Every company can benefit from digital transformation, but that doesn’t mean every company should change in the same way. According to the “2017 U.S. Small and Medium Business Digital Transformation Study” from SMB Group, 48 percent of small and medium businesses plan to transform their businesses to operate in a digital future. “Many organizations take a multi-year journey, tackling the initiatives they believe are most critical right away and creating a road map to accomplish the rest within a reasonable budget that works for their business.” What the heck does ‘digital transformation’ actually mean? Company goals and challenges dictate the type of digital transformation to pursue. A company that seeks more customers, for instance, might consider how to implement new tech to improve the customer experience. To make the change go as smoothly as possible, talk to employees about why the company is moving in a digital direction. CRM costs start at $10 per user per month, with many CRM providers offering affordable cloud-based solutions for small businesses. SMB Group reports that 33 percent of SMBs don’t have digital transformation strategies because they need some help. Don’t wait for the competition to make the first move -- find a technology partner with experience in the right areas. For small businesses, digital transformation includes all the little steps forward that add up to massive cost savings, happier customers and improved prospects.
Digital transformation offers something for every company — although that something may be different in every case.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Every company can benefit from digital transformation, but that doesn’t mean every company should change in the same way. Digital transformation means different things to different people. The right path depends on the needs and opportunities of the business asking.
According to the “2017 U.S. Small and Medium Business Digital Transformation Study” from SMB Group, 48 percent of small and medium businesses plan to transform their businesses to operate in a digital future. The same study found that around three-fourths of companies surveyed agree that digital tech is changing how they do business.
Fortunately, digital transformation doesn’t require businesses to move every process to the cloud, nor does it require them to invest millions of dollars in brand-new tech — a critical note, since more than half of SMBs plan to use current IT budgets to fund their digital efforts. The most effective digital transformations leverage existing infrastructure and find maximum value in the most sensible improvements.
“Digital transformation is not an all-or-nothing shot,” according to iCorps Technologies, a strategic IT consulting company. “Many organizations take a multi-year journey, tackling the initiatives they believe are most critical right away and creating a road map to accomplish the rest within a reasonable budget that works for their business.”
What the heck does ‘digital transformation’ actually mean?
Digital transformation is a catchall term that includes a wide variety of goals. For some companies, digital transformation means leveraging cloud capabilities. For others, artificial intelligence and machine learning are more important. Increased analytics capabilities and Internet of Things implementations play roles as well.
The point of digital transformation is not to take companies from paper processes to hyper-advanced and complex digitized alternatives. On the contrary, many components of digital transformation are subtle. Even the most technologically challenged business owners, given a bit of time, can lead an effective digital transformation with the right mindset.
Company goals and challenges dictate the type of digital transformation to pursue. A company that seeks more customers, for instance, might consider how to implement new tech to improve the customer experience. An online chatbot or a user-friendly app might do the trick, or perhaps a business’s first step is to create store listings on Google and Apple Maps.
A company struggling to optimize its partner network, on the other hand, might invest in more analytics tools to…
COMMENTS