An organization that still relies on legacy systems and the manual transfer of data between its software solutions is one that, quite simply, is setting itself up to fail in the digital age. Digital tools constantly advance and offer more benefits to enterprises in every industry, but if you want to take advantage of this new technology, then you need to commit to your digital transformation.
Essentially, a digital transformation occurs when an organization commits to integrating digital technology into every aspect of its business, so it can stay in alignment with changing markets and business goals.
It isn’t solely about using technology—rather, it’s about using technology in the best ways to gather insights from real-time data, improve business processes, and provide a better customer experience. It’s as much of a mindset as it is a physical restructuring of your organization. Here are a few best practices to help you out when forming a digital transformation strategy that works for you.
Consider things from the customer’s perspective.
While your digital transformation is absolutely meant to make thing easier for you and your employees, it’s a good idea to think about how you can provide better customer support from the start as well.
A business has no greater resource than it’s customers, after all, and providing stand-out customer service is one of the best ways to encourage loyalty and stand out from your competition. This is why an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system should be a major part of your digital transformation process.
A good CRM system makes it easy to analyze customer data for patterns and send this information to your sales team to pursue leads more effectively and make special offers to loyal customers.
Beyond that, it also enables you to provide unique and memorable customer journeys thanks to integrations with digital communication channels. Customers expect convenience these days, and they’re getting used to interacting with customer support via digital means like text, SMS, web chat, and the like.
A CRM system with omnichannel support even lets customers switch seamlessly between these channels, all while staying in contact with the same agent, which saves everyone’s time. If you make your digital transformation strategy about customers, you’re likely to start seeing higher rates of retention.
Guide employees along with the cultural transformation.
One factor that often goes overlooked during a digital transformation is that it isn’t just about improving business models—it’s a culture change within the organization as well. This transformation is as much about people as it is technology, and you need to make sure that you’re empowering your employees to succeed with new technology.
You can do this by demonstrating that you’ve taken on a learning mindset when it comes to your organization, and present new ideas to employees as ways to help them perform their jobs better and easier.
The idea of artificial intelligence is more palatable when employees realize that it can keep data up to date and save them the hassle of having to analyze trends themselves, for example.
Make master data management a priority.
One of the greatest advantages of having integrated systems after a digital transformation is the ability to gather all of your data in a single source of truth. Data is one of your most valuable resources, but only when it’s accurate and current.
Master data refers to data shared between systems, such as when you use historical customer data from a CRM system in combination with current customer data from your sales systems to predict future patterns. Effective data management of such sources helps you prepare for the future, accomplish business objectives faster, and build a roadmap for future improvements.
There’s no single way to deploy a digital transformation strategy, but these tips will help you, your employees, and your customers adapt to and appreciate everything they have to offer.
