Many small companies, as well as larger enterprises, have realized through experience, that going digital is not a golden pill to their success. However, digital transformations aren’t easy for any business – this digital transition changes the way your company operates internally, as well as with clients and other businesses.
In 2018, the Harvard Business Review published an article explaining why even the biggest and most successful market players fail at going digital. Nike, Ford, Lego, GE, Burberry, and Procter&Gamble wanted to stay ahead of the curve and become “the most digital companies in the world.” The companies invested heavily in digital initiatives but they failed. Even though they weren’t limited in resources, the digital transformations didn’t pay off quickly enough to be implemented throughout these companies.
So why do enterprises fail at going digital? Mainly because digital transformations aren’t plug-and-play solutions. In order to be implemented successfully, it has to be more than just “skin deep” – it must run through the veins of your company.
We’ve researched and found out the top five reasons why companies fail at going digital.
Fuzzy Definitions
Very few people actually know what “going digital” actually means. However, everyone has at least some idea of what digital transformations consists of. But when (or if) going digital shows signs of failing, chances are that’s happening because each definition is different.
According to a Wipro Digital Study, 35% of respondents reported that the lack of consistency on digital transformation was a key obstacle to achieving their full digital transformation.
Economic Changes
Many of us learned core economic principles several years ago and saw their power while setting up businesses. But new realities of digital competition differ from those we got used to.
New McKinsey’s research shows that the digital revenue growth is decreasing for the bottom three quartiles of companies but at the same time it’s continuing to grow for the top quartile. Unless you’re a leader in your sphere responding boldly to digital trends, there are high chances that your growth is or will soon be going downward.
Wrong Mindset
Resistance to change, fear, feeling overwhelmed, doubt – all these feelings are valid but utterly disastrous when it comes to steering your business through digital barriers. Wipro Digital has found out that one in five senior executives have serious doubts about their digital strategies. Some even call them just a waste of time and resources.
According to the following study, resistance to change and feeling overwhelmed during digital transformations are the top two reasons for failing at digitizing.
Faulty Roadmaps
You get the “why” but can’t figure out the “what”, “when”, and “how”. You’ve already decided to go digital but you’ve stalled out because you don’t know when and where to start transforming your business.
What needs to be changed first? What order? And can you transform all of the company’s processes? You’re getting overwhelmed with metrics, methods, and other such like changes. Take a deep breath and start with smaller changes.
One of the easiest ways to start going digital is to go paperless first. For example, you can try SignNow for successful contract signing. With this electronic signature solution, you get contracts signed in just a few clicks. Taking this little step can help you move forward to bigger digital changes.
Lack of Human Resources
Throwing tons of new responsibilities and roles at your existing staff isn’t a good idea. If you take this rout, your digital transformation ambitions are likely to fail. No doubt, you have a great, talented team that helped build the foundation for your company – but they need to have not only the right skills but also the right tools to take your company to the next level.
When it comes to major digital transformations, you’ll need tons of software engineers, data scientists, AI experts, etc. When speaking about your first steps towards going digital, you can take advantage of plug-and-play digital document solutions like SignNow for electronic signatures or PDFfiller for digital workflow. They are equipped with tools that are ready to work and integrate with your business right out-of-the-box.