August 5, 2024
When I get the opportunity to talk to business owners, many of them are certainly interested in how new cloud tools might help them finally take some huge leaps forward. But most of us have spent the past few years learning about new tools and technologies, racing to keep up with cybersecurity threats, and dramatic shifts in how people think about work.
So, can I be honest? I understand that digital transformation sounds just as exhausting to some as it may be exciting to others. But it certainly doesn’t have to be. And hear me out — it can also take away some of the aspects of work that tend to exhaust people the most.
So in this blog, I’d like to offer you a few tell-tale signs that you need to look into digital transformation, as well as a few tips to make the switch easy.
10 Signs You Need To Consider Business Transformation
1. You Haven’t Updated Your Tools in (Checks Watch) Five Years
It’s understandable to want to get as much value as you can out of something — especially something you invested a lot of money in that once served you very well. But old equipment and software can cause a lot of problems.
Here are just a few examples:
- Old equipment and software may hide security risks
- You’ll have difficulty integrating new tools
- You may have higher maintenance and utility costs
- You can’t access new time-saving features
2. You’re Slowly Losing Customers
Okay, so you haven’t changed much. But your customers have, and their expectations now are entirely different than they were years ago. If you find yourself slowly losing business for no apparent reason — this is probably the reason.
3. You’re Not Always Able To Provide a Good Customer Experience
As companies grow, many will cling to old methods and tools that worked perfectly well when they were smaller.
For example, lots of small business employees can simply leave a note to themselves to reach out to a customer on a specific day, or adopt different processes now and then to resolve an issue. That doesn’t work for larger companies that have to solve complex problems for more customers just as quickly.
The result? Well, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of it. If you’ve ever had to make repeated calls to fix an issue, and every time you talk to someone new, you have to tell them the entire story from start to finish, that’s frustrating. There are tools that can help prevent that from happening, but too many businesses haven’t adopted them yet. Not surprisingly, the ones that have really tend to stand out in the best possible way.
4. It Takes Too Long To Accomplish Relatively Simple Tasks
Processing invoices, finding files, and retrieving or updating information doesn’t have to be frustrating. But a lot of businesses are stuck using manual processes because that’s always the way these things have been done.
A lot of these tasks are also frustrating, which causes additional problems.
5. You Can’t Retain or Attract Talent
Can you imagine going back to not having a smartphone now that you’ve had one? How about losing your car’s navigation system or having to actually drive to a restaurant to pick up food?
Yes, I know, first-world problems. But it’s really hard to go back once you’ve experienced using a tool that really makes your life easier, and that’s true for business tools as well. If you’re having a hard time attracting new talent or retaining the ones you have, this might be why.
Also, I should add that if your old on-premises tools are holding you back from being able to offer more flexibility for your staff to stay home with a sick child or work from home more often, that’s not helping.
6. It’s Hard To Make Decisions
You shouldn’t feel like every major decision you make is a total shot in the dark. But when you don’t have the data you need to analyze what’s working and what isn’t, your gut is probably making more calls than it should.
7. Your Business No Longer Innovates
Lots of businesses can relate to being so busy with their week-to-week tasks that they have no time to think about growth. It’s a common experience, but if your industry is competitive, it’s also a long-term liability.
8. If One Person Suddenly Retired, You’d Struggle
Businesses that haven’t kept up with digital tools often rely on the knowledge of a few key employees to solve more complex problems and keep things moving between departments. And while those people will always be valuable, they are also people.
They’re entitled to take vacations, and they’re also entitled to move on with their lives. If your business can’t respond to a crisis when one of your key staff members is out of the office, that’s a sign that you need better digital tools — the kinds of tools that can prevent the types of information silos that make big problems worse.
9. You Can’t Take On More Customers
If your staff is already overwhelmed with their work to the point that you can’t take on new customers, it’s possible that you need to hire more staff.
But it also might be a sign that you need to reinvent how you serve your customers. Most businesses that undertake digital transformations can accomplish a lot more in less time, with fewer people.
10. You’ve Already Had a Cybersecurity Incident
Sorry to end on perhaps the most obvious point, but old equipment and out-of-date software are often a hacker’s best friends. Old “cheaper” tools can be the ones that cost you the most.
Making Digital Transformation for Business Much Easier
Digital transformation is a vague term, so depending on your organization, the may mean looking into enterprise content management (ECM) solutions to help reduce information silos and make onboarding easier. It may mean considering print software to help clean up your files. It may even mean adopting new collaboration solutions to improve customer service and boost productivity or migrating more of your systems to the cloud.
I’m not suggesting you do all of this, nor do you probably need to. But if you’re wondering where your dollars would be best spent and what digital tools should be a higher priority … and you don’t have a chief information officer (CIO) to guide you about what upgrades you should make now versus later, you’re welcome to borrow ours!
Click the link below to learn more about our fractional CIO services.
