What Are Digital Transformation Services?

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As the technology space advances and grows, it’s getting increasingly difficult to choose a single path to digital transformation, which perfectly explains why we have seen such a huge increase in digital transformation services on the scene.

Your organization already has its plate full—it’s probably beyond full—and bringing on a project that is incredibly complex and multifaceted like this isn’t always an option. So, many organizations are finding themselves turning to those who specialize in bringing technological solutions to your door rather than making you search for them.

These services are provided by teams of experts that specialize in different technologies. One company might be adept at implementing client management services (CMS) into your current workflow. Another company takes that a step further and guides you towards tech that could update that CMS system for you and your team.

Ultimately, you may look to a third party for assistance. And that’s what we’re going to talk about here. We will closely examine digital transformation services, explain what they are and what they look like with ISW (and similar firms), and, finally, provide you with some pointers on how to set yourself up with the right service.

In this post, we will cover

  • What digital transformation is
  • What digital transformation services are
  • What the process looks like and includes
  • The tech that enables digital transformation services
  • Some success stories
  • Some cautionary tales about when it fails
  • How do you find the RIGHT digital transformation services for you
  • Frequently asked questions

If you are confused and have absolutely no idea what digital transformation is, you can read this guide. We also explain it briefly below.

 

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What is Digital Transformation?

In the simplest of terms, a company performs a digital transformation when they apply technology to a workflow, process, or procedure for increased efficiency or ease. The issue with a term like “digital” being involved is how incredibly vague it is. While some organizations are implementing AI into their processes, this phrase can include someone merely using a calculator instead of analog math.

It’s a very big concept with many possible options attached. New technology is being born every day, and unless you are an expert or have some kind of industry perspective on it, you’ll quickly be dealing with concepts you’re unfamiliar with.

Digital transformation can be a rewarding journey. It can also get expensive, complicated, and time-consuming before you even know it. If not managed properly, it can become overwhelming and ineffective.

For example, AI is exciting, game-changing, and powerful. But like Churchill said, “Where there is great power there is great responsibility.” When you have access to advanced solutions, you have to answer a lot of questions and manage just as many aspects.

First, you’ll have to plan.

  • What do you do with it?
  • Where do you put it?
  • Who oversees it?
  • What will it do?
  • What will it change?
  • Who will use it?

Next, you’ll need to implement it, which includes

  • Buying the technology
  • Preparing the system for implementation
  • Preparing training material
  • Training your team
  • Monitoring implementations
  • Monitoring training

As you can see, the process is involved and goes on for a while, which is why so many find themselves turning to digital transformation services.

 

What Are Digital Transformation Services?

Digital transformation services are exactly what they sound like. Companies will focus on learning about new technology that emerges in the market. They’ll work to understand it fully and develop strategies for the best possible applications of this tech. Then, they employ these solutions to a client’s business in a structured, curated, and effective way.

These services are organized to enable a process that is specific to your exact situation and needs. Instead of you and your team having to face the entire concept alone, they break the whole process into bite-sized pieces and guide you through to completion. They can even assist you with any issues that arise after implementation.

They don’t throw you in the deep end and tell you to swim. Following that metaphor, they start you in the kitty pool. These services can be a godsend for organizations that are fully occupied handling day-to-day functions without even leaving their own lane. And they are popping up everywhere.

Generally, the groups that provide these services specialize in different kinds of tech that are geared toward specific applications. In healthcare, remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a good example of this. They align the tech with the needs of the physician and their patients.

The exact manner of the services you receive will depend on your needs, your industry, and your team. If you are in a regulated field like finance or medicine, they’ll generally be familiar with how technology can make audits easier and more successful. Here at Initium SoftWorks, we’re primarily process and technology experts with experience in a variety of industries.

Why Is This So Prevalent?

When cars were first invented, you could only purchase them from the company that introduced the concept. At first, there was only one kind made by one manufacturer, but as time went on, more companies came out with their own versions of that original idea. These days, there are more car manufacturers than you can count.

