At the epicenter of running a business is an everlasting desire to make your business as efficient and cost-effective as possible, leading to higher returns on the products and services you provide. In contemporary business, we have been reaping the benefits of technologies that are designed with improving our systems in mind for decades. Now, with digital transformation at the forefront of nearly every business’s growth strategy, business must create plans for implementation that are as efficient as the technologies themselves. The answer to making this implementation go as smoothly as possible: a digital transformation framework. What is a digital transformation framework, why does your business need one, and how do you get started? We’re here to break it down for you.
What is a Digital Transformation Framework?
Digital Transformation is the integration of technology into business processes that alters the way data is processed in order to optimize production, customer experience, and operational value. These technologies often include Artificial Intelligence that is designed to automate business processes and, in many ways, work smarter and more efficiently than humans.
As you can expect, integrating these technologies - nonetheless, a complete digital transformation - into a business process is a delicately complicated process. The complexity in implementation leads to a digital transformation framework, or the detailed outline that leads business leaders and IT specialists in taking the correct, thoughtful steps to implement a digital transformation.
Creating a digital transformation framework is the necessary first step in a business embracing and responding to the embracing the constantly changing nature of business system technologies. By taking the time to analyze and plan the way in which technology can streamline the functions of certain aspects of a business’s day-to-day operations, your time and money will be better spent during execution of your digital transformation.
Why Does My Business Need a Digital Transformation Framework?
Think of your business’s processes as a long drive to the beach. Along this drive, you know that you have to gain access to the freeway, drive for several miles on a country road, pay tolls, stop for gas, and find parking close to the ocean. However, if you are unfamiliar with the order of these events, how many miles you drive on each road, where you must turn left or right, and how much your tolls cost, you’re going to have a hard time getting to the beach, and it will end up costing you much more time and money than if you created a detailed plan prior to your departure.
Creating a digital transformation framework is much like creating a detailed road map for a long vacation. The International Data Corporation (IDC) says that 59% of businesses are stuck in the middle of their digital transformation. These businesses, while making progress with individual projects, lack transformation in their overall organization, bringing digital transformation - which in essence is supposed to streamline business processes - to a halt. If a business gets too far ahead of itself in a digital transformation, effort can be rendered futile.
While most companies lacka digital transformation framework, they are vital in keeping up with the nature of the ever-changing technological world. Businesses without a clear road map - describing the needs that need to be met and where growth is best suited - tend to fall behind the curve of other businesses with a clear plan on the steps they will take in a digital transformation.
Since digital transformations are inherently unique from one business to another, it is important to create a framework that acts as a problem-solving map for your business’s specific needs. The specificity and complexity each framework requires in the reason most businesses look for help in their digital transformations. However, there is a clear thought process that exists to begin creating a digital transformation framework, which we are here to help you take the first steps in creating.
How do I Create a Digital Transformation Framework?
Though a complex process to take on, creating a digital transformation framework is possible given a deep understanding of your business processes, data, and day-to-day functions. The first steps involve an intense analysis of your business processes and deeply considering the effects in which you expect to see from your digital transformation. To start laying the foundation for you digital transformation framework, begin with these considerations:
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Where can growth exist? Use data diagnoses to determine where in your business process the best opportunities for digital transformation exist. Analyze this data to see if Ai, automation, or other technologies could provide you with a notable level of growth.
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What does my customer want? Decide which areas your customers would benefit from digital transformation. Are they looking for streamlined sign ups, or more attentive data processing? What are customers expecting out of your business, and how can you take that to the next level through a digital transformation?
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What is my competition doing? Evaluate how your competitors are using a digital transformation to respond to evolving technologies and demands. How can you continue to surpass them with this technology?
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Where are we at now? Create a quantitative and qualitative baseline for your business. Define the level in which your business is performing at in able to set achievable goals with your new technology, define which portions of your business need the most improvement, and track how your digital transformation over time.
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What are our goals? In what areas do you see this transformation elevating your business? Evaluate both by numbers in productivity and customer satisfaction.
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How will I implement this transformation? Who will you call to to help you implement this framework and what specific technologies are necessary? What is your time frame, and how will you hold your new technologies accountable for change?
Using this information, your business can begin the initial stages in creating a digital transformation framework that can help your business adapt to the constantly changing nature of business process automation. After laying out a roadmap to implementation, your business can finally take the initial steps into a more effective business process with the help of Savvior, Pittsburgh’s custom enterprise software solution experts.
