By Jamie Hinton, CEO at Razor Ltd.
The world has gone digital, there’s no denying this. Everyone has a smartphone these days, and they use them for everything, from making decisions to finding brands to buy from or learn more about a product or service.
While these sound like great advancements in technology, what results is some unique challenges for businesses. And without a plan for a forward path, companies run the risk of falling behind, and not making it through the next few years.
Businesses are now becoming aware that in order to stay competitive and achieve business success, they must transform themselves digitally. Jamie Hinton, CEO at Razor Ltd, takes us through his thoughts on how businesses can understand and overcome the three biggest challenges businesses face when it comes to digital transformation.
“Over the past decade, we have started to see a shift in the economic principles which determine success and failure in business. The old principles of the IT-led approach have given way to the new customer-centric approach, now making digital transformation a necessity for businesses. Although some businesses are only just starting to begin their journey towards digital transformation, many are still hesitant to take the leap – but why?
There are some challenges that come hand in hand with digital transformation, but it’s learning how to overcome and understand them that’s imperative in order to succeed. It’s already estimated that by 2022, worldwide spending on digital transformation will be nearly $2 trillion [1], so it’s key that businesses start to invest.
People
Digital transformation starts with people, with the net result being a digital solution. Organisations these days must be responsive and open to change in order to accelerate the business. However, getting people on board to support this can be difficult, with 49% reporting that collaboration is a challenge when going through digital transformation [2].
Getting employees to support the transformation is just as important as having the correct resources and processes in place. People need to know how they will benefit from it. It’s important to demonstrate the learning and development this will give them personally, as well as to the company as a whole. Keeping employees informed and involved at every step of the journey is key to reaching transformation.
At Razor, we make technology work for companies by immersing our experts with the team and customers, to reveal solutions that deliver increased efficiency and improved user experience, whilst keeping the people at the centre.
Budget
Digital transformation is a big business and it can be costly if not planned for appropriately. Data suggests 85% of C-suite senior executives surveyed will spend as much as a quarter of their total budget on digital transformation by 2022 [3]. However, it’s important to take the time to discover, understand and prepare from the beginning to avoid projects overrunning on costs.
Effective digital transformation is always built on a strong strategic foundation that clearly presents the way in which the business creates and delivers value for its customers. It is almost impossible for companies to reach digital transformation without a considered technology plan in place.
Strategy
Whether it is a step towards change or to prevent falling behind the ever-changing market, it’s clear that technology is key. A winning technology strategy must be aligned with broader business objectives in order to provide the direction for success. As the old Chinese proverb suggests, every road leads where you want to go when you don't know where you are going.
Without a defined strategy, it is impossible for organisations to create new processes and capabilities effectively in order to reach digital transformation. With a strong foundation and direction, teams within an organisation can work with the full context of their actions in mind to achieve digital transformation.”
[1] https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS45027419
[2] https://hbr.org/2018/03/why-so-many-high-profile-digital-transformations-fail
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