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The 5 Stages of Digital Transformation - Where are you?

According to the MIT Centre for Digital Business, companies that have already embraced digital transformation are 26% more profitable than their average industry competitors.

Not only that, but they typically enjoy a 12% higher market valuation.

Digital Transformation

Having said that, there is always a reason not to do something, and the same goes for digital transformation; time, cost, organisation, disruption etc etc. It’s not something that simply happens overnight and there can be much deliberation on how to move forward with digitising processes - after all, not all companies possess the means to identify their wasteful and inefficient processes, quantify the savings, and put together a business case for the board.

When you consider the impact of digitising your document management and workflows, then sure, it seems like a nice idea to have easily shareable, backed up, secure documents that are easily accessible, but it’s not going to happen on it’s own.

As well as the pain points listed above, there is also a cultural change to be considered.

As digitising the company’s operations is a complex process, there are different stages of digital transformation.

Stage 1: Digital Resister.

A digital resister is a business that isn’t pursuing any form of digital transformation, preferring instead to actively avoid it.  

This runs the risk of becoming irrelevant within the marketplace as these companies fail to keep up with the fast paced technological business world.

In some ways, this is less of a stage and more of a starting point. It’s possible that companies in this stage need some convincing that digitising some of their processes and operations is the right thing to do for the company. This convincer could come from an employee in the business who has used digitised systems elsewhere and knows the benefits, or it might be the result of change in the company, such as moving office, mergers and acquisitions.

Companies that identify as digital resisters can review their operations and processes to decide if upgrading certain processes to digital can benefit them. Starting with core processes, this is how a digital resister can progress to become a digital explorer.

Stage 2:  Digital Explorer.

Digital explorers are companies with active digital projects and processes but don’t necessarily have a guiding purpose.

They are willing to try digitising their processes but may be looking for some help in how to do so. They are at least convinced that going digital for some business operations is a step in the right direction.

However, it is important to note that merely converting an inefficient process to its digital equivalent is not going to provide the benefits one may expect. Further, most Digital Explorers dont have the tools to decide which process would yield the biggest savings through digitisation - they may well start with a process that seems easy to digitise but produces less than dramatic results.

To become digital players, companies need to understand the benefits of digitising processes and gain some control of why and how they’re digitising them. The best way to do this could be to seek help from a Managed Print Service provider who has expertise in digital transformation.

Stage 3: Digital Player.

Digital players are much further along the digital transformation journey and are beginning to understand what they’re doing in terms of digitisation and why they’re doing it. They are often held up as the digitisation progress matures and are looking for a way to continue.

Whilst digital players might be steps ahead of digital explorers, moving beyond this stage is difficult. It’s possible that all the core processes have been digitised but identifying the real cost savings or increased efficiency still hasn’t been possible.

To move beyond this stage, digital players need to consider where digitisation fits in with the business strategy and how they can synchronise business operations across the company.  

It’s worth noting that 65% of organisations are “Digital Explorers” or “Digital Players”.

Stage 4: Digital Transformer.

The digital transformer stage is where things start to get interesting as these are the companies that have strong, synchronised digital transformation efforts, and who are well on their way to the next stage - becoming a disruptor.

They believe that digitisation can help them and they understand why digital transformation is a necessary part of the business strategy.

To become a digital disruptor, companies that identify as digital transformers should consider whether their digital processes are as efficient as they can be and need to be.

Stage 5: Digital Disruptor.

The final stage of digital transformation is the digital disruptor - this really is the point at which a business can use their digital transformation stage as a position to dominate their markets.

They aren’t being held back by old-school processes and they have everything well under control.

By becoming a digital disruptor, a company isn’t becoming paperless, but they are leveraging digital technology and applications to remove inefficiencies from business processes, such as document workflows.

It’s possible that you can already identify where you are in terms of the five stages, and it doesn’t actually matter what stage you’re at. It’s more important that you are able to identify your company’s stage with an idea of how you might progress.