strategy In the current hypercompetitive business environment, it’s not enough to automate processes and increase efficiency. To succeed, companies need to differentiate themselves from their competitors. But with the growth of digitally savvy customers who expect more from every transaction, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate on product alone. Customers are demanding a more personal, service-oriented approach from the companies with which they do business, and the bar continues to be reset at higher and higher levels. To meet this demand, and stay competitive, companies need to move from a transaction-based model to more value-based interactions. This means putting the experience first. Increasingly, companies are turning to digital transformation to help them stand out in markets, both old and new, by differentiating in new and often unexpected ways. By making connections at the brand level, they can create experiences that customers and employees alike find compelling—and in some cases, forever change the way business gets done. Table of Contents
3 Work from the enterprise out
3 Consider your digital ecosysem
4 Follow a four-step process
Strategize Design Assemble Run
7 How Hook & Loop Digital can help
Digital Transformation Perspectives
Work from the enterprise out Rather than just dip a toe into the digital transformation waters, it’s time to transform from the enterprise out, To move toward a digital, service-based focus, and that means doing more than automating business companies need a clear digital vision with a strategy processes. It’s about collaborating and strategizing for digital transformation. Unfortunately, most ways to create experiences that transform business companies currently lack that strategy. According to processes entirely to create experiences that both Forrester, only “27% of firms have a comprehensive employees and customers love—and then bringing digital strategy, Yet only 21% believe this is set by the those experiences to life at an enterprise level. That is right people.” what will allow your company to differentiate itself.
CIO defines digital transformation as “the acceleration By driving digitization at every touch point and at of business activities, processes, competencies, and every level–employee, customer, and models to fully leverage the changes and operations—you can catalyze change and add value opportunities of digital technologies and their across the entire enterprise. Only by innovating at this impact in a strategic and prioritized way.” But more enterprise scale can you create a long-term than just acceleration, digital transformation is about competitive advantage that builds demand and the need for businesses to outpace digital disruption engenders loyalty. and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving business environment. Consider your digital This is where defining a digital strategy is key. To get ecosystem your digital strategy started on the right track, you As part of your move to transform from the enterprise need to change the way you look at digital out, it’s time to change the way you look at your transformation. Up to now, digital transformation has technology. In the world of enterprise technology, largely been happening on a small scale. Companies integration has long been a thorny topic. ERP might have a single app coming out of an innovation represented the birth of “fully connected” systems, but or marketing department, or an idea adopted by a reality hasn’t always lived up to the idea. handful of forward thinkers. Sure, those efforts might have won an award or had influence on one small segment of the business, but chances are they’ve been isolated and siloed, and can’t scale to have significant impact on the organization’s supply chain, manufacturing, or other key business areas. It’s time to
transform from the enterprise out... and that means doing more than just automating business processes.
Digital Transformantion Perspectives
Best-of-breed solutions deployed in silos and over time have made disjointed, complex technology Follow a four-step process landscapes commonplace, while an emphasis on Building an effective transformation strategy requires customization rendered them brittle and expensive to structure; the following four-step process—strategize, maintain. design, assemble, and run—can help you lay the In recent years, however, cloud technology has foundation for success. However, as with your started to dramatically shift this paradigm. Companies technology ecosystem, connection is key. Too often, are increasingly choosing the agility, flexibility, and the strategy and design phases are disconnected affordability that cloud provides over complex from the foundation of the business—the systems and customizations. Connected systems—deployed in the processes that are the core of how things get done. cloud—have made continuous innovation possible. The result is a patina of transformation, rather than This concept is fundamental to digital transformation. meaningful change. Looking at the total picture is Rather than considering core solutions as separate essential to creating a digital transformation strategy entities, they should be viewed as a connected, with scale. In other words, it holds the key to value-driven ecosystem that can be used to create transforming from the enterprise out. interrelated products, services, and software that act 1. Strategize as value-multipliers for other parts of your organization. The strategy phase of the process represents your When you look at your technology this way, it can vision; but rather than taking the traditional approach, drive customer and employee engagement, along which is to look at the problems you’re trying to solve, with operational efficiency, and position you to start with the end in mind. The old way of doing things embrace digital transformation from the enterprise out. is to start with existing problems and requirements. While this approach has value, it’s likely to only address the challenges you’re facing today, rather than putting you on a path to the future.
