Digital Transformation Consultation—Do You Need It?

Market changes, consumer demands, and rapidly evolving technology are forcing businesses to undergo digital transformation, whether or not they want to. While digitization helps organizations thrive in a new digital environment, not all businesses achieve it. 70 percent of digital transformation efforts fail because of slow, outdated processes, organizational misalignment and friction, ineffective governance, and a lack of employee empowerment and autonomy.

Digital transformation involves changing organizational structures and business processes to exploit new technologies and market opportunities. Organizations use DX to improve operational efficiency, for faster time to market, and to deliver value to customers. In fact, integrating digital technology into every business area can grow and scale its financial success significantly. 

But even the best digital transformation plans, if poorly implemented, can spiral out of control. A digital transformation consultation helps your business use emerging technology to maximize its potential. It helps you incorporate teams in the broader digital vision and acquire the right technology, to make your vision a reality. If you’re considering DX but are unsure about digital transformation services, here’s how you can unlock new business value through technology.

What is digital transformation consulting?

It’s a process in which businesses seek expert advice on implementing digital technologies and simplifying their processes to deliver better customer experiences and business outcomes. It helps organizations identify digital transformation opportunities to enhance the customer and employee experience. Digital transformation consulting may be on the business model, process, cultural/organizational, or domain transformation.

Top digital transformation consulting firms evaluate your organization’s requirements, ways of working, existing resources, and ability to scale, then recommend suitable digital processes and transformation guidelines to help you effectively use digital tools and platforms. They use deep technology expertise, tested practices, and advanced analytics to design a digital strategy, set clear objectives and timelines, and plan, set up, and control digitization projects. 

Successful digital transformation consulting services effectively link people, processes and technology to reduce costs, increase organizational agility, and improve revenue, performance and competitiveness. Digital transformation consulting companies also establish digital ecosystems and simplify the adoption process to encourage an organization-wide cultural change that speeds up digitization efforts. 

Why enterprises need digital transformation consulting?

Digital technology drives business changes in almost every industry and offers a competitive advantage to early adopters. With digital transformation consulting companies, you'll strategize DX initiatives better and spend less time and effort on digitization efforts. You'll also:

Minimize long-term cost:

Estimates show that organizations spend at least $1.3 trillion annually on digital transformation initiatives alone. And yet, a massive $900 billion goes to waste thanks to mismanagement. The expense of a failed digital transformation can bring a company to its knees. 

Hiring digital transformation agencies helps your business streamline its existing model's digital competencies and assets, increasing your ROI. Unlike in-house experts, DX consulting agencies come with tools, and you only pay for their work hours.

Enhances customer experience:

The advancing digital age is providing customers with more choices than ever, underscoring the need for businesses to create better customer experiences. Investing in digital transformation can offer a more personalized, seamless digital experience across all business channels and keep your customers loyal.

Digital transformation services help you collect client information and evaluate customer feedback to make effective business decisions that improve your products and services. Consulting also improves the scalability and reliability of IT systems, data privacy, and security, all of which indirectly affect the customer experience.

Advices on technologies:

Every organization has diverse needs and digitization goals. Each faces unique business challenges, which makes it tough to know where to begin in implementing a digital strategy. A digital transformation consultant with technical expertise can help you navigate the technology landscape and determine which tech solutions best fit your business requirements.

Leveraging emerging technologies accelerates your digitization efforts and draws you closer to your transformation goals. With a digital transformation consultation, your company can adapt, improve and scale through technology to deliver better quality products and services more efficiently and cost-effectively. 

Remain competitive in the industry:

Customers who are unhappy with your business will quickly take their business elsewhere. Additionally, you'll quickly fall behind if you don't keep up with the latest technology trends. 

Digital transformation consultation can help your businesses stay open to change, establish yourself as a leader in your industry, and stay ahead of the competition.

The right digital tools help you quickly and efficiently rework your business strategies and prepare to meet unexpected events with less risk. A digital transformation consultant can help you predict future performance, make informed decisions on your company's new direction, and accurately meet market demands. Advice on technology induces changes for easier, simpler processes and more efficient performance.

When to get digital transformation consultation?

