Digital transformation involves integrating and upgrading digital technologies across all aspects of your organisation. This could include modernising legacy systems, automating or streamlining processes, adopting new programmes or workflows, migrating to a new cloud environment, or any other shift in digital operations.
Without clear goals, stakeholder buy-in, and long-term optimisation, digital transformation projects risk delays, inefficiencies, or even failure. In this insight, we are covering 3 key considerations for a successful digital transformation, with actionable advice for every stage.
1. Bring stakeholders along on the journey
A digital transformation can make your organisation more streamlined, productive, and cost-effective. However, the changes it can bring may leave employees and other stakeholders uncertain about the plans. Even the best technology investments can fail if the people using them aren’t on board.
Employees may have concerns over systems automating elements of their jobs, or that they won’t be able to use new technology. Investors or shareholders may have concerns that migrating to new systems will cause business disruption. In public sector projects, members of the public will often be concerned about their ability to access public services.
For your digital transformation to succeed, everyone it affects must be on board. There are a few techniques you can implement to ensure this.
Communicate clearly throughout
A lack of awareness around a digital transformation can be the biggest cause of concern for stakeholders. To avoid this, you should ensure you clearly communicate with everybody affected, from the beginning of the process. Clarify the purpose of the digital transformation, the benefits it will bring, and detail the process.
These communications should ideally take multiple formats to ensure nobody misunderstands the message. This could be via a stakeholder newsletter, internal employee email, or face-to-face and online meetings.
When your stakeholders clearly understand the purpose and process of the digital transformation, they will be less likely to worry about the changes.
Address any concerns and be open to suggestions
Even when your stakeholders are fully informed, they may still have questions or concerns. Your communication plan should include the opportunity for feedback and suggestions.
Employees particularly will understand the day-to-day operations of your organisation through hands-on experience. They will often have suggestions for improvements you had not previously considered. Your team is a vital source of feedback, which you should take into consideration. If you implement an employee suggestion, make sure to acknowledge the person who suggested it, to support goodwill. If you receive a suggestion which is not implemented, explain why.
2. Set clear, deliverable goals
If you undertake a digital transformation without outlining measurable objectives, it will be impossible to tell if the project is successful. It is important to consider from the outset what your desired outcomes are, and what metrics you need to track to assess these goals.
The specific metrics you will need depend on the type of organisation, your infrastructure or systems, and the end users. However, there are several general areas to consider.
Employee-related metrics
For internal systems, the users will be your employees. There are several employee-related metrics to review. The adoption rate of new tools and systems is an incredibly important metric, particularly when adoption is not mandatory. If there is a high adoption rate, this demonstrates that the new technologies meet the needs of your employees. If the adoption rate is lower than expected, you may need to consider improvements. You can also consider measuring improvements on employee productivity. For example, if you were implementing a new CRM to improve onboarding processes, you may measure changes in sign-up rates.
Customer-related metrics
If the systems are customer-facing, you should also consider monitoring customer experience metrics. This could take the form of collecting quantitative data, such as changes in conversion rates or cart abandonment rates, or qualitative data, such as customer feedback from online surveys.
Financial metrics
Financial metrics determine how your digital transformation affects your bottom line. The primary financial metric for major projects will be Return on Investment (ROI). ROI is a ratio comparing the cost of an investment to the net profit or gain it brings. In a digital transformation, you can weigh up the amount spent, versus the increase in income it brings. For example, an eCommerce business may undertake a digital transformation to a new CMS. This may come with initial costs, but if it allows them to increase conversions and profits, the ROI will be positive.
You can also track any cost savings a digital transformation brings. For example, if you are migrating from on-premise to cloud infrastructure, this will likely decrease your operational costs, as you do not need to pay for hardware, upgrades and maintenance. You may also experience efficiency improvements, resulting in a reduction in operational costs.
3. Don’t stop at implementation
Many digital transformation plans only cover the initial implementation stage, not the longer term adoption and diffusion stages. To avoid wasting money and resources, you should ensure the new systems and infrastructure are being used to full capacity. There are several methods to consider.
Training programmes
To ensure the optimum benefit for stakeholders and the organisation as a whole, training is essential. Effective training makes certain all users are confident and efficient in using new systems and processes. The best training format depends on the scale of your organisation and of your digital transformation. For large projects, consider an ongoing programme, with regular sessions for users to learn the systems and ask any questions.
Ongoing monitoring and optimisation
Measuring metrics, as detailed above, helps track the initial success, but it is important you don’t stop tracking at this stage. The digital transformation doesn’t end at the implementation – ongoing action is essential. Continuous monitoring and optimisation supports the long-term success of the project.
Using the data acquired through tracking all types of metrics – employee-related, customer-related, and financial – as well as monitoring the technical performance of the infrastructure, you can identify any inefficiencies. This could include impractical features of the interface, bottlenecks, or unused resources. Focus on how to improve these elements – this may include adjusting workflows, improving the user experience, and removing inefficiencies. By making these refinements, you can make a significant improvement to productivity.
Monitoring and optimisation can be a complex process. Working with a managed service provider (MSP) can take the pressure off of your own internal teams and resources. To make the most of your digital transformation, consider the ways an MSP can optimise your infrastructure for maximum efficiency and performance.
How Hyve can support your digital transformation
Digital transformation is about more than just upgrading technology. It is a cultural shift towards building seamless, scalable and secure infrastructure.
From initial consultation to full implementation, we design bespoke cloud solutions tailored to your needs. Whether you’re migrating legacy systems, optimising performance, or scaling for future growth, our expert-led approach ensures a smooth transition.
Success doesn’t stop at deployment. We provide ongoing training, proactive optimisation, and 24/7/365 direct-to-engineer support to keep your infrastructure performing at its best. Security is also a key priority – discover how to protect your infrastructure during a digital transformation.
Learn more about the benefits of digital transformation or contact us for a consultation with our cloud experts.
