Mark E. Engelberg, TimeLinx Software –
If this isn’t the first TimeLinx blog article you’ve read by me, you’ll have spotted other content discussing and advocating for “digital transformation.” It’s a theme that crops up in many business blogs, resources, and conversations these days. By harnessing digital technology, data analytics, and the possibilities of artificial intelligence, organizations are refining their approach to real time business processes, bridging the gap between a budding idea and a successful digital transformation outcome. These efforts often extend to transformation initiatives across the supply chain, customer experience improvements, and overall digital innovation that can sustain a business well into the future.
In 2022, transformation promotion will be hotter than ever, with every vendor promising you the world. You might say the word ‘transformation’—digital or otherwise—has been trending in general since, well… since businesses could ‘transform.’ Throw the word ‘transformation’ into any new project request, and you’ll likely increase your odds of securing funding. As more digital transformation businesses emerge, business leaders often find themselves tasked with building a digital transformation strategy that leverages data driven insights, machine learning, and framework digital transformation approaches to stand out in a crowded market.
But is ‘digital transformation’ at risk of being overhyped? Sometimes, hype swirls around the notion of digitalization digital transformation, and it’s important to ask the right digital transformation questions. The journey can be about more than technology business trends; it’s about ensuring a successful digital transformation effort that truly reshapes business models and avoids turning into a catchphrase with no substance.
What Does ‘Transformation’ (Actually) Mean… Really?
So ingrained is the notion of transformation in business culture that ‘transformation offices’ crop up in corporate headquarters. Is this necessary? Is business transformation that hard? Let’s find out. Many digital transformation organization teams emerge specifically to address how changing market landscapes or new technologies digital transformation efforts affect company direction. Even institutions like the European Investment Bank have highlighted how digital transformations can fuel economic growth by enabling voice-of-the-customer data, social media integration, and other real time process improvements.
A loose definition of business transformation might be:
Business transformation affects significant changes in how business is conducted to adapt to or counter shifts in the market and competitor environment.
Sounds kind of vague. To understand why businesses set up entire transformation wings to enact business transformation, let’s clarify that definition:
Business transformation is first understanding the underlying problems or causes of organizational pain and then addressing those causes in ways that fundamentally alter the paradigm of the organization.
Suppose entire business wings and responsibilities are being erected in the name of transformation. In that case, it’s because business transformation involves more than just rolling out change management projects—just understanding what changes are required is only half of the challenge. For many business leaders, any comprehensive digital transformation process demands a framework digital transformation approach that aligns technology and strategy, supporting the digital transformation journey through products services innovation, data driven decision-making, and integration with the broader transformation organization.
The Problem of Transformation and Change Management
If you’re a professional services organization attempting to understand known and unknown challenges holding you back, figuring out how to respond is challenging. Today, these responses often involve digital transformation initiatives that integrate data analytics, machine learning, or real time insights into the transformation process. Beyond that, the pursuit of digital transformation technology can also require an overhaul of business processes, especially when expanding into new digital business models.
Should you create a new PMO (Project Management Office) and call it the “transformation team”? Or perhaps invest in new buzz-wordy technology, or even acquire a start-up? No sarcasm here – all of those are viable options in a digital transformation business, provided they align with your transformation strategy.
Poorly planned change and transformation often result in vacuous hype
The point is, approaching change and transformation in PSOs (Professional Service Organizations)—where change advocacy and adoption mean getting buy-in from different levels and business functions—isn’t about making sudden moves. Ultimately, understanding digital transformation requires measured steps that fit both short-term goals and long-term objectives. If poorly executed, even the best examples digital transformation projects become hype that fails to deliver meaningful results.
If, for example, your leadership team unveils a new CRM without having fully understood the root challenges and business obstacles, then advocacy and bluster around ‘CRM transformation’ may well end up being little more than ill-conceived hype. Data driven insights should ideally inform these decisions, and they should coordinate with broader digital transformation framework exercises for maximum effect.
Transformation and change management aren’t about knee-jerk responses
The challenge of transformation isn’t about satisfying shareholders with acquisitions or transforming your entire technology environment to show leadership teams that ‘something is being done.’ Instead, a successful digital transformation approach also involves a clear transformation process. A well-planned project touches on data analytics, digital innovation, and the definition digital transformation that puts people and processes first.
That, readers, is the dead-end street to the kind of transformation hype that backfires and fizzles out.
True transformation and change management free of hype and grandstanding include three elements:
Vision: Having the collective awareness of the local challenges, rather than being distracted by the sight of common industry trends. Vision is about knowing where you want to go, why you want to go there, and what the outcomes will be. This is often the cornerstone of a digital transformation strategy where data analytics, digital technology, and machine learning offer newfound efficiencies.
Culture: True business transformation must trickle down from leadership AND filter up from HR practices. Change advocacy and implementation must shape the day-to-day operations mindset and push the mission effort across departments in the direction of the finish line. This cultural shift might involve exploring new business models and embedding digital transformation initiatives into existing business processes.
Leadership: For digital and business transformation to take root, leaders must avoid the easy route of delegating change-management projects to middle managers with an ultimatum to achieve specific outcomes. Leaders must be involved in the early fact-finding of mapping challenges with solutions from the highest levels. Then, they must ensure that top-down communication educates the entire workforce for the reasons behind, and progress of, change and transformation incentives. When aligned effectively, this leadership fosters a transformation organization capable of delivering real time insights, bridging technology business needs, and leveraging transformation initiatives holistically.
Did Your CRM Turn Out to Be Hype? Perhaps You Just Need to Add PSM (Project and Service Management).
For many professional service SMBs, digital CRM transformation can result in hype and hot air when the ‘as-sold’ outcomes fail to show up. However, CRM implementation projects are often just one PSM short of an ROI and profit picnic. If your organization is looking to orchestrate a successful digital transformation, consider how a comprehensive PSM can integrate with your CRM to form a business digital transformation foundation. By supporting your customer experience through each transformation process, you can more effectively create digital transformation examples worth celebrating.
An integrated PSM application can turn CRM hype into end-to-end project value
From your sales team to your senior management, a truly integrated PSM platform changes the way PSOs can profitably monitor, manage, analyze and optimize projects throughout the project lifecycle. In a technology business riding the waves of digital innovation, PSM seamlessly links front-office functions with back-office operations, ensuring data driven reporting and end-to-end visibility. As a footnote to this, an accounting system is just that: an accounting system, not a PSM. Don’t confuse them.
Don’t be the one that lets your CRM transformation projects misfire. Add an integrated PSM as your CRM’s sidekick that extends project value end-to-end from ‘quote-to-invoice,’ offering more ways to leverage digital transformations effectively and boost customer experience across various business processes.
TimeLinx PSM for Sage and Infor CRM
Discover how TimeLinx PSM extends Sage and Infor CRMs throughout the entire customer and project life cycle, from marketing campaigns to opportunities and quoting, service delivery, customer service, and technical support, and with optional integration connectors, your ERP system for billing, and more. This flexible solution supports a transformation strategy that weaves digital transformation technology into all aspects of operations, enabling data driven insights in near real time and tying these insights to your company’s broader digital transformation framework.
