How to begin Digital Transformation in your Company

Digital transformation is a quite wide concept that nowadays produces much confusion to managers and businessmen. It is not about of being on Facebook or have your data in the cloud, in my opinion, it is about mind changing, it is about a new way to work and to be.

We are talking about using technology to achieve more efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and to do more things in less time and with less expenses. Definitely, to build happier companies. Companies that generate worth, wealth and also quality of life for employees and customers.

I often meet many people who see technological tools as “a task”, like an overhead instead a help. Here I give an example of what I mean in order to clarify it:

One company decides to start using a CRM to improve its sales department and customer support. The typical manager doesn’t understand the power of such tool neither what can do with it. He simply knows that “a CRM has to be implanted” and period. Everybody have it and he knows that it is important to have one, but he forgot of the most important thing: the strategy. How to use that tool as is meant to be used to get more performance and get threefold more sales with less time and giving more worth to customer. How it is needed that process to be digitized for achieve more efficiency.

In that context, if a team receive too little education in processes and management of how to use CRM, What happens in the end? I am sure all of you are getting to this: Employees see CRM as an additional task to do and not the way to be more efficient and work in real time.

Then, John continues to work with his old ways, and when the workday ends he logs in the CRM and “fills” all his tasks and calls that he did during all the day to keep his boss happy. Now John and his company are using CRM only as a control system of what John is doing instead of being his main workbench.

What John should do is to fully change his work processes and digitize them in real time with an efficient strategy that can be run with his CRM.

The important thing here is not about the tools but the way we use them.

I will give all of you some recommendations here to begin to pose your digital transformation:

1. Analyze your business and set specific milestones of what you want to improve. Remember that in the end, digital transformation is about “to improve” and optimize our company. It is about of being more productive and efficient.

Begin to divide different parts of your business: sales, logistics, communications, human resources, etc.

Each of this areas can be improved with the digitalization of your company. We must to set specific goals to implement digitalization strategies of each one.

2. Analyze your managers and employees. Are they ready for the new era? It will be very important to offer motivation, education and also mentoring for helping them to be ready for this mind changing. If we are going to begin to work in a different way we will have the team with us. They have to understand what are going to do, how and why is good for them and their company.

3. You will need to hire a digital transformation expert in each area in order to plan what tools and processes you will need to implant.

4. It is very hard to digitally transform your company at once. You must to begin from the most critical areas for yourself and then continue implementing changes in the rest of them.

5. Process automation: In my opinion, this is one of most critical parts in the business of services. If we really want to scale, grow and be more efficient and productive it is mandatory to define your work process and automate them as much as you can: From meeting management, customer service response emails, payments, logistics and product shipments, etc.

6. Digital transformation is not about of being in Facebook and LinkedIn. However, running a good presence plan and digital brand is highly recommended.

As you can see, this is a very wide and transverse plan for your business. There are many other topics to analyze when we want to digitize our business, and therefore, I recommend to begin with an analysis of specific targets with an expert and trace a plan with deadlines.

It is crystal clear that if we want to survive and grow we have to transform and adapt ourselves every year. Without fear. With security in mind. The game rules changed some time ago. Carry on and enjoy the ride!