Future-minded businesses are rapidly devising new digital experiences, but too often their digital transformation strategy is underperforming. Are you one of them?
It’s not enough to decide you want to digitally transform and start picking new technologies. You need a strategy and the support of your team members to gain the digital transformation results that you read about.
When functioning properly, digital transformation can bring about higher levels of employee satisfaction, customer engagement, business innovation, sales, workflow efficiency, and more!
Be mindful of not rushing your digital transformation process. It’s a big undertaking and involves a lot of time. So being prepared and realistic is the biggest piece of advice we can give you. However, even with time and a documented strategy — your digital transformation strategies may be underperforming. In fact, you should constantly be auditing your strategy to see how well it’s working. As you assess your results, consider the following 5 reasons why your strategy might not be as effective as possible and revamp it accordingly.
Common Causes of Underperforming Digital Transformation Results
1. Lack Of Internal Participation
Many professionals think digital transformation means adopting new technologies, but that’s only part of it. Digital transformation also requires a formulated strategy and employee adoption of both the technology and strategy.
In fact, resistance from employees to digital transformation is the number one reason that these efforts fail. 70% of companies report that employee resistance accounts for the underperforming of their digital transformation strategies.
2. Not Utilizing the Right Technology Stack
No matter what your goal is with digital transformation, strategically using technology can help any business of any size to grow and transform. Regardless of your industry, you’ll quickly find that you can’t make headway digitally unless you use technologies like:
- Cloud computing
- Mobile apps
- Automation tools
- Data analytics
Another thing to note about digital transformation and technology is that you shouldn’t add a new tool just because it’s new and flashy. Be sure that it fits in with your overall strategy and that the money you invest in it will lead to revenue growth.
3. Choosing the Wrong Partners
Deciding on digital transformation is not enough. Afterall, 78% of brands who initiate digital transformation fail. That’s why you may want to consider an agency partner to build, guide and implement your strategy.
When choosing a digital transformation partner, check out their past work, ask for references, and take them up on a free consultation. Basically do your research so that you don’t become one of the 78% of brands who attempt digital transformation but fail.
4. Neglecting to Map Out Your Strategy
It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and dive into a new digital transformation strategy before you’ve really thought everything through. However, this type of work requires a strong foundation in order not to crumble later. So before you start purchasing technologies and training your employees, map out your entire strategy. This should include things like:
- Do a business and user needs assessment
- Research industry trends
- Analyze what your competitors are doing
- Define goals
- Assess budget
- Make a plan for getting employees onboard and trained
Digital transformation isn’t just about the future, it’s also rooted in the past. To succeed, it’s essential that you use data from your past initiatives to inform your future strategy.
5. Misunderstanding the Business Need or Opportunity
If you thought your digital transformation strategy would increase productivity but the needle hasn’t moved, maybe you’ve been focused on the wrong thing.
With the right digital transformation strategy, you should see an increase in productivity when it comes to customer communications, sales and internal communication.
If that’s not what you’re seeing, it might be time to revisit the thinking and plan behind your strategy. Doing more in-depth business and user research can help you to better understand the opportunity at hand or the real cause of the problem you want to solve. Before you roll out a digital transformation strategy across the company, it’s also imperative that you get feedback and test your ideas with the people who will be impacted.
Could your digital transformation strategy be stronger? Do you need help building out your digital roadmap or conducting user research? Learn about our expertise to see how we can help, and contact us at hello@robotsandpencils.com for a free consultation!