Now, that same trend is happening with technology and digital transformation.

As new tech emerges and older tech branches out, there are more options to assist your business than ever. It’s exciting and can be very empowering. That means you can determine exactly what your needs are, search around, and find the solution that fits.

The problem is that there are more options than ever before. Every day, it seems like there is some new program that is able to fix some problem that a significant chunk of humanity faces. So, which one is actually right for you? Which one fits your budget, business needs, and team needs while helping you achieve your business goals?

And the more specific your processes are—the more niche they are—the more complicated that search can get, which is why you might turn to digital transformation services.

Unless you have an in-depth understanding of the technology you are considering, this whole search could cost more time and energy than it should.

Imagine you go to a conference and hear about a program that solves the exact problem you’ve been facing for months (maybe even years). It’s wonderful that you’ve found it, but when push comes to shove, are you going to have the time to get in the weeds and place that tech into your process, move everything else around, and have time to do your job that might be completely separated from this issue? That right there is why digital transformation services are so popular.

Benefits of Using Digital Transformation Services

It’s not hard to see why so many are looking to digital transformation and the services that support it. You can customize the functions of technology perfectly to your needs, which lets you dictate what your team prioritizes and what it doesn’t.

Do you need higher conversion rates? You can have it. Do you need to increase output by some significant percentage? You can do it. Whatever you need, there is likely a technological, procedural solution out there waiting for you.

Some of the most well-known benefits of completing a digital transformation include

  • Increased efficiency of chosen processes
  • Increased capability to meet larger input
  • Increased output
  • Fewer errors, especially in detail-oriented, complicated processes

And, by using digital transformation services, you can enjoy some of the less well-known benefits, including

  • Guidance through a complicated planning, executing, and implementation process
  • Quicker completion of implementation (get to your new normal faster)
  • Expertise that has its own standard and can provide one to determine the quality of transformation
  • Hands-on assistance with making adjustments or handling unexpected issues

Bringing in specialists on any project has many benefits. Your team needs to keep the ship afloat, not remodel it, too. And while your team is off using their expertise to support your business, the people managing your digital transformation services can leverage their experience to add value to your company and your projects.

 

The Process, From Framework To Strategy

Now that we understand the ins and outs of digital transformation services, let’s discuss how this process works. As we mentioned, the details will largely depend on your situation. For example, if your organization is a financial institution, you’ll have different considerations than the HR department of a tire manufacturer.

But even in the same industry, there are huge variations from one company to another.

So, as we work through “the process” of digital transformation services, know that if you participate in these services, they may look a bit different.

1. Assessment, Forming Your Digital Transformation Strategy

The first step is all about coming in and observing. Straightaway, your provider will need to learn about your operations, goals, and challenges. There will likely be a period of time when they simply observe how you do things without making any changes.

In fact, if changes are made during this portion (unless you have agreed to more agile methods), you might consider that a red flag. Your provider needs to take the time to learn about you and your business. They should evaluate each process as it stands.

While the assessments are happening, there will likely be some meetings to discuss the following.

  • What is working?
  • What is not working?
  • What do you believe the problem to be?
  • What aspects of your processes do you want to remain the same?

The whole point of this stage is to create a clear picture of point A before they start even thinking about how they’ll get you to point B.

One thing that you might have created during this stage is your digital transformation strategy. This outlines what your organization wants to achieve through this process.

2. Develop Your Digital Transformation Framework (Or Plan)

Once your provider clearly understands all the relevant workflows, processes, and procedures, they’ll move on to the planning stage. This is where your digital transformation framework will be developed, which details the path your organization will follow.

In other words, the framework will include a set of guidelines, best practices, and tools used to complete your digital transformation.

3. Addressing Fears & Concerns

When leaders start to consider making big changes, they tend to meet one of two responses. The first is straight-up resistance. People want absolutely nothing to do with whatever they are proposing, with no exception. This response is usually found in companies that have a more competitive, aggressive culture.

