The digital transformation requires creative and disruptive thinking. But the effort is worth it - for companies of all sizes. Because digitization opens up enormous potential to increase the efficiency of operational processes and to gain valuable development and competitive advantage with new products and services. The greatest risk still lies in doing nothing. But the implementation causes headaches for many companies. Not by chance, because experience shows that many digitization projects fail. This blog post tells you what to look out for and which 7 mistakes you should leave to others.

1. Old ways of thinking

"If you digitize a shitty process, you have a shitty digital process." Thorsten Dirks, who was CEO of Telefónica Germany at the time, already knew in 2015 that old thought patterns are the enemy of all progress. Therefore, put your previous processes to the test and consider whether and how a digitization project will really advance you. The support of a sparring partner like KUMAVISION can be valuable. Because he brings experience from different projects and can give new impulses with the unobstructed view from the outside.

2. Not just Industry 4.0

The digital factory and the Internet of Things are among the drivers of digital transformation. But if you only think of Industry 4.0 when it comes to digitization, you are wasting valuable potential. Whether paperless processes, electronic data exchange or mobile apps for the field service, whether scanner solutions, text and speech recognition or new business models such as pay-per-use or predictive maintenance: digitization encompasses an extremely wide field of application and is not only relevant for the manufacturing industry Theme.

3. Rigid hierarchies

New ideas also require new structures. Create a start-up atmosphere. Form an interdisciplinary team that includes IT specialists as well as key users and future users. Rely on agile project methods such as Scrum, which enable short innovation cycles. And very important: digitization doesn't just run alongside day-to-day business. The team needs time and freedom of choice.

4. Rush to act

Don't put everything on one card. A digital revolution that turns the entire company upside down overnight will inevitably fail. Instead, use the motto “Start small, think big”. Identify and discuss fields of action and user scenarios together in an innovation workshop. This is followed by the definition and development of a prototype, which is continuously tested, checked and further developed. Only when the pilot project has proven itself successfully will it be implemented on a large scale.

5. Wrong partners

It is not enough if your digitization partner has mastered the technology. Industry and consulting expertise are just as important in order to optimally integrate the new solutions into the existing architecture and business processes. In order to reduce the risk of getting hopelessly bogged down in technological details, preconfigured services and templates are an advantage. These are based on best practice processes from other projects and can be quickly and easily adapted to your own requirements.

6. Data silos

Speed ​​is critical in the face of increasing competition. Waiting a long time for joint decisions therefore acts like a stumbling block. The result: individual departments independently introduce solutions, the data of which is usually stored in isolation. As tempting as these solutions seem, they have one major disadvantage. Data is not available for subsequent processes such as financial accounting without time-consuming and costly manual data transfer or interface programming. You should therefore pay attention to a uniform database, as is the case with Microsoft's technology platform, which supports various business applications and Cloud- Offers united.

7. No change management

Digitization usually also means disruption. Take employees with you early on in the event of changes. Make it clear that digitization does not serve to cut jobs, but rather to grow the company or relieve the workload on employees. However, you should also take into account the possible negative effects of digital transformation in work processes. If, for example, the checking of incoming invoices is automated, the responsible employee will only have to deal with exceptional cases in the future. An additional area of ​​responsibility provides a new perspective.

Are you ready? Do the check!

Before you start a digitization project, you should be able to answer these 15 questions with “Yes!”.

• Concrete use case defined?
• Key users involved at an early stage?
• Resources (team, time, budget) available?
• Is the solution scalable?
• Can you adapt without programming?
• Has it been integrated into other business processes?
• Data exchange possible, data silos excluded?
• Data protection (GDPR) complied with?
• Ready-made building blocks, templates, etc. available?
• Future security: technology roadmap known?
• Partner with industry experience?
• Support services available?
• Are you aware of all cost factors?
• Is there a concept for the introduction?

Start the digital transformation now!

As a sparring partner, KUMAVISION supports companies in their digital transformation. Our own digitization team with consultants and developers will advise and accompany you throughout the entire transformation process. Together we will talk to you about your ideas and ideas, put them into concrete terms and support you in their implementation. You too can benefit from the competence of our team and develop solutions for your digitization strategy in a workshop format. Arrange a personal consultation directly.

More articles that might interest you

Transformation at the push of a button

It is a match!