You’ve no doubt heard of digital transformation before. Maybe the term has been batted around the boardroom, maybe you already have a strategy in place, or maybe you’ve skipped over it, deciding it wasn’t necessary for your business.
Digital transformation is more important now than ever before. Smart technology is allowing people to work remotely, and the future of healthcare has embraced telemedicine. But what does that mean for you?
Digital transformation will look different for each business. What works for one company will not necessarily work for another. Because of this, creating a digital transformation strategy is not always straightforward. There will be hurdles and pitfalls along the way, but that’s what makes it fun, right?
We want to help your digital transformation happen as smoothly as possible. To that end, we’ve put together five common digital transformation mistakes and (most importantly) tips on how to avoid them.
1. Lack of Responsibility
While everyone in your company might agree that digital transformation is important, they may not consider it to be their responsibility. Directors pass the buck to managers, managers decide it falls under the marketing team’s remit, and the marketing team pawn it off to IT.
This doesn’t work. Everyone needs to take responsibility. Without the human resources team’s involvement, how will you know the best way to digitize HR? Do you know what software will best suit the sales team’s needs? Or if the CX team had a say in helping the marketing team create their roll-out of promos? Cross-organizational cooperation and accountability is essential.
How to Avoid it…
Make sure that everyone is on board. Ask each team to identify any current problems they have, and ensure they understand how digital transformation can resolve these issues.
2. Waiting for the Competition
You might think that it’s sensible to wait for the competition before investing in digital transformation. Why spend unnecessarily when none of your competitors are? But this is a dangerous game to play.
Waiting for your competition is a great way to get left behind. You may not know what digital transformation they have going on, until it’s too late.
Let’s say your competition is suddenly closing twice as many sales as they were before. You do a bit of digging and find out that they’re using new software in their contact center that provides advanced reporting and analytics plus remote screen sharing to enable team-wide collaboration.
How long would it take you to put those same call center solutions into place? A week? A month? A year? You’re now playing catch up because you chose to wait.
How to Avoid it…
Focus on the needs of your own business before worrying about what your rivals are doing. If your business can be improved by digital transformation, then do it! Stay ahead of your competition and make them catch up to you.
3. Focusing on ‘What’ Instead of ‘Why’
Digital transformation is exciting. You get to invest in new, exciting technology. However, if you’re not careful, it can be very easy to end up focusing on what you’re going to invest in next and lose sight of why you need to invest in it.
Biometric technology throughout the building and VoIP phones on every desk sounds great! But they only make sense if your business actually needs them. If they don’t enhance your business, then they’re just a resource drain taking up funds that could have been invested in something else. Like offering superior customer service, for instance.
How to Avoid it…
Instead of making a list of all of the gadgets and software you’d like to use, make a list of the problems that you’re trying to solve. This way, you’re focusing on your business’ needs. By doing this, any digital transformation strategies that you put in place will actually serve a purpose.
For instance, you may want to reduce call handle times in your contact center to boost customer satisfaction. With that aim in mind, you can find the best tech solutions for the task.
4. Transforming Bit by Bit
The meaning of digital transformation has become somewhat diluted, but it’s important not to lose sight of what it is. It’s right there in the name. Transformation.
Transformation isn’t gradually implementing digital strategies here and there. You can’t just invest in a video hosting platform and hope for the best. Transformation is changing the very structure of your business. It can be daunting, and it can be expensive. But you shouldn’t shy away from it.
It may be tempting to focus on just improving today, rather than taking a long term view of your business. It’s a little easier, it costs a little less. But ultimately it’s not enough to stay ahead of the competition.
How to Avoid it…
Budget. Find the funds to properly tackle digital transformation.You may need to shift around budget allocation or put some spend on hold. But this will future-proof your business for 2020 and beyond.
5. Getting Weighed Down in the Nitty-Gritty
It’s important to plan, but you don’t want to fall victim to analysis paralysis. Digital transformation is about doing, not planning.
Endless and unnecessary planning will slow down the transformation process. You run the risk of falling behind your rivals, and your plans may end up out of date. Digital customer service is changing constantly. If you spend 18 months planning, your goals will have changed and you’ll need to start over again.
How to Avoid it…
Understand that digital transformation involves experimentation. You won’t necessarily get everything right the first time around, but there’s no problem with that. Aim for a minimum viable product and get it out there! You can then improve and evolve this with testing and feedback.
Implementing a solid digital transformation strategy won’t be easy, and you’ll almost certainly run into issues along the way. But by avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll put your business in the best position to improve your customer experience, stay ahead of the competition, and embrace the digital world.
