Enterprises pursue digital transformation with sizable expectations surrounding customer experiences and streamlining business processes. Transitioning to cloud solutions promises low-cost integrations and maintenance-free application management.

Too often, these strategies fail to deliver in terms of customer engagement and loyalty and even in areas such as cost savings and productivity. Instead, when the transition either stalls out or is determined to be a failure, enterprises are left wondering where the strategy went off course.

In many cases, the problem is not the process or the technology; it’s the order of the steps in which change was initiated. Digital transformation with a technology-first approach is destined for failure, and not only because, as a guiding principle, organizations tend to resist change.

Failure, in many cases, circles back to the initial stages of the project, when there should have been a focus on gaining buy-in from several levels of stakeholders. This list includes end users (such as employees or customers), platform participants, platform administrators, and business partners who contribute to the customer experience.

The resistance — or even lack of enthusiasm — of any of these groups can cause barriers to successful digital transformation. If these groups understand the importance of your transformation and are committed to the process, they’ll encourage additional buy-in across the organization and help facilitate success.

In order to pursue your digital transformation, you’ll need to identify the desired value and then determine the technology that supports that value. Then, the transition must be organized in a way that encourages your organization to adopt the technology.

If you consider only the customer or end-user experience, you can utilize the following steps to determine whether your existing technology — or one you’re considering adopting — fits your needs:

1. Anticipate the needs of the user: Whether it’s a customer or an employee, the technology should be able to anticipate what the end user might require.
2. Complete the experience: When the end user is finished with the technology, is their experience completed? Make sure there’s no follow-up required on the part of the end user, such as a task or any type of burden.
3. Prioritize timeliness: When the end user is utilizing the technology, is all business completed in a timely manner? The experience should be completed within reasonable expectations of the end user.

In order to apply these principles, you’ll need to examine particular technologies to see how they function in delivering these components of the customer experience.

If you find that you have gaps that need to be addressed with digital transformation initiatives, don’t assume you must go directly to a cloud migration or other major transition. You may be able to customize your existing solutions, create an application programming interface (API), or replace a component of your systems to bring them up to the level you require.

Any successful digital transformation begins with a needs assessment and buy-in from stakeholders. To begin a process that delivers measurable benefits to your organization, contact us at Diversified Technology Group.