Did you know that as many as 70% of companies do not achieve the desired results of digital transformation? A survey (Bughin, Deakin and Obeirne, 2019) among CEO' s showed that most digital transformations in recent years have not brought the expected results. And this very fact can often lead to false beliefs that digital transformation is just an additional cost that will burden the company without bringing any added value.
And what are the biggest pitfalls that can complicate every process of effective implementation of digital transformation?
• Indecisiveness and unwillingness of CEO, management and other personnel for changes - the inefficient implementation of digital transformation is often caused by management or employees thinking that innovations are not necessary. Of course, this is not true, as strategic changes are always welcome in the company. Especially those that save time and money and optimize the company's operations. And only when the management team is truly aware of this, conversations about implementing digital transformation in the company can be effective.
• Vague definitions of goals and ignorance of the dimensions of the term "digital transformation" - before we jump into digital transformation with great enthusiasm, we must first ask ourselves what digital transformation means for our business and what we want to achieve with it. We must know that digital transformation does not mean only the introduction of new technology, but rather a change that will affect the operations of the entire company. Do you want to simplify production processes with the help of automatic inventory monitoring and the introduction of material traceability? Do you want to increase employee productivity and reduce human error? Or do you want to get rid of large piles of paper documents? The entire further digital transformation strategy will depend on the goals you set in the first phase, so make sure you set them as clearly and concretely as possible.
• Lack of knowledge and skills - in order for all employees to understand the entire process of digital transformation and the associated terminology (like smart factories, BigData, Industry 4.0, etc.), it is important to educate employees about what digital transformation is and what advantages it brings. For the successful implementation of digital transformation, it is therefore crucial to motivate employees to make changes, as a company to invest in raising their (digital) competences and to devote a good deal of time to the transfer of knowledge into practice. Only in this way will we be able to establish an optimal digital company culture.
• Poorly prepared strategy - although one of the main components of digital transformation is technology, it is the strategy that must guide the entire digital transformation of the company. The key here is that the strategy is always based on the business vision that a particular company has, because it is the vision that determines the direction in which the company will take its digital transformation in the next few years.
Numerous surveys (e.g. the survey State and trends of digital transformation in Slovenia) indicate that it is precisely because of the lack of knowledge that many companies turn to external experts who have more experience with the introduction of digitization. The Tom PIT.connected platform, which is otherwise the most modern and most complete around, can also help you in the effective and fast implementation of digital transformation.