• When your team struggles to embrace new technology: Digital transformation consulting services are essential when your team relies on obsolete technologies and resists change. A consultant provides professional guidance and outlines a roadmap to help your team adapt to and use the latest technology and transition to a digital enterprise. 
• When you want to fine-tune your business processes: When your business is growing, you need to automate slow, tedious, manual processes and identify operational bottlenecks to meet shifting customer and stakeholder demands. A consultant can suggest the right digital solutions and technology upgrades that, when implemented, streamline your business processes, and help you scale easily. 
• When you lack a sound data security and backup plan: Digital transformation agencies efficiently address data security, privacy, and cybersecurity issues. They offer sound advice and recommendations to help you create a data recovery plan. Data security won't be a major concern and your business can defend itself from security threats.
• When you want to train teams on digital technologies: DX consultants can train your team on how best to use your new digital tech stacks to increase productivity and efficiency. They offer tips on how to stay agile and responsive to quickly resolve serious tech issues and prevent technical failure.
• Pros of digital transformation consultations

Pros of digital transformation consultation:

Diagnose digital inefficiencies:

Digital transformation consulting services help identify business vulnerabilities, a critical step for any successful DX initiative. A good consultant ensures systems run smoothly and optimally by addressing your digital transformation concerns, assessing your tech stack, digital infrastructure status, and backing up your entire digital infrastructure. They also examine your digital capabilities for long-term success and help you adopt cloud-based solutions for improved scalability and agility.

Identify security threats:

Every business is susceptible to multiple data breaches in the current digital era, sometimes daily. A DX consultant can identify potential security threats and help your business protect itself against them with features such as enhanced email security,  high-quality antivirus protection, or firewalls. A consultant also shows you how to take charge of the situation in the face of a threat.

Plan and train your workforce:

Digital transformation consultation prepares your employees by training them on technological changes and helping them embrace digitization. A consultant can host workshops, seminars, or one-on-one sessions to educate and mentor business teams on digital transformation resulting in optimized business processes. Training employees increases competency and helps your organization transition faster to digital transformation. 

Save money and time:

A digital transformation consultant is a business investment that helps you set up sound digital technology to minimize stress and save money and time. Rather than seeking short-term digital solutions, a consultant saves costs by hiring numerous employees and providing long-term digital solutions. They focus on multiple digitization projects and streamline operations to improve business performance.

Increase productivity and efficiency:

Digitization increases collaboration and frees employee time, allowing them to focus on higher-order tasks, increasing job satisfaction and workforce productivity. Employees who feel part of a positive and forward-thinking organization are more engaged and motivated. Digital tools also boost employee creativity, self-worth and encourage innovation when solving challenges.

Gain expertise in digital transformation:

Top digital transformation consulting firms understand the latest tech market trends sufficiently to bring objectivity to your organization's needs and provide useful insights. They will help you create custom digital solutions to counter technical challenges and increase your competitive advantage. Their expertise will help your business increase employee retention rates, customize the customer experience, and scale.

Cons of digital transformation consultation:

• Financial risk: Hiring a digital consultant can be more expensive than working with in-house digital transformation experts. If your project is cash-strapped, hire a consulting agency only if you're sure they can scale revenue or boost productivity. 
• Limited availability: Consulting agencies are always pressed for time because they often serve multiple clients at a go. If you need consulting services urgently, odds are, they may not be available. Moreover, after some time, digital consultants leave, letting your employees execute the digital strategy. 
• You may not achieve the results you wanted: There’s some uncertainty tied to whether a consultant will provide the results they promised or not. To minimize risks and uncertainty, conduct a thorough background check before hiring a digital consultant.
• Future-proof your organization with a digital transformation consultation

Future-proof your organization with a digital transformation consultation:

No digital transformation journey happens overnight. But whether you're launching new digital ventures, reimagining your business models, or embracing new digital capabilities, digital transformation can help you achieve unprecedented value. As the future of technology changes rapidly, a digital transformation consultation can make the transition easier for you.

If you're having trouble finding the perfect digital transformation platform, try Kissflow. You'll optimize processes faster, elevate your employee experience, and complete your digital transformation journey without a hassle. Kissflow's insightful data analytics and reporting will help you make sense of the immense data you collect to make better decisions. 

Combine digital transformation consulting with Kissflow's cutting-edge digital technology to optimize your internal operations, develop new products, and turn business users into responsible citizen developers. You'll use technology to make incredible progress in digital transformation and keep pace with the changing market.