When team members run into adversity, there is little support. If anything, it’s more normal for people to be reprimanded when they hit speed bumps.

The other response leadership runs into is tentative support. Their team has more of an open mind. This response is more common in companies with a communal, supportive culture.

It’s rare that any team will be willing to throw out the “usual way” for the new thing without question.

This step will look different for everyone depending on the organization’s culture. If your culture is more closed off to progress or team efforts, you’ll have to initiate this step before you ever reach out to a digital transformation service provider.

If you’ve gotten your team to the point where innovation is ideal yet never forced, you’ll use this stage of the process to address any remaining fears. We recommend that you are honest with your team, as providing them with a clear view of your vision for the company is often the best way to get buy-in on new ideas or practices.

4. Implementation of New Tech

After the plan is created, discussed, and agreed upon, the implementation stage will begin. During this phase, your provider will start putting the technology in place while gently increasing usage and capacity.

For example, if you are going to start using a client management system, the digital transformation provider might oversee the input of a few accounts at a time. Then, they might walk those team members through usage and best practices.

You might see a big focus on education during the implementation stage to be sure that everyone is as comfortable as possible.

5. Fixing The Bugs

You could argue that this stage is included for clarity’s sake as the “optimization stage” is a sort of continuation of the implementation stage.

Here, your digital transformation service provider will start fine-tuning your new workflows. They’ll survey your team members for complaints and work to address them.

Some of the things your provider will look into include

  • Team member complaints
  • Leadership complaints
  • How well business pain points are addressed
  • Issues with the complexity of the new system
  • Where proverbial fat can be trimmed

Your provider should display a willingness to adjust the system to meet your needs better. Or they should be supplying educational opportunities to fill any gaps in team understanding.

6. Continuous Improvement

This step of the digital transformation process is much more lengthy than any other. No business’s technology is the standard for very long. Eventually, time presents a new program or a new idea that will make the tech you’ve just updated seem obsolete.

So, this step is all about having a clear agreement on how you’ll be helped with future issues not related to implementation.

In our opinion, it’s best to have a conversation at the beginning, middle, and end of the process about how gaps will be filled, challenges will be met, and problems be solved. Find out if they are hands-off once the tech is set.

Your ideal firm will have a procedure in place for continuing the relationship forward. There might even be individual policies for big, medium, and small improvements to your digital setup.

A Supported Process vs. An Internal One

If you’ve done your own research, you might have noticed that the process your businesses might work through alone and the one with a service provider look very similar—and that’s because they are.

They both plan, prepare, introduce, and implement, but the key difference is the guidance. Some organizations have the bandwidth to make these kinds of plans (and execute them) on their own. The leadership has delegated a task force to address this need to the best of their ability.

Others might find that they cannot, under any circumstance, commit that kind of time. So, they bring in a team dedicated to addressing these issues for companies that can’t fix them on their own. Those who outsource will benefit from expert help from a team whose sole focus is this topic.

The biggest difference you’ll note is that with the help of a service, your process is protected by a level of guidance, expertise, and optimization that is otherwise absent.

Our guide on digital transformation walks readers through the entire process (guided or not) in much more detail. You can read about that [HERE].

 

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What Technology Enables Digital Transformation Services

If you had asked about the technology behind digital transformation 20 years ago, you might have received an answer that included something about providing your workforce with computers. Later, digital transformation might have looked like using programs to help with different processes. You might have added emailing software to help marketing rather than making some poor person on the team email 1,200 people every three months.

Today, digital transformation is possible through all those means and so much more. For instance, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and keeping data in “the cloud” are methods that are changing workflows like never before.

Now, the tech associated with workflows can take on even the most annoying, complicated, and sensitive processes and complete them in seconds without any errors at all. The technologies that we include in digital transformation here at ISW are listed and explained below.

  • Content Services
  • RPA (robotic process automation)
  • IDC (intelligent data capture)
  • AI (artificial intelligence)
  • ML (machine learning)
  • Cloud Computing

Content Services

Almost every organization, company, business, group, or firm has to manage content. They have systems in place to keep all of their necessary documentation straight. Depending on their situation, the way they handle that content can be the most important feature of their business.

