Being digital is not the goal of digital transformation. The actual goal is to add value for the company.

Many businesses are conducting extensive transformation initiatives as digital technologies significantly disrupt industry after industry in an effort to benefit from these trends and keep up with rivals. Although implementing digital transformation initiatives might be challenging, human inefficiency is frequently blamed for project failure. Additionally, the more established a structure is within an organisation, the more difficult it may be to modify.

Key success factors for digital transformation

If products, procedures, and business models are understood and applied in day-to-day operations, digital transformation will be successful. And what are the essential factors for digital transformation that can aid in its success? Here are some of the most important ones:

Create and align a strategy

A strategy for digital transformation goes beyond IT’s idea of which technologies to use. Instead, it must provide a solution to the question of how technology will assist the organisation in providing a unique product or service to the market. IT executives should be able to show how their plan is facilitating important company expansion goals.

It is difficult to create an IT strategy that will be relevant in three to five years given the exponentially higher rate of technological innovation and business model disruption in today’s society. Constantly revaluating the roadmap to make sure the IT strategy is still applicable and making any necessary course corrections due to tech disruption or business model development is essential to the success of a digital transformation. A great plan must be quick-thinking and flexible.

Digital savvy leaders

Having the proper leaders is crucial for the success of digital transformation initiatives because they can establish a vision and a plan that the business can support. These people need to be well-versed in both business and digital technologies.

Successful digital leaders will need to devise strategies for motivating their teams to question the status quo and take chances while fully conscious of the fact that not everything the team attempts will be a success. To help their digital transformation teams bridge organisational boundaries and improve the adoption of digital technologies, leaders must also collaborate cross-functionally and with pertinent external partners.

The right team

Organisations must combine institutional knowledge with strong process-oriented problem-solving skill sets in order to achieve the desired outcomes of the digital transformation, whether that be using the cloud to cut operating costs or implementing a new SaaS offering to gain deeper customer insights.

An effective “two-in-a-box” strategy involves teaming people who are familiar with the business task flow and its supporting logic with a skilled, process-oriented issue solver who consults with the constituents, or process users, to determine what will or won’t work. There are many ways to transform, but only a small number of them produce the intended results because they are uniformly accepted with the combination of skill sets.

Clarifying roles and competencies can be achieved by redefining individuals’ roles and responsibilities to align with transformational objectives. When this strategy is in place, respondents are 1.5 times more likely to report a successful digital transition.

Maximise investment value

Companies frequently make different funding choices for projects related to digital transformation. Although the pandemic has increased workplace pressures, adoption of digital transformation technologies in general has accelerated recently, particularly those that support remote work.

On the other hand, several IT departments are coping with increasing demand to reduce expenses. Due to this double tendency, one of the more important criteria for the success of the digital transformation is that businesses carefully assess the value of the efforts to ensure maximum return on investment.

Put data to work

Massive amounts of structured and unstructured data are frequently analysed as part of digital transformation activities in order to produce quick insights. The information gathered can subsequently be used by organisations to guide their digitalization objectives and plans as well as automate and enhance workflows.

Reporting and process improvements can be beneficial success factors for digital transformation, but big data, including IoT data from various devices, phones, and machine sensors, offers higher value. As a result, it is possible to automate a wider range of corporate processes and create new business models. It also enables businesses to use predictive analytics to foresee new client needs and to respond to those needs in almost real time.

If you’re looking for a new IT services partner to help you digitally transform your business, talk to us! Who knows? PrimeIT might just be the ally you need.