Are you looking to adopt organizational digitization for your company or small business? Do you want to use the available technology to improve your brand and grab opportunities? If you are, a great step to reaching that goal is to create a digital transformation strategy.
Before the pandemic occurred, around 36% of small businesses in the US didn’t have a website. The pandemic created this need for all types of businesses to digitize, no matter the size. Moving forward, many new businesses are already likely tech-savvy and digitalized.
If you’ve yet to follow or create one, we’ve got a guide below to help you out. Read on to learn how to create a strong digital transformation strategy for your brand. Remember to customize this strategy to fit your business style and goals.
Digital Transformation Strategy: Evaluate Your Needs
Step one to planning your digital transformation strategy is to know what your needs are. Where does the company need digital transformation and how do you want it to look? Understand your answers to these questions well and use them as your guide as you go.
For example, you already have a great system in place for manufacturing and logistics. The place you’re lacking digitization is customer service. Instead of revamping the company on all fronts, focus on where you need it the most. Plan a digital transformation strategy focused on your customer service.
Adopt a New Business Model
Does your business model rely on traditional processes? Can your business function well, even after a big digital transformation? If the business will fall apart upon the transformation, change the business model.
No matter how successful an old business model is, remember that change is necessary. Reinvent how you give value to your customers and industry. Change your strategies and find new opportunities to grow.
We understand that it’s not easy to recreate your business model. It takes a lot of time and effort to make sure your new plan will come out successful. Don’t be afraid to come to an expert who can show you a few tricks you may not know or didn’t think of.
Start with small steps, like using a cloud for your inventories and bookings. Understand how you can use XLS and CSV files to your advantage.
Know Your Budget and Create an Airtight Plan
Before you dive into your digital transformation, you need to know your budget. Managing digital transformation can be expensive, especially if not planned well. Thus, before you take any steps, make sure you know the best way to use your budget.
Anticipate the possible outcomes of your decisions and create contingency plans. Create back-up plans in case of failure to ensure successful digital transformation. You also won’t be wasting your budget on strategies that don’t work out in the end.
Get an Expert to Help Out
You want to adopt a digital transformation strategy for your business. The budget is there and the technology is there. The problem is that you don’t know if you’re doing it right or if you’re jumping ahead without taking some key steps.
Not knowing what your doing can spell disaster for the business you’ve built from the ground up. Any smart entrepreneur will be cautious about how they undertake business transformations. Digital transformation is a big change, and you may want to hire an expert to help you out with it.
Look for firms that specialize in digital transformation for other firms. Be open to their plans and strategies. Let them know about your goals and how you see your digital transformation, and they’ll deliver.
Focus on Optimizing Customer Experience
You shouldn’t stop at how your business will adapt to the change. You must also consider how your customers will react to the new experience. For 73% of customers, customer experience is a big driver of their buying decisions.
Make sure your digital transformation process creates a unique customer experience. For example, the strategy includes getting an app for the customers’ online orders. Don’t settle for any generic shopping app. Instead, hire an app developer who can make an app that’s simple and easy to use but also striking.
Stay Unique as a Business
When you create your digital transformation strategy, don’t forget to use technology to improve your brand. How will you use the technology to leverage your identity as a business? Well, it takes innovation and a bit of creativity.
You may also need to research how other brands used their identities as leverage. Keep in mind what makes your business unique and focus on that. Efficiency and accessibility are great approaches but don’t forego your uniqueness.
Establish Scaling
Once you go digital, you’re likely to see more customers hailing from far-off places. Let’s say you only sold your specialty pizza to people within your city before. After the transformation, you might get orders from people who live in nearby cities.
The experience can get you to start thinking of branching out or franchising. This can be a great sign of success.
However, while global scaling is a great goal, be realistic about your expectations.
Don’t focus on scaling, but keep it in mind. Instead, focus on how you can create high-quality products and services. Success will follow and so will bigger scaling needs.
Be Transparent and Encourage Your Employees
Employee pushback can be the reason behind a failed digital transformation attempt. Your employees are the ones who will most likely get impacted by the change the most. Make sure you empower them and help them out at every step of the business transformation.
Let them know what’s going on and what will happen next. This is especially important if you will to re-shuffle the organization in compliance with the plan. Engage with your employees and let them know that you still value them and want them to help out with the change.
Plan an Effective Digital Transformation Strategy Today
Planning a successful digital transformation strategy will take time and effort. You must understand your business’s workings, customers, people, and goals. Plus, you also need to know about the technology and strategies needed.
Transforming for the digital age also means that you must be able to open any and all types of file formats. To ensure you don’t have a problem opening them, you can also transform your files. Check out our free online conversion tools to start converting your files!