A recent survey of directors, CEOs, and senior executives found that digital transformation (DT) risk is their #1 concern in 2019. Yet 70% of all DT initiatives do not reach their goals. (source Harvard Business Review)
Digital transformation is a matter of survival for any business. But especially tricky for SME´s.
Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Salesforce, IBM, SAP, but also thousands of specialised players like Xero, Slack, Bootcamp, Mailchimp,… are all promising you the world.
So where do you start? How do you decide?
- Look for the perfect “total solution provider”?
- Build upon whatever software you already use?
- Cloud or local packages?
- Departmental approach (accounting, sales, production, shipping, IT, finance,…)
The decision making process I propose is the following:
Start with an in-depth business analysis. Where are we today?
Then lay out your strategic vision for the business. Where are we going?
And then a hybrid, personalised and phased approach will start to emerge.
Some parts will be hosted locally (eg sensitive information), some parts will be hosted in either a private cloud (own infrastructure) or public cloud solutions (external suppliers).
There is no Holy Grail of digital transformation. You are unique. So is the solution you need.
So start with analysing where you are today and plotting where you want to be tomorrow. Not by selecting softwares or vendors.
And I bet you will find that the digital transformation of your business will be hybrid, personal and phased.
Some interesting reads are:
ZDNet: Digital Transformation: making it work in the real world.
Harvard Business Review: Digital Transormation is not about technology.
Insead Knowledge: Setting the stage for Digital Transformation