While this name is often confused with content creation services, which is a marketing function, in this setting, we exclude that. When discussing digital transformation and related services, we define “content” as any documentation relevant to your clients, team members, and your business’s procedures.

So, to clarify, “content services” is an umbrella term (sometimes known as Enterprise Content Management or ECM for short) that includes any technology enabling organizations to manage content in a digital environment. The technology that pairs with most content management services supports creating, storing, managing, and distributing content across various channels.

When a business’s content is properly managed, the organization can streamline processes like never before. They can also reduce costs and improve efficiency.

It allows for easy collaboration, which ensures necessary content is delivered to the right people at the right time. This technology is particularly useful for enterprise organizations that have a lot of content to manage across multiple channels, like banks that draft loans.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA is a technology that enables businesses to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, something that can look drastically different from department to department.

Software robots are assigned to observe actions in a designated period as someone on your team performs a task. This task can be anything from data entry to invoice processing or filling out customer complaint forms. The bot is then led and trained to complete a series of human actions as they perform that same task.

So, when you are trying to move data from one system to another, you don’t have to spend hours of time getting them all in and making sure they are all right.

While your team will enjoy the improved efficiency provided by RPA, you’ll also love the incredible accuracy of these programs. Making mistakes can be really, really costly, depending on your industry. RPA gives your team the freedom to focus more time on what really pays off. News flash, that’s not data entry.

RPA is often recommended to our clients with extremely complicated, detail-intensive processes that give their teams mental breakdowns. They get the most excited about this benefit.

Intelligent Data Capture

Intelligent Data Capture, or IDC, refers to the process of automatically extracting, classifying, and validating data from various sources, such as invoices, forms, and documents, using advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).  A basic  example of this tech is barcode scanners that you might use in food-tracking apps.

The program searches content based on predefined criteria and extracts whatever it needs to perform its task. Generally, IDC is used to help organizations with data entry while reducing errors and improving data accuracy.

IDC integrates easily into existing programs, so it can take the edge off of your team without requiring the whole system to be redone. This tech can be really helpful for any organization that has to search, filter, and sort large amounts of data.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in the realm of digital transformation, reshaping the way businesses operate, compete, and innovate. For today’s forward-thinking business leaders, AI represents a powerful toolset that drives efficiency, agility, and strategic decision-making.

At its core, AI leverages advanced algorithms and machine learning to decipher intricate patterns within vast datasets, enabling organizations to extract invaluable insights, automate complex tasks, and unlock new avenues of growth.

Artificial Intelligence facilitates strategic decision-making by offering real-time, data-driven insights that guide business leaders toward informed choices. With AI’s ability to analyze and interpret complex data streams, leaders gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior, market dynamics, and emerging opportunities.

Machine Learning

Under the umbrella of AI, we have Machine Learning, a specific function of AI programs that has the ability to learn in a very similar way to people. Through iterative learning and optimization, ML algorithms become more accurate and efficient, driving operational excellence and innovation.

A common example of Machine Learning is Netflix’s recommendations becoming more and more specific to your preferences. Another application is Intelligent Data Capture platforms like ABBYY Vantage, which learn from user corrections and get smarter as more documents are processed.

Cloud Computing

In the realm of digital transformation, the term “Cloud” stands as a pivotal innovation that changed the game. It reshaped the way organizations operate, collaborate, and innovate.

The Cloud, in essence, refers to a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet that store, manage, and process data, applications, and services. For today’s astute business leaders, the Cloud is a dynamic enabler that empowers seamless scalability, enhances collaboration, and accelerates innovation, all while driving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

The transformative potential of the Cloud within the context of digital transformation is vast and multifaceted. By adopting cloud-based solutions, business leaders can shift their operations away from traditional, resource-intensive IT infrastructures.

