Don’t Begin Digital Transformation Without This

May 13, 2019

Pursuing digital transformation is almost a given in the cloud era, but there are still some organizations failing to see the importance of offering a superior customer experience or the impact of disrupting business processes for improved productivity. The fallout is potentially serious: in a recent Couchbase survey, respondents said that businesses that fail to embrace digital transformation may not even be in existence in the next two to four years.
In a push to avoid this fate, companies are forging ahead to implement digital strategies, including introducing cloud migrations and fleets of devices to improve productivity. Many of these organizations run into problems when digital transformation initiatives don’t go as planned, or the level of buy-in isn’t what had been anticipated.
The critical piece so many enterprises miss comes long before the first digital innovation is implemented. Many organizations force the adoption of new technology without the important step of first becoming a data-centered organization. A data-driven culture relies on objective results in order to make dispassionate business decisions.
Be Specific. The overall goals of a digital transformation strategy often rest on broad objectives, such as improving the customer experience or boosting productivity, but these goals are not measurable. Instead, it’s important to drill down to the measurable components of these goals, such as the number of transactions per month per user. Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) provides an objective measurement of success.
Beware of Lagging Indicators. If your KPIs include some lagging indicators, it’s important to also establish key risk areas and early indicators that allow those directing digital transformation to make changes with a high degree of agility.
Automate Where Possible. Data delivery should be efficient and allow for fast, agile decision-making. Establishing a central dashboard for executive viewing and analysis can help remove any barriers to communication and allow for a clear, objective level of agility.
Think of Data as a Foundation. Data is a means to an end, but many companies get stuck in the pursuit of data itself, without effectively applying any analysis. Be aware that the data, in itself, isn’t particularly valuable. You’ve got to mobilize it and use it to alter your business practices. For instance, understanding that website visitors consistently abandon your site at a particular landing page is just the beginning. Once you’ve made changes to that landing page through further evaluation of the particular elements that were turning visitors away, you’ve made a successful digital change.
Are you wondering if your culture is data-driven enough for digital transformation? Contact us at Access Tech, where we can help evaluate your systems for data storage, management, and analysis to determine if you’re ready for next steps in transformation.

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