Not necessarily – a local business may be less impacted by technology than other businesses.
A good way to gauge technology’s impact is to measure how much one’s company already uses technology.
Small businesses that don’t use technology will be less affected.
However, any business that implements software, technology, or machinery will definitely be affected by technology trends.
Those businesses should consider the impact of not transforming, then you should plan accordingly.
What Are the Drawbacks of Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation does have drawbacks:
Organizational change requires planning, effort, and support as it does not come easy
Employees and managers may resist change, especially if it is not planned for and mitigated
Outcomes are not always predictable or guaranteed
Digital transformation is an investment, sometimes a large investment
Despite these drawbacks, digital transformation is widely viewed as a necessary process in today’s economy.
With the right planning, those benefits will often dramatically outweigh the costs.
What Are the Benefits of Digital Transformation?
One of the most important questions is, "Why digital transformation?"
Some of the biggest benefits include:
A competitive advantage in the marketplace
Improved technology capabilities and technical capacities
Business models that are more cost-effective and streamlined
Innovative, adaptable corporate cultures
The sooner a company can adopt digital technology, transform its business, and evolve, the greater the rewards it will reap.
What Do Digital Transformation Processes Look Like?
A digital transformation project involves a number of steps, such as:
The digital adoption of new technology, tools, software, and platforms, to maintain or gain a competitive advantage
IT modernization, from infrastructure to hardware to software
Implementation of digital-first business strategies
Refocusing efforts on the customer experience
These disparate efforts follow global trends that prioritize customers and technology.
When Should Our Company Transform?
This answer also depends on a number of factors.
The industry or marketplace you are in, budget constraints or your company’s long-term strategy.
Other factors may also come into play, such as government regulation or legal hurdles. Healthcare and finance, for instance, have more to consider when it comes to transformation.
However, as a general rule, the sooner the better.
Companies should stay ahead of the curve, rather than try to catch up to it.
Internally, any digital transformation project should involve executives, IT staff, change management professionals, and those affected by the program.
In short, everyone involved can support digital transformation to some extent.
And that's where we come in. We've been around for years and our portfolio does speak.