This transition paves the way for unparalleled agility, as the Cloud enables rapid deployment of applications, services, and resources to meet changing market demands. This agility, coupled with the ability to elastically scale resources up or down as needed, ensures that businesses remain adaptable and responsive in an increasingly dynamic business landscape.

Furthermore, the Cloud has been crucial in connecting geographically dispersed teams and breaking down silos. With data and applications accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, teams can collaborate seamlessly, share insights in real time, and engage in remote work more effectively.

This collaborative environment fuels innovation by providing a platform for experimentation, development, and testing of new ideas without the constraints of traditional IT infrastructure. Ultimately, the Cloud is a cornerstone of digital transformation, serving as a catalyst for business leaders to reinvent their strategies, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and create a more agile, connected, and competitive organization.

A Note On Digital Transformation Technology

Above, we mentioned very specific technologies that are a part of our process. But depending on your situation, they might not be the kinds of tech you need to optimize your business, and that’s okay!

Ultimately, the digital transformation services you use will be determined by your business’s functions, its capacity for change, and the needs of your team. As we mentioned, your current culture will play a big part in this process.

If you want to implement ground-breaking tech, you’ll need to prepare your team as much as possible. They need to be able to handle it, or else the investment could be wasted. So, when looking into digital transformation and the technology behind it, be sure to take your present capabilities into account.

As the saying goes, you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew.

Also, when you do begin this process—specifically the implementation process—keep that same mentality. Start your team off easily. Be wary of service providers who want to dump your entire workload onto the new system ASAP. Slow, gentle starts will help build a solid foundation to support your workflows, processes, and procedures for years to come.

 

Digital Transformation Success Stories

This process can be extremely complicated. Choosing a place to start is hard enough, let alone what processes to tackle. Sometimes, companies do just wing it. They hear about a new thing, buy it, and hope it sticks without any real planning or consideration. Another options would be to bring in an expert, tell them what you want fixed, and leave the pros to their tasks.

No matter what path you choose, it’s good to know how others have done it. Below are some examples of digital transformation related to the technologies we listed above.

Modernizing Accounts Payable Processes For a Manufacturing Company

When this client came to us, they had an outdated Accounts Payable system that was not keeping up with their growth. Too many invoices were coming in too fast, and mistakes were made as they were processed. As a principle, they are committed to maintaining fair pricing, which is supported by efficient processes—they were struggling to keep that promise.

Using Hyland’s OnBase, we helped our client use the enterprise content management platform to do all of the following.

  • Streamline their Accounts Payable process
  • Capture critical invoice data
  • Move digital invoices through workflow automation for all their incoming invoices
  • Integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to update financial records in real-time

But what does that mean for the client’s team? Why does that matter? First, the processing time was reduced, leading to faster financial reporting, decision-making, and easier scaling to meet the growing demand. There were also fewer mistakes, which meant less time spent fixing them and fewer compliance risks.

Improved Accuracy For Accounts Payable

Another client came to us with a similar issue. As one of the largest dental lab networks in this part of the world, clean, accurate systems are incredibly important. However, they saw high error rates in their Accounts Payable department, which opened them up to all sorts of compliance issues. Not only that, but processing was slow.

The solution was the enterprise content management platform. We helped them fully automate their invoicing process to digitize, store, organize, and route invoice information through review and approval.

Like with most automation-related changes, they saw a lot of improvements. They improved supplier relations because there were fewer errors. They had better retrieval, increased volume (60%), and more time to focus on strategic efforts rather than be bogged down by the task of finding, correcting, and dealing with all the previous errors.

Navigating Regulations for a Casino 

If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas or on a cruise, you are no doubt familiar with the fun of a casino. But you might not know how much goes into keeping such an organization running. They are in a highly regulated, data-heavy industry that experiences incredible amounts of input. On any given day, they must correctly process an egregious amount of tax forms, table cash-out slips, cage balance receipts, jackpot reports, and more.

Along with the enterprise content management platform, we were able to help them combine the tech available to them and streamline their whole revenue audit process. Critical data could be extracted, captured, and interpreted, while digital documents were managed, organized, and properly routed, with reports automatically generated at the end.

