How to start a digital transformation project?

If this is your first time to start a digital transformation project or if you failed before, let's go through the following steps together.

1. Understand your intention clearly.

What would you like to achieve? Specify your needs as much as possible. If you don't make them clear, your road-map may differ and your results may be different!

For example: Imagine that you would like to know how much your customers are satisfied with your delivery system?

In this example, you may create a questionnaire on your website to ask them different questions. The main purpose is their satisfaction with delivery. So, if you would like to get the real information and data, you should add some other questions to completely get what you need. Below questions can help you in this case to have a clear understanding:

• How many times did the customer order?
• Was the level of satisfaction for each time, the same?
• Which shift and who were responsible for each delivery?
• Which product was delivered? (Same or different)

The reason for asking these questions is clearing your intention and avoiding general replies. You need to analyze the data and many times for analyzing the data you do need extra information to understand the situation. Imagine that on the same day of a specific delivery, the weather was really bad and due to snowing, your delivery had some delay. This situation is very different than a sunny day with normal operating conditions. This example seems very simple but it's good to explain the intention.

In digital transformation process, we should try to be as specific as possible to reach our goal. Data matters a lot but on top of that, it's the nature of data and the method of collecting data that matter.

2. Incentivize everyone.

Change faces resistance! To make it easier to be accepted by your customers and employees consider creative incentives.

Employees: Recognition, promotion, an extra off-day, bonus, etc.

Customers: Discount, extra points, free samples, etc.

Of course, your intention should be communicated very well. The reason for digitalizing your process can be serving your customer in a better way, making an easier life for your employees or any other reason.

3. Simulate the process.

To understand what your customers and employees may encounter, simulate the entire process, follow each step with your team members, design different algorithms, check each step, define success factors, predict failure reasons in advance and redo it as many times as needed.

Brainstorming can help you a lot. If you have detailed-oriented people in your team, engage them and ask for their advice.

4. Analyze your competitors.

Study their process. Get information about them. Digital Transformation creates many opportunities and on top of them, it's about creating competitive advantage.

Do something extra. For example:

-Make it easier to apply

-Create more options

-Give people more sources and resources

-Make it faster or cheaper with the same quality

-Create a different experience

-Use some gamification techniques. Let them play and win while they are ordering or while they are following the process.

5. Pick the best system based on your budget and infrastructure.

Not every expensive solution is the best and not every cheaper solution is bad. If you can develop your system with the support of IT, that is the best case since you customize your program as much as you can.

6. Give them feedback.

Whoever supports you either customers or employees, they deserve to know the result and probably failures.

Be honest with them. Even if you fail, tell them the truth. If the quality of your service or product is great, people never give up on you!