Digitization is no longer a new topic and "digital transformation" has been at the top of many companies' agendas for some time now. And although a large proportion of companies are actively working on it, the potential underlying this megatrend is rarely exploited.
"65% of companies in Germany see themselves as laggards in digitization"
Bitkom, 2021
Initially, it was enough to integrate individual digital technologies into existing value chains and products. But today, value chains and business models must change holistically. Digitization therefore affects all aspects of the organization, from dealings with customers and partners to employees' working methods and processes to offerings and how they are marketed.
"Two-thirds (69 percent) expect digital business models to be of very great importance or even decisive for their own economic success in five years' time"
Bitkom, 2022
The complexity of these necessary changes can quickly overwhelm companies. It is therefore not surprising that only 24% of all corporate transformations are successful. But no transformation is no solution if companies want to remain relevant in the digital age. Successful digital transformations therefore require new, systematic approaches.
"Only 24% of all transformations are successful"
Reeves et al, MIT Sloan Management Review, 2018
Targeted digital strategy as the starting point for successful transformation
A well thought-out digital strategy with a clear picture of the future is at the beginning of every successful digital transformation. It must be determined individually which strategic goals are to be achieved through digitization and how well the company is already positioned in individual areas in order to uncover and address the most relevant fields of action.
A successful digital strategy is based on the following building blocks:
- An external analysis of the market, trends, technologies, business models, etc., in order to record and prioritize the opportunities and risks in the market related to digitization
- An internal analysis of business models, value creation processes, etc., to identify strengths and weaknesses in relation to digitization
- The development of a maturity model with relevant fields for digitization from an external and internal perspective (e.g., processes & ways of working, culture & mindsets, offerings & business models, resources & infrastructure, etc.) as the basis for subsequent analysis and planning
- The definition of strategic goals for digitization and the corresponding derivation of a picture of the future ("TARGET") based on the maturity model in order to prioritize the most important fields of action.
- Determining the status quo of the organization with regard to digitization based on the maturity model ("IST") in order to identify the largest gaps for action ("SOLL-IST")
- The development of possible digitization measures (e.g., development of new business models, IT infrastructure, cultural change, customer centricity, etc.) to address the largest identified gaps in action
- A selection of the most relevant digitization measures aligned with the objective