After the dust had settled on all those changes, we were excited to see this client achieve a 95% accuracy rate on all the documents processed. They also reported a large decline in errors, compliance risks, and time spent on the overall process.

Making The Daily’s Better for a Digital Banking Platform

One of our client’s is a digital banking platform that needed a better daily account reconciliation process. Specifically, they needed more accuracy. By using Robotic Process Automation (RPA), we helped them set up bots that log in to e-banking systems to do the following.

  • Download transaction reports
  • Create spreadsheets
  • Reconcile data

It might sound simple like that’s a silly task to use RPA on. But when you have mountains of data, being able to do this quickly improves cost-saving, scalability, accuracy, and the quality of life of the person who’d be doing this if not for this tech.

 

Why Digital Transformation Often Fails

AI-supported systems are almost universally acknowledged to be very advantageous when used correctly. But as with any exciting new tech, it can go wrong if managed poorly.

As a result, it should be no surprise to find that there are many ways digital transformation can go wrong, and it’s not the technology’s fault.

Sometimes, digital transformation is like a mountain. Services help you navigate the landscape and ensure safe arrival, but even then, things can still go wrong.

1. Cost

One of the most notable reasons digital transformation and related services fail is because of the cost. Leadership decides that climbing the metaphorical mountain is not worth the time or money. They decide that other needs are more pressing.

Another thing that happens is getting halfway through the process and then deciding it’s not worth it—losing them more time and money than if they had just carried on. This reason for failure is a shame because many businesses get something good going and then decide to cut their losses and run. They lose a lot in that situation because they tend to

  • Harden their team to any other progress or advancement
  • Lose hundreds or thousands of dollars on their abandoned investment
  • Waste time and other valuable resources, which often hinders their situation (processes, procedures, and workflows) even more

If you are worried that your investment in digital transformation services will be a loss because of the cost alone, please reconsider. One way to prevent that is by asking a lot of questions during the assessment and planning phases.

2. Complexity

The second most common reason digital transformation fails is complexity. If the leaders of a financial institution, for example, believe their processes and procedures to be too difficult to improve at all, they will avoid the notion entirely.

Another way complexity can kill digital transformation is through the actual tech being too difficult for the team to use. Implementing technology should not add complexity, it should make life easier, but that is not always the case. And that might be because the service provider didn’t understand the process or just because the product was not built with ease of use in mind.

Sadly, the latter is much, much more likely. What happens is a few managers get it in their head that they need this new thing because it will solve some major problem. Then, they work (often behind the team’s back) to get it implemented. They rarely, if ever, bring team members into the discussion, ask for input, and hear constructive criticism.

The team is then handed this monster that they don’t understand that management is claiming to be their savior, and the whole thing fails.

The third way complexity hinders digital transformation is due to neglect of the provider. As we said, the digital transformation consultant should be doing everything possible to quell the confusion. They should actively try to make this as easy as possible. If not, your team just ends up wasting a bunch of time.

To prevent complexity from finishing off your digital transformation, make the planning/assessment phase a company-wide (or department-wide) operation. Let the team know what your vision is, their part in it, and why that result benefits everyone. Ask questions about their daily experience and get their input. Also, look for service providers that aim to ease your burden, not add to it.

3. Resistance

The third most common killer of digital transformation is resistance. It’s also the sneakiest. First, it can look like team members and management participating in healthy skepticism. But before you know it, resistance evolves into trash-talk around the coffee machine.

It can start as

  • People fearing for their position
  • Questions about the new system versus the old one
  • Being hesitant to switch to the new system

It can quickly turn into

  • Team members actively spreading misinformation.
  • People planting doubt in those on the team who are more willing to try
  • Undermining the benefits of the new system

One way to prevent any of this from happening is proactively addressing your team’s doubts and fears. If they are worried, they’ll lose their job due to automation, address that. If they are concerned about learning a whole new process, address that. Offer learning opportunities and training. Another helpful answer is having the service provider come in and address all of your team’s fears, comments, and questions.

