We have talked about what digital transformation is and what it represents. Now the question is, How do you come up with a digital transformation strategy?
First, you need to find yourself a true partner or a trusted business advisor. This is someone that can look at your business in its entirety. Not just an ERP publisher but a true value-added partner. Someone that can work with your cloud ERP solution, your infrastructure, your integration needs, and your key strategic partnerships. In short, you need someone that can focus on the entire journey, not just one aspect or component of it.
Secondly, you need a partner that represents a truly open solution, one that is built from the start to be delivered in the cloud.
Your goals are really pretty simple here
You need to become a truly connected business. Your people, customers, and key partners need access to the information that allows them to make decisions in your favor immediately. The information must be available, accurate, and constantly updated.
You need to be able to rapidly integrate to the world. Your business probably has the need to communicate with other systems, equipment, resources, software, etc., which means your trusted advisor will need to ensure your cloud environment is not only connected (the easy part), but it must also be integrated (the not-so-easy part). But when you combine always connected with fully integrated, the power of your “competitive advantage” is hard to deny!
Your cloud-based ERP solution MUST allow for remote collaboration. One of the things that the COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrated was that we could go from working in an office to working from home in a matter of hours—not months or even days. Digital transformation means elegant, timely, and accurate communications regardless of where someone physically sits. In addition to working remotely, we also need to be able to work from a mobile device. Again, this has become a requirement, and few business solutions offer an elegant method for accomplishing this.
As mentioned above, you also need to become digitally resilient. Does your cloud ERP software allow you to quickly, effectively, and profitably change your model? Can you find ways to prosper when others fail? And if you were a company that thrived in the pandemic, can your system manage hyper-growth?
Finally, a successful digital transformation strategy creates a future-proof platform. No matter what the market throws at you, you are prepared. No matter what natural disaster befalls us, your company is ready. No matter what kind of restrictions are encountered, you are flexible. Being “future-proof” is your responsibility to everyone in your company. They are counting on you to be ready for that next unforeseen reality.