Digital Transformation Perspectives
When building a digital transformation strategy, focus 2. Design instead on your end goal. What do you want to accomplish? What does success look like down the According to an Actual-Experience Digital road? Focus on the experience you want to create Experience Quality Report, 93% of business leaders and the narrative of your transformation, rather than believe that their customers’ digital experience is very software requirements. Think about the key themes of or extremely important to their organization’s success, your transformation and the experience you want to and 88% believe the same thing about their deliver. For example, a fashion retailer might have a employees’ digital experience. theme of personalizing the shopping experience for This is where design-first thinking enters the equation. both associates and customers, so that neither could Design-first thinking means focusing on the imagine going anywhere else. experiences you want to create for your While it’s important to come up with this vision, it’s end-users—not the requirements of the solution. Think equally important that the vision be rooted in reality. about what value you can provide to your users, both You want to create an actionable strategic vision that those within your organization and your customers. wraps around your objectives. To do this, identify gaps What can you do with and for your users? Consider, in current architecture and create implementation too, how you can change the way employees engage roadmaps. and collaborate and the way customers interact with Keep in mind, however, that speed is vital. Gone are your organization. the days of spending weeks, months, or even years in Your goal here should be to build the planning. By the time you’re done, the industry will right experience—one that’s beautiful, intuitive, and have passed you by. Companies that are leading on that allows your users to reach their end goals and the digital transformation front are acting quickly, work seamlessly in any environment. completing planning cycles in days. This doesn’t mean your strategy must be completely built and set in stone in 48 hours, but rather that quick bursts of planning and continuous evolution will better position you to identify quick wins and take advantage of opportunities that you could otherwise easily miss. One way to inject speed into your approach is to conduct a hackathon—a design and development process that brings together a group of people to collaborate, create a vision, and test ideas early in a rapid fire, intense, and highly focused session. This approach compresses the planning process, so you Design-first can help create traction for your transformation, convince other members of your organization of its worth, and get buy-in to expand. thinking means focusing on the experiences you want to create for your end-users.
Digital Transformation Perspectives
3. Assemble 4. Run Having a strategy and a design is a great start to your The final piece of the digital transformation puzzle is transformation. But if you can’t assemble the pieces, getting—and keeping—everything running smoothly in you’ve got nothing. Here, it’s time to start unifying the the cloud or on-premise. As mentioned previously, experience. cloud provides a great foundation for continuous innovation; however, that doesn’t mean digital Consider this example: A hospital wants to make the transformation isn’t possible for companies that want process of checking in for patients as easy as it is for or need to remain on-premise. Regardless of your guests to check in to a hotel. To accomplish this, they deployment method, you’ll want to implement a plan need to connect their admissions application, finance for continuous management and support. And that application, medical services, nursing services, etc. It starts with an office of digital transformation, which can doesn’t matter how many systems need to be involved, it should all be seamless and easy for the help you implement governance and a plan to keep patient—who should feel like she’s accessing one your roadmap and architecture up-to-date at all times. You’ll want to consider adding a shared support single system. structure, along the lines of a shared services center, The great news is that companies often have many, or with skills across a variety of disciplines, such as even all, of the underlying technology components change management, process optimization, and agile necessary to create differentiating experiences. The management, so you can build repeatable processes trick is leveraging all your disparate products, services, that are supported by a dedicated group of experts. If and existing technologies to power elements of your you don’t have these skills in-house, it’s time to find a digital ecosystem. Often, the answer is right under partner who can help you implement everything you your nose. Data is a great example of information you need for continued evolution and transformation. For could harness to deliver differentiating experiences. more on this topic read: “Making digital For more on how data can help, read the Perspectives transformation part of your DNA.” paper “Driving digital transformation with data science.” Specialized knowledge of your market, whether that comes in visibility of your supply chain or unique customer insights, is another. The place to start is with a gap analysis to understand the components required for your strategy, areas where you’ll need to develop new functionality to sit The final piece of the digital transformation on top of what you already have, and the integration necessary to bring it all together. Doing so is essential puzzle is getting and keeping everything to accelerating your project—and spurring your digital running smoothly transformation.
in the cloud or on-premise.
Digital Transformation Perspectives
How Hook & Loop Digital can help The four steps to forming your digital transformation strategy are usually disconnected. Typically, you’ll find a partner who can help you with either the strategy and design phases or the assemble and run phases. Building a bridge between those phases has been a challenge—until now. Hook & Loop™ Digital can bridge that gap and connect the steps so your digital transformation can have real impact. By bringing together a top-down business approach with a bottom-up experience approach Hook & Loop Digital adds customer, employee, and operational value. They leverage disparate products and services, as well as existing technologies, to create, build, and manage enterprise-level digital ecosystems. By helping you innovate on an enterprise scale, Hook & Loop Digital helps you create a long-term competitive advantage that builds demand and engenders loyalty.
