A successful digitalization strategy requires clear vision, careful research, and employee engagement
If your company is planning on investing in digital upgrades, rest assured, it’s not alone. According to a report by Flexera, over 74% of global companies consider digital transformations a priority. That’s higher than cybersecurity, cloud migration, or even customer experiences! But rushing ahead is not without risk. Leaders must first choose a digitalization strategy that matches their organization. With the right roadmap, your transformation can be a digital success story instead of a cautionary tale.
Digitalization isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the present for industries around the world. Read our comprehensive guide to make sure your business is on track.
What is a digitalization strategy?
A digitalization strategy is a formal business plan to update a company’s analog workflows to their digital equivalents. It details any procedures that will change, expected challenges, and an execution roadmap.
Remember that a digitalization strategy may (and likely will) incorporate both digitalization and digitization elements. Digitization is the technique of converting physical documents into accessible digital formats. Digitalization converts workflows from analog to digital. For example, brands that usually communicate by phone might transition to email messages.
Choosing a digitalization framework
While each digitalization strategy is unique, you can still learn from other businesses. That’s why it’s worth finding digitalization frameworks that reflect your organization. These systems outline the responsibilities that specified departments will follow during a digital transformation. Use the frameworks as templates to assist with the coordination of IT professionals, customer support, and other teams.
Digitalization frameworks can include general guidelines or industry-specific recommendations. Some frameworks might focus on specific processes, such as supply chain management. Others can emphasize shared operational pillars like IT uplift, operations, or digital marketing.
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Designing the right digitalization strategy
The details of your business’ digitalization strategy will be unique to your organization, but here are some general factors to keep in mind:
Digital vision
No organization should digitalize on a whim — it should proceed only if leaders have a clear vision of what it can and wants to achieve. Include a brief vision statement outlining what a digital transformation should look like. This statement should align with existing business strategies and mission statements wherever possible.
Setting performance targets
How will anyone know that your digitalization strategy was successful without performance targets? Decision-makers should always select key metrics and benchmarks for tracking progress. Revenue and profits are a good starting point but the strategy shouldn’t stop there. Increased productivity or client acquisitions can also provide helpful insights.
Research and analysis
Next, thoroughly analyze existing workflows to highlight areas where technology can drive improvements. For example, companies that automate repetitive tasks usually see improved productivity ratings.
At this stage, one excellent idea is highlighting institutional gaps that limit digitalization. Filling these gaps helps streamline the strategy as it unfolds during later stages. Are there any team members with information technology expertise? Has anyone been part of a digital transformation? Leverage internal resources to close knowledge gaps before looking to external sources.
Organizational buy-in
According to McKinsey & Company, one reason 70% of transformations fail is employee resistance. This resistance can relate to several factors, such as fear of job loss or reluctance to retrain. Whatever the circumstance, employees sometimes fight the digitalization process. That’s a problem — leaders must engage everyone for digital transformations to succeed.
Don’t get so caught up in high-level objectives that the entire team loses sight of the strategy. Instead, ask yourself why employees should care about a digitalization strategy. Some will engage when they have an opportunity to share their insights and feedback. Others might buy in if you prove digitalization reduces repetitive tasks. It’s also a good idea to provide retraining sessions that help employees adjust to changes.
Charting a digitalization roadmap
Every good strategy needs a roadmap to execute its goals. A digitalization roadmap breaks down every element of the transformation timeline, step-by-step. Most include graphs and charts that organize tasks and estimate timeframes by department. With a well-designed roadmap, any reader should be able to visualize the path ahead.
For some enterprises, a complete roadmap might cover a two-year period. Others might put forward a streamlined rapid digitalization plan in a shorter timeframe. In either case, a strong roadmap will not change every workflow at once. Instead, focus on small changes to operational pillars where everyone can see results. Leaders can collect feedback before expanding their scope to other workflows.
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Our recommendation: fi-7700
The good news about digitalization is that it’s easier than ever to find tools and partners to help execute your strategy. We take great pride in having spent the last 50+ years researching, designing, and developing some of the world’s most advanced and powerful electronics, including our professional grade fi and SP series of scanners.
Built to purpose for the most demanding document handling jobs, fi and SP scanners are capable of processing up to tens of thousands of pages per day at the highest levels of accuracy. Their intuitive integration capabilities with existing work suites minimize time-to-value for businesses looking to invest in tools that could pay dividends for years to come.
Whatever the size of your business, the fi-7700 can enhance your digitization efforts. Between its rotating automatic document feeder (ADF), 300-page hopper, and 100 double-sided PPM horsepower, the fi-7700 can quickly handle most document scanning needs. For everything else, an A3 double-letter flatbed can accept fragile documents and other materials up to 656 feet long. Click here to learn more or shop the rest of our production scanner line.
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