{"id":38621,"date":"2019-08-15T15:30:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=38621"},"modified":"2019-08-15T15:05:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T14:05:12","slug":"understanding-digital-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/manage-digital-transformation\/digital-transformation-strategy\/understanding-digital-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Digital Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

An introduction to the what, why and how of digital transformation covering examples and 5 key challenges to overcome<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re working in an era where the development of technology exceeds companies' capabilities to manage the challenges created by the technology.<\/p>\n

New platforms, apps and tools are emerging daily and as they do, customers, prosumers and keyboard warriors are adopting the technology, talking about businesses and brands, sharing feedback and pinning images of what they\u2019ve bought.<\/p>\n

Marketers and brands have lost control forever. On a regular basis we witness well-known companies managing customer conversations very publicly. And it\u2019s not always positive.<\/p>\n

Some businesses have made a full transformation to digital. They embraced 'new media' at an early stage, listened to customers and have digital strategies fully integrated within their businesses. Examples include RS Components who realised that they needed to create their own customer community and created Idea Spark<\/a>, a forum for engineers to provide self-help, recommendations and new product ideas.<\/p>\n

\"Design-Spark\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a great example of a brand\u00a0adding engaging customer's online by developing a more audience-centric proposition\u00a0rather than product-centred, although purchases are still encouraged.<\/p>\n

RS Components seems to understand its customers more than most and their Ecommerce Behavioural Marketing team, has segmented customers based on their customer journey, rather than product groups.<\/p>\n

Dell is another example of a brand that acted early on the journey to transformation. This case study<\/a> shows how they have been working on optimization in the analytics \/ customer experience team.<\/p>\n

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Understanding the challenges of digital transformation<\/h3>\n

While some companies have been working on optimisation for a long time and will be quite advanced, others may not. It will vary depending on the industry sector and across different marketing activities. I recommend that a good starting point is to audit your digital capabilities<\/a> - see this tool developed by Dave Chaffey which enables you to review across a 5 point scale. You also need to review the barriers, obstacles and challenges to see what may have limited progress and how this can be overcome.<\/p>\n

The challenge for many businesses is that they have long-established systems and processes in place. Many are product rather than customer focused. Some systems are entrenched in the business and changing these systems is challenging. It\u2019s challenging on many levels:<\/p>\n

1. Responsibility:<\/strong><\/p>\n