An interesting and topical research conducted by Gartnerreveals 6 points at which digitalization appears to go wrong: a conservative culture, sharing and collaborating too little, an organization that is not ready for digitalization, a talent gap, a way of working that hampers talent, and challenges involving change. All of these are recognizable obstacles that our IG&H consultants often come across at the companies which choose to work with us. All the more reason to have a close look at digitalization.
Doing ‘something’ with digitalization, but what?
“We need to do ‘something’ with digitalization.” It’s a frequently heard statement made by many company managements. This generic announcement has to do with the fact that many organizations have only just begun to discover that IT is a big part of their product. Some industries have even grown into true software factories – such as banks, which solely create software and algorithms. Virtually, this means IT is the only remaining product for them. In retail, growth continues steadily through e-commerce, and in healthcare, the digital component also keeps expanding. In short, automation is indispensable to everyone who wants to respond quickly to their customers’ demand. Of course, this is essential if you want to survive – or, even better, if you want to distinguish yourself!
It is good to realize this, but awareness alone will not get you far. For example, your current process design and way of working may be at odds with your digitalization plans. In that case, what are you supposed to do? Adjusting such matters is expensive and time consuming, and it often comes with risks. If you don’t handle digitalization the right way, your process will fall apart before you’ve had the chance to go through it from A to Z.
Knowing what’s going on
If, for example, your system isn’t properly documented, it will be difficult to digitalize it. Before you start with a transition towards digitalization, it is essential to be abreast of various aspects within your organization.
Many companies are dealing with legacy issues, which make it hard to quickly respond to user needs. Larger organizations that have gone through mergers and acquisitions, for instance, can easily work with 3 or more CRM systems. In such cases, you often don’t know exactly who your customers are. This makes it difficult to develop a good, central overview of your customers, which would allow you to utilize every opportunity and achieve true customer loyalty. Additionally, companies often lack insight into the productivity of and the value delivered by development teams.
If you want to develop towards a so-called Digital Factory, so ‘IT’ truly becomes the measurable factory of added value, you need to know such things exactly. Only then, you can correctly set up IT processes, select the right people (and provide teams with the right coaching to achieve objectives), and use proper tooling! The construction industry has embraced this approach years ago: those who design a bridge have a computer calculate the required strength of the construction. Manual labor is completely unacceptable, and in many countries – including the Netherlands – it is even forbidden. But when it comes to digitalization, many organizations go back to old-fashioned ‘manual labor.’ Remarkable, because as with a bridge, a lot is at stake here. Therefore, it seems more logical to use the right tooling. After all, this ensures that the construction rests on a solid foundation that won’t collapse after you’ve built the bridge.
What direction will you take?
After you’ve defined the desired goal, you need to determine what direction you and your company will take. The strategy is essential, as is the transition itself.
Before delving into this, it is important to realize that there is no 1 formula for success when it comes to digital transformation. Elements such as company culture and the need for change play a significant role. A retailer who still wants to exist in 3 years, for example, should really have their online branch in place. In some other sectors, the urgency is a little less high, which means there’s more time to handle digitalization.
Get to work enterprise-wide
Should IT be part of the business or vice versa? It is the central question of a discussion held within many companies. The answer is: it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ll only succeed if you truly work together. Eventually, there will no longer be a ‘business’ and ‘IT.’ They will converge.
Moreover, you should look at the data/analytics part: how will you measure and what data do you need for proper and timely control? Even better, how will you predict what may happen, and are you currently anticipating this? To this end, elements such as the right KPIs and dashboarding, which are often still highly spreadsheet centered, should be fully in order and automated…!
Briefly put, think carefully about how you measure. What you really need to track is the number of people who love to use your product! This is crucial. Unfortunately, not many companies judge themselves on this user adoption. A missed opportunity with far-reaching consequences, because ultimately, users determine your long-term success. If you provide a pleasant experience by optimizing processes using IT, you’ll secure your organization’s future. This is just as important as the quality of the product you deliver – the experience is part of your product or service!
How to go about it
A number of the issues discussed above can be tacked perfectly with the introduction of a Low-Code platform and an Agile way of working. As OutSystems is currently the best Low-Code platform, IG&H has decided to work with it.
With a Low-Code platform, you can build software faster and better. Like the name suggests, you need very little code. You largely model software the way you would model a bridge, car, or plane. The difference is that with this model, you subsequently generate the software with 1 press of the button. Moreover, there’s a level of flexibility: when you have specific software that you cannot yet model, you can add it manually later – hence, the word ‘Low.’
Furthermore, maintaining models requires less time than maintaining hand-written software. So with a Low-Code platform, you considerably lower your company’s maintenance costs, making more money available for innovations and improvements.
Organizations with legacy systems can keep using these sources through OutSystems, but get the opportunity to rationalize them in a phased and low-risk way. In the meantime, they already benefit from shorter lead times for new functionality andmodern, pixel-perfect user interfaces. Using these, they can support and improve the much-needed customer experience.
In addition, OutSystems offers the possibility of rapid prototyping. This is the quick development of prototypes without high costs, which often enables the delivery of a prototype within several weeks – very useful when you want to test new concepts in practice! If you combine rapid prototyping with a smart use of data analytics, you can quickly book results.
Using OutSystems, we help organizations make a successful transition to sustainable digitalization. All the points we’ve discussed in this blog are covered during the process.
Interested in what we can do for your organization? Don’t hesitate to contact me. You can also find us at the NextStep conference on October 8thand 9th, which IG&H will attend.