- