What You Can Do To Prevent Digital Transformations Disasters?

Experts estimate that the value of the global digital transformations market will reach approximately $2744.68 billion by 2028. Companies are rapidly investing in digital tools and innovations not only to stay ahead of the competition but also to address the challenges posed by an unpredictable post-pandemic environment.

By 2020, 97% of IT professionals worldwide will be involved in some form of digital transformations initiatives. That same year, a global event occurred that accelerated digital transformations initiatives by an average of 7 years, according to analysts.

Of course, the increasing demand for and confidence in digital transformation opportunities does not mean that every company’s pursuit of innovation is successful. Today’s businesses have more technological capabilities than ever before to transform the customer experience, improve team productivity and achieve exceptional growth. However, without proper planning, your transformation strategy will never have the impact you hope for.

What are Digital Transformations and Why Don’t It Always Work?

Digital transformation is a simple concept. It involves investing in digital technologies and tools to positively change some aspects of the business landscape. For example, at a time when many contact centers were struggling to manage the rapid increase in customer service demands, self-service was quickly emerging as a key solution to helping customers support themselves.

Using artificial intelligence tools and bots in a contact center portal to enable customers to get the support they need without always having to speak to a human agent is one form of digital transformation.

Digital transformation is also evident in telecom companies’ decisions to automate repetitive tasks so they can maintain their quality assurance methods without overburdening their human agents. Whenever a company invests in a digital disruptive tool for the benefit of its team or customers, it is a form of digital transformation.

According to Gartner, about 69% of companies accelerated their business transformation initiatives in response to the pandemic. Brands recognized that they needed an agile digital strategy if they were to ensure continuity in an unpredictable environment. Unfortunately, executives in the Gartner study also indicated that their transformation initiative failed due to a number of factors.

The overwhelming majority of companies that jumped into digital transformation strategies found that everything from a lack of appropriate skills to resistance to new technologies prevented their initiatives from succeeding.

The Most Common Reasons for Digital Transformation Failures

The reality is that every business can benefit from access to the right digital tools and initiatives. Digital transformation gives brands an edge and ensures they can adequately support their customers in an era of growing expectations. But just because digital transformation is becoming a necessity does not mean companies can rush into it.

In the panic of the pandemic, many companies were forced to accelerate their transformation plans much faster than expected. Unfortunately, this meant that companies started buying and implementing tools without the right amount of planning or change management.

During the pandemic, we saw countless examples of companies that tried to push transformation too quickly and suffered the consequences. Companies that tried to enable a hybrid or remote team began using video conferencing and collaboration tools without reviewing underlying security and encryption practices, resulting in data breaches on a massive scale.

Brands began to quickly make new features available to their employees but struggled when team members could not access and use these tools. Shadow IT became a major problem as employees used the tools, they were already accustomed to at home, rather than those approved by the technology team.

While many challenges can impact and affect the digital transformation process, the underlying problem behind most failures was simple: lack of organization and planning.

Transformation Starts with a Strategy

No truly incredible transformation in an enterprise landscape happens on a whim. Rarely do organizations introduce new tools and practices without prior thought and discover excellent outcomes as a result. Lack of planning means you are setting yourself up for failure, whether you are investing in new data management tools, artificial intelligence, or automation.

Digital transformation is not just a band-aid to fix the problems companies faced during the pandemic. Unfortunately, many companies saw it that way and implemented DX strategies just to keep the lights on. This led to rushed decisions and poor change management, which ultimately led to the failure of transformation efforts.

Now that the pandemic is starting to subside, it’s more important than ever for business leaders to think about how to plan for a long-term transformation initiative. This means updating and improving outdated organizational structures, inefficient workflows, and rigid leadership styles that could stand in the way of success.

Remember, navigating and implementing new tools in a workforce can be difficult enough on its own. Add resistance to change and issues with adoption, and transformation becomes nearly impossible. Fortunately, a strong focus on organizational change management can help position your organization to truly prepare for the changes ahead.

Building your Digital Transformation Plan

Companies that want to initiate a true digital transformation should start with a comprehensive and clear strategy. This means sitting down as a team and deciding what the goal of your transformation project should be. Do you want to digitally transform the customer experience or launch an automation project to save the team time and money?

Once you have a clear goal in mind, you can start to develop a strategy that takes into account the individual needs of the entire team. Think about what steps need to be taken from start to finish to make the new technology rollout a success. For example, you first need to figure out what your budget is and how it limits your buying potential. If you do not seem to have enough money to implement the required changes on a large scale, you may want to rethink your transformation plan.

If you do have the budget, ask yourself how you will choose the vendors you will work with to get the tools you need. For example, if you are working on an automation process, which companies can provide support specific to your industry and training for your team members? Which companies offer low-code or no-code applications that are right for your business, and who can provide exceptional support and service from start to finish?

How will you train the employees who will be exposed to technology as part of your digital transformation plan? And more importantly, how can you ensure adoption? Allowing your team members to share their thoughts on the types of tools and technologies they want to use can help create a sense of ownership for a digital transformation strategy.

The Truth About Digital Transformations

To succeed in the age of digital transformations, companies can not simply install the latest technology or innovative systems – they must overhaul and transform everything from their business processes to their workflows and long-term goals.

A strong digital transformation strategy must be carefully planned from start to finish, and not simply thrown out as a last-minute solution to a problem. Many of the companies that have failed to successfully implement their digital transformation efforts in recent years have struggled with rushing the process and seeing digital transformation as something much simpler than it actually is.

A digital transformation strategy is not just about accessing new tools and technologies – it’s a complete and comprehensive change that affects every part of your business. If you do not properly consider any part of this migration process, from the vendors you work with to the training you provide, you risk more than a failed transformation initiative.

Your mistakes could lead to anything from data security issues to dwindling confidence in your team’s leadership. Find out how to approach digital transformation the right way – with Bulb Tech.