate you once were. What was once working is no longer delivering.
2
Your Customers Have Told You
There is no better barometer for knowing a change is necessary than the voice of your customer. If you know, you know.
3
Your Cost Structure Is Unsustainable
If your cost of goods or services is increasing at a rate higher than or equal to your sales then you have a problem.
4
You Have No Digital Footprint
This is easy. If you have no web, mobile or social presence whatsoever, there is little that can be done to grow your business through digital.
5
You Have Budget To Invest
Making changes in new processes and technology does require investment, but it comes with a promise of a return on that investment.
Digital Transformation Project Examples:
Voice of The Customer (VOC)
Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs are key to remaining connected to your customer’s experiences and knowing where and how to innovate. You may have various forms of customer feedback scattered throughout your operation. Most business leaders have a good sense of their customer satisfaction even if only anecdotal. Whether qualitative or quantitative we can help you structure a VOC program that helps to drive decision making. Product teams are used to managing healthy backlogs of bug fixes and requested enhancements but having the data to justify the resource allocation ensures you are optimally prioritizing the list. VOC programs are one of the most effective ways to build a business case and ensure some measurable return on each incremental investment.
Supply Chain Management
Whether you are running a gig-economy model, subcontractor model, source raw materials from domestic or international suppliers, provide your services via employees only, are a fixed facility, hybrid or 100% remote, managing your supply chain and the resources that go into “baking the bread” has become critically important in recent years. Shortages in everything from computer chips to labor have driven up operating costs and resulted in service levels across multiple industries taking it on the chin. Ensuring your upstream processes are as streamlined as possible provide you competitive advantages in multiple ways. Your cost of doing business decreases allowing you to be price competitive and your suppliers will want to do business with you over your competition. We provide in-depth analysis of the inner workings of your business and can provide recommendations for improvement.
Voice of the Employee (VOE)
Similar to VOC and Supply Chain Management are your VOE programs. Understanding how your employees feel about your business can provide critical insights that enable you to reduce negative attrition and improve morale. If your workforce is remote, ensuring you have the right technology to balance flexible working models with productivity is key. Failure to leverage technology in this area can lead to disconnectedness on technical, emotional and psychological levels. Managers who are tasked with overseeing remote teams without the right resources can become frustrated as well. Manual and burdensome reporting requirements are time wasted and dreaded activities. With cloud solutions becoming more cost effective than ever and countless workplace collaboration tools hitting the market, there is no need to sacrifice productivity and transparency. We can help gather insights from your team to understand where the pain points are and offer quick wins to contribute to an enviable workplace atmosphere.
Operational Excellence (OPEX)
Last, but certainly not least, we offer Operational Excellence (OPEX) support in any department or process area of your business. OPEX initiatives looks closely at teams, processes and problems and maps out the current state first. We allow you to see your processes for what they are and then source feedback from your team on their thoughts and ideas on solutions. The end product is a future-state process map that leverages best-in-class solutions to streamline processes, increase output, customer satisfaction or whatever KPI is identified. OPEX initiatives are data-driven. If we can’t measure it, then we begin by gathering the data to justify the effort. Once a baseline is established we refine, measure and continue to refine until output is within the desired range.
Digital transformation is not external marketing alone! We can help you leverage digital technology to modernize your business.