Invest in Your Company’s Digital Transformation: Why the Time Is Now
As digital transformation (DX) accelerates as an imperative in every industry, many business leaders still don’t know where to begin. Businesses should prioritize kick-starting their DX journeys and gaining a better understanding of how to execute on these initiatives to set themselves up for success in the New Year – and beyond, explains Ash Finnegan, digital transformation officer at Conga.
There is no question that digital transformation spending is on the rise. According to a recent report by IDC, worldwide spending is forecasted to reach nearly $2 trillion in 2022, representing a significant increase in every region.
For business leaders who want to kick start this process, “digital transformation” may at times seem like a buzzword. Technically speaking, digital transformation is defined as, “The integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers.” Or to put it in other words: Transforming existing business processes and operations to enhance the efficiency, value, or innovation of an organization.
With such a broad term and concept, it can be difficult for businesses to determine a place to start. The tendency is to try and boil the ocean, making too many broad changes too quickly. Or on the other hand, companies start some type of DX initiative but struggle to make the efforts effective and to drive value.
As we approach the New Year, it’s an opportune time for companies to consider how they are approaching their digital transformation journey. When companies fail to maximize the opportunity digital transformation presents, they risk falling behind their competitors and compromising customer satisfaction.
1. Conduct an Audit of Your Organization
Roughly half of digital transformation initiatives fail, according to Conga’s 2021 State of Commercial Operations Transformation report. Therefore, it can be a costly mistake if businesses dive into transforming their operations without a bird’s eye view of their organization, its respective pain points, and its areas of greatest need. That’s why digital transformation journeys should start by taking a full company audit.
To do so, business leaders should ask themselves the following:
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- What are the most problematic pain points or bottlenecks in my commercial and revenue operations?
- Have we been hearing repeated customer or employee feedback on areas for improvement in processes?
- How will integrating technology make the process more efficient? How do we need to rethink the process itself in order to make meaningful and needed change?
- How can I save time and money for my employees and increase customer satisfaction throughout the entire journey?
With this audit conducted, leaders can also expedite internal buy-in. To their stakeholders, they can point to tangible issues within their processes, identify areas for improvement, and provide an attainable goal for the organization to reach.
In generating internal buy-in, organizations should also clearly outline the benefits for the company and how each step of the digital transformation initiative is working toward achieving that goal.
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2. Work To Achieve DX-Related Benefits, Like Enhanced Customer and Employee Satisfaction
Digital transformation and the integration of automation can help expedite customers’ processes from start to finish. For instance, automation can fast-track contract management, provide visibility into order fulfillment, and streamline billing, along with invoice management. This means customers no longer have to be bogged down with repeatable tasks like generating quotes or contracts.
Automation for revenue management can also maximize revenue yield with one seamless process, generate better business insights, and allow customers to easily reorder and renew products or services. In addition, businesses can seamlessly invoice or conduct supplier expansion for their customers. And ultimately, it can drive revenue, enable agility, and reignite the customer experience.
In turn, an enhanced customer experience can lead to customer loyalty and increased purchasing behaviors for businesses. Plus, implementing automation in business operations can be a time-saver for employees, leading to improved employee bandwidth. Rather than dealing with time-consuming billing processes, employees can instead rededicate their time to other tasks.
Furthermore, administrative tasks are a big contributor to employee burnout, especially in the midst of The Great Resignation. In fact, when enterprise workers were asked what they would do with more time at work, more than half said they would focus on their passions and things they love about their job. Through the implementation of DX strategies like automation, business leaders can allow employees to re-focus their energy on enjoyable tasks and improve customer retention through an optimized experience.
3. Remember: Transformation Is a Journey
For organizations kicking off their digital transformation efforts, it’s important to keep in mind that digital transformation is a journey and an investment. Transformation is a process, allowing companies to continuously raise the bar of quality service for customers while creating a moving target for competitors. As a result, digital transformation requires continued support from employees, stakeholders, and customers.
It is also an investment into future business success, creating the groundwork for enhanced business operations and a seamless experience for current and future customers.
There’s no better time than the present to engage – or re-engage – with this journey.
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