3 Points to Consider While Choosing A Digital Transformation Partner
Digital transformation needs no introduction as several reports indicate that it is widely practised across industry verticals.
By all means, digital transformation is a never-ending journey for any organization. As customers and markets, as well as technologies, evolve, there is always a need for companies to digitally reinvent the organization fully or in parts.
In the early phase of the 21st century, digital technologies were being deployed in businesses with the main focus on improved daily operations, enhanced efficiency and level of output. Today, a majority of the digital transformation initiatives focus on delivering specific outcomes to the customer, with the process of digital transformation affecting all aspects of the business.
It is rather prudent to use the customer life cycle to make the business case for digital investments. As you look for external experts/agencies to be your digital transformation partner, the market has a wide choice — across technology and industry segments.
Obvious considerations before choosing the right technology partner for your digital transformation journey (as with any technology implementation) are:
- Desired specializations and services, eg. mission-critical solutions, UX/design, social media etc.
- Previous work/client references
- Technology alliances/partnerships
- Industry experience
- Use of offshoring services
- Company size, financial, structure etc.
- Company culture eg. contributions to the industry, investment in staff training, workforce diversity etc.
Let’s go beyond the obvious and look at three table stakes in choosing the right partner.
DIVE DEEP AND THRIVE — Do they have it in them to help you go the next level
A good partner should not only have qualified personnel with the skills needed to execute your digital transformation project, but also the experience in your industry and an awareness of how that may affect the design and execution of the project.
If the agency is going to help you change your business processes and ways of working positively through digital transformation, they must demonstrate evidence of them having performed the same tasks at other businesses. Look for case studies or evidence of the work they’ve done for others and the positive impact it’s had for those businesses.
Then, your digital transformation partner needs to understand your business goals inside out, get a complete grasp of you and your employees and the existing processes, technologies of digital transformation. By doing so, they will be better placed to understand what your business needs are and what technology will have the most positive effects on your way of working.
Finally, they have to work with you on a roadmap for your digital transformation, proposing sustainable, customizable, flexible solutions that meet your needs.
STRETCH EASY AND WIDE — Do they have the flexibility in thinking and doing?
- Being good at one thing is great. What digital transformation demands is the ability to adapt, stay agile and develop solutions that can scale with the organization. The technology partner you choose should have a track record of meeting market demand.
- For example, you can check how the company turned challenges like Cloud Computing, delivery of mobile capability, GDPR, etc. into opportunities.
- Another area of flexibility is the company’s technical alignment. A closed architecture means you will end up having issues with integration, maintenance and scale down the road.
- Look for pointers like integration standards (does the offering have open API’s and what standards do they support?); interfaces (can they create custom interfaces to create new digital scenarios by connecting applications?).
- Another critical consideration is deployment flexibility (cloud, on-premises, or hybrid) depending on how your business (or regulations) evolves.
RUN FAST AND STEADY — Can they build innovative solutions at a pace that matches your organization’s market demands?
Speed with consistency is everything in this fast-paced, new technologies based, innovation-driven change. The digital transformation partner you choose must bring with them:
- Faster Time-to-Market enabled by a robust planning & execution strategy and the necessary technology building blocks to speed up the implementation process
- Best-of-breed solutions enabled by partnerships with technology vendors who are disrupting the digital transformation space
- New Technology capabilities powered by new channel enablement with mobile, social interactions, and data analytics.
How do you think Digital Transformation will change the way you engage your customers? Share your insights in the comment section below👇.