Successful digitalization consists of far more than mere technological advancement. It requires a holistic approach. Engaging employees and fostering an understanding that digitalization is an ongoing process is at least as important as the technologies used.
For this series of blog posts, we’ve drawn on our many years of expertise as a partner in numerous digitalization projects, so that you can avoid typical mistakes in your digitalization strategy right from the start and consider all the important aspects. The result is a list of the ten most important factors that will be crucial for the success of your company’s digital transformation.
Key to success: Provide flexible and user-friendly applications.
Most employees are not IT experts. Resistance to innovations that seem too complex or technical is therefore often inevitable. In addition to training, you should also facilitate their transition to a digitized workplace in their daily office routine. The user-friendliness of the applications is a crucial factor in this.
New applications must be easy and intuitive to use.
These solutions should be standardized across departments and, above all, intuitive to use. Lean, web-based, and ideally visually presented solutions are recommended instead of cumbersome, maintenance-intensive desktop applications. This not only meets the expectations of younger colleagues but also saves time and money. For example, you can use pre-built functional modules or easily optimize applications for mobile devices with provided tools.
Success factor: Focus on interfaces
Keep up and don’t fall behind! Companies often act hastily under the pressure of digitalization. They want to become more agile through automation and save money at the same time. But first, there are costs associated with implementing the software. Those who cut corners here end up paying much more later – whether for improvements, maintenance, or operation. The interfaces between the old and new systems are the crucial point. These are often not given the necessary attention, and precise implementation is lacking.
Only functioning connections enable an automated business process.
A fatal mistake that can derail the entire digitization project. Only functioning connections guarantee the unimpeded import and export of data and make automated business processes possible in the first place. Therefore, have experts review, adapt, and equip the interfaces to your existing systems with the appropriate adapters. Smoothly running processes will foster acceptance of digital solutions among employees right from the start.
Success factor: Appoint people responsible for digitalization
However, don’t expect that digitalization will automatically be implemented or even accelerated in ongoing projects after the training. This is a mistake companies repeatedly make: they build methodological expertise among their employees, but then don’t give them the time or opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in their daily work. It’s too easy for them to revert to old habits, the knowledge remains unused, and digitalization progress stalls.
Not only methodological competence, but also the time to apply what has been learned in everyday life is important.
Therefore, avoid creating any gaps in your workflow and start with a reference project immediately after launching the platform. This project will familiarize your employees with the new ways of working and introduce them to the transformation. Clear responsibilities are essential for success in this endeavor – and in all subsequent digital projects. Depending on the size of your company, you should appoint a Digital Officer or a core team responsible for coordinating, managing, and monitoring projects, removing obstacles, and driving digitalization forward with the help of appropriate tools.
Success factor: Bring IT and business departments together
Employees in the relevant department usually know best what is essential to the core of their respective business processes. Be aware that highly complex processes underlie every digitization project, making collaborative work with the IT department on these business processes impossible for less technically savvy departments.
Employees of the specialist department know best what is important in the processes.
Therefore, opt for a platform whose tools reduce complexity to such an extent that business processes can be applied, modeled, and executed without programming knowledge. This is ideally suited for specialists who are already familiar with the company’s existing systems, processes, and data structures and can thus get started immediately. In turn, they save themselves the expense of hiring costly and, in any case, scarce experts.
Success factor: Choose a holistic solution
Departments such as sales, marketing, accounting, and human resources not only have different business processes, but also different requirements, different applications, and work with different file formats. Digitalization therefore requires a holistic approach, which should be reflected in the solution implemented.
Digitalization requires a holistic approach to avoid costly mistakes.
Therefore, choose a platform that includes all the necessary tools and is compatible with a wide range of interfaces and formats. Otherwise, you will quickly end up with a costly and error-prone digital “patchwork” landscape with isolated information silos and productivity-inhibiting media breaks.