We recommend you air heavily on the side of transparency.

 

Tips for Finding Digital 0Transformation Services

The more you learn about digital transformation, the more you’ll develop an idea of what you want, a picture of your ideal setup. Researching this topic is always advised, but technology is changing so fast that you’ll likely always have something to learn. So, to help you navigate digital transformation services, here are our top tips to remember as you search.

1. Develop YOUR Picture

Even though learning is something you’ll be doing a lot of, it’s important that you understand the core of what you are looking for. Try to picture your ideal result of this process. You don’t have to write up blueprints for the system you are looking for, but you can be clear about your intention and how you hope to meet your needs.

The provider will bring their expertise to the table, but it’s still your table.

2. Understand Their “Ways”

A digital transformation services provider will, on some level, infiltrate your business. They are going to skim your process(es) for gunk and make changes. Not only do they need to keep you in the loop as they do that, but they also need to warn you.

You should look for help that is just that, help. They can’t be running all over your team like they’re a bunch of doormats or getting in the way of the day-to-day. Before you agree to anything, ensure you understand their process (and reasoning behind each move). You don’t need to undermine them. You do need to make sure their processes don’t jeopardize yours.

3. Don’t Let Your Eyes Be Bigger Than Your Stomach

At the end of the day, the technology you introduce in the name of digital transformation needs to be a solution, not another problem. And while innovation can be exciting, it can also be too much. Remember that the newer something, the more it’s going to cost. You’ll likely have a budget you need to keep to, which might mean you try to get on a cool program on the cheap. Be careful with that angle. The cliches are true. You really do get what you pay for.

As well as understanding the capacity of your business, you also need to know what your team can take on. Technology can scare people. If you have to make slow, gentle changes, make that known to your potential providers. Keeping your intentions realistic is important, but as you move through the process, you must keep them top of mind.

Consider Using Digital Transformation Services

If you are looking to bring your business into the modern age, you should heavily consider using digital transformation services. The exact service you use will be directly tied to what processes you are looking to change, the needs of your organization, and how far you want to push it all into the future.

Especially if your team is already pushed to the brink, adding on a task like this, which can be extremely complex and multi-faceted, can pose a great risk to your operations.

No matter which way you go, you’ll have to make a judgment call. Measure your capacity, discuss with your colleagues, and get your team’s input. Performing a digital transformation can easily take your organization to a new level of ease and efficiency. Just be sure to do it right.

Here at ISW, we consult organizations of all shapes and sizes on their way into, through, or out of digital transformation with the best technology the industry has to offer—all on your terms. We offer our expertise and experience to leaders just like you. If you are looking for more resources, click here.

 

Frequently Asked Questions, Digital Transformation Services

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the process of implementing technology into any workflow, process, or procedure to increase ease and efficiency. It often involves using specific programs that are constructed to address specific issues within an organization.

What are digital transformation services?

Digital transformation services are offerings by companies that specialize in choosing, implementing, and improving technology focused on individual processes for organizations. These services are usually provided by companies specializing in solving a single industry’s problems. They might even niche down into solving only a handful of problems within that industry.

What are the four main areas of digital transformation?

The four main areas are people, processes, culture, and tech. What this translates to is the need to heavily consider the position and needs of your business when you’re looking into digital transformation. This concept is also communicated with the phrase, “You need the right people, the right time, and the right tech.”

What do digital transformation services do?

Simply put, digital transformation services will be structured around enabling the “transformation” part with as little work put on you and your team as possible. They’ll guide you through the evaluation, the planning, the execution, and the updates of any process you are looking to change.

How do I choose digital transformation services?

Create a map of your needs and expectations that is as detailed as possible. As you explore digital transformation services online, seek out providers who explicitly address these outlined needs. While the chosen provider may introduce modifications to your roadmap (which you should remain receptive to), possessing a preliminary understanding of your needs will undoubtedly prove beneficial.