Digital Transformation: Challenges for Marketing, Sales, and IT [Updated White Paper]

15 terabytes of mobile video traffic is generated and US$20,928 is sent over PayPal worldwide in 10 seconds. Our lives are rapidly being digitised.

Cutting-edge technology (like smart thermostats, virtual assistants, and personalised services) are available to consumers. This results in new and increasing customer expectations that companies must meet in the context of digital transformation.
The processes and roles in digital commerce should change to respond to these new circumstances. Not only is a new mentality needed, but new positions and methods as well. They need a great ability to change as well as agility and team spirit to achieve business success in the digital era.

In our updated white paper »Digital Transformation Challenges for Marketing, Sales, and IT« we provide a comprehensive and pragmatic overview of the current state of digitisation. Then we show which success factors of digital transformation companies should use to win the digital race.

Why is digital transformation so important?

Digitising lives involves many changes that shouldn’t be ignored by companies:

• today’s consumers are digital. In 2016, there were 1,610.1 billion online shoppers worldwide (representing growth of 10.1 per cent over the previous year).
• This reality can be transferred to the B2B realm, where B2B buyers, inspired by their private lives, are increasingly embracing e-commerce. In fact, 93 per cent of them would rather shop online.
• The number of networked devices is increasing. By 2025, 100 billion of these devices will result in a trillion-sensor ecosystem. The Internet of Things is closer than ever.
• Mobile’s becoming essential. Smartphones, apps and mobile sites are establishing themselves as distribution channels and gaining increasing influence as tools for searching for information when researching for purchases For 21 per cent of companies, mobile is the primary driver of revenue.

But in this sense, a digital transformation needs to evolve, from »that’s not my area of responsibility« to thinking about the big picture and a culture of problem-solving, innovation, and experimentation.

For the market it’s important to consider the following to be successful.

• The customer is the heart of everything.
• Implementation.
• Data is a new currency.
• Speed and flexibility.

In addition, internal transformation is also of great importance. Everything has to be put to the test. Organisational rights, roles, and responsibilities as well as processes in everyday work life.

• As a consequence, it may be necessary to replace the classic hierarchical structure of a company with a dynamic matrix structure to enable better coordination and faster implementation of innovations. Agile methods and digital collaboration tools are new concepts that are tailored to today’s needs, helping to better coordinate workflows.
• Training a workforce is crucial. It’s dramatic: Only 10 per cent of executives say that their HR department uses a special recruiting or digital literacy training program.
• Business models should also be redefined to respond to the demands of the digital world. In addition, IT landscapes should be adapted if current solutions don’t meet digitisation’s demands. In this scenario, a microservices software architecture can gain a foothold in the digital market.

At the forefront of digitisation

In our updated whitepaper »Digital Transformation« we’ll give you tips and guidelines for a successful implementation of the digital transformation. In addition to change management and agile methods, we show how IT, sales, services, and marketing must work together and think in interdisciplinary ways to improve the customer experience.

Training employees is also key to achieving the goals of meaningful digitisation. The white paper can be downloaded here. You can also directly contact our experts!