Success factor: Continuously monitor process steps and outcomes
Digitalization is a continuous process characterized by innovation and change, and it never ends. Therefore, you can measure individual process phases, for example, using sales figures, cost savings, but also qualitative factors such as employee motivation. Insights can also be gained through systematic observation of project participants in their daily work, surveys, or regular feedback meetings.
Digitization is a continuous process characterized by innovations and changes that never ends.
It is equally important that the supporting platform documents all processes clearly and comprehensibly, so that all process steps can be easily tracked, monitored, and optimized as needed. These measures ensure that the intermediate goals of digitalization and transformation have been achieved. Any obstacles and problems that arise can then be identified more quickly. And together with the team, you can then take appropriate optimization and countermeasures.
Success factor: Include cloud solutions as well.
A proven solution for companies to approach digitalization gradually yet rapidly is the integration of cloud services into existing IT systems. A hybrid architecture concept has the advantage that selected resources can be operated internally, while others can be run externally. This allows you to scale according to requirements and needs, for example, by flexibly adding server capacity or applications at any time without impacting the long-established and proven structures of the traditional data center.
A hybrid architecture allows for flexible scaling depending on requirements and needs.
Contractual agreements for cloud services allow for better cost calculation and, depending on the organizational structure, often significant savings, for example, because expensive IT expertise doesn’t need to be provided directly within the company itself. Another advantage is that deployment times are shorter and adjustments can be implemented more quickly than with in-house operation. Therefore, examine your individual situation, derive your specific requirements from it, and consider using a hybrid cloud when choosing a suitable solution.
Success factor: Train your employees
Just as important as choosing the right platform is supporting the employees who are to be actively involved in the digital business processes. It’s not uncommon for service providers or suppliers to leave companies to navigate digitalization on their own after selling their products or licenses. However, especially in the initial stages of projects, expert support is crucial.
Employees who can use the new tools independently are more motivated and satisfied.
Therefore, when selecting your partners, you should ensure that they remain available to you even after the contract is signed and ideally have qualified trainers and their own academy. This ensures that your employees receive technical introductions, preparatory training, and information on features and updates, especially during the initial phase of digitalization – whether through webinars or in-person events. The sooner and more effectively employees can use the new automation tools independently, the more motivated and satisfied they will be.
Success factor: Start with a proof of concept
The larger and more complex digitization projects are, the more prone to errors and the more difficult they are to manage. Frustration increases – both for management and employees. To minimize risks, it is advisable to develop a big picture of your future digitized company, but to take the path there with small, quick solutions.
The best approach is to start with a concrete business process. Conduct a “proof of concept” (PoC) by commissioning a sub-project. It’s crucial that this sub-project considers all technology levels, from hardware to software. Only then can you comprehensively assess its success and ensure that the digitization can be implemented as planned.
A quick success creates a positive atmosphere and paves the way for further projects.
Ideally, a proof of concept (PoC) automates a business process that directly and noticeably improves employees’ working conditions. This could involve eliminating routine tasks or saving them significant time. The rapid success fosters a positive atmosphere within the company and creates a favorable starting point for further digitalization projects.
Success factor: Utilize expert knowledge
Professional digitalization is hardly possible without the help of specialists. Past attempts by companies to go it alone have shown that a self-guided digital transformation rarely yields success. The reasons are obvious: increasingly complex IT structures, rapid development cycles, and a lack of expertise make keeping pace with the times impossible.
Professional digitization is hardly possible without the help of specialists.
Therefore, consult the experience and knowledge of experts. They are already familiar with a wide variety of IT landscapes and can accurately assess and evaluate the consequences and effects of different scenarios, which is necessary for optimal operational efficiency.
This external support will accelerate your digital transformation, minimize risks, and save costs in the medium and long term.
Conclusion
Successful digitalization consists of far more than just technological advancement.
The X4 BPMS offers a digital low-code platform for business process digitization. If you have any questions about its use and integration with systems in the utilities sector, please feel free to contact us using our contact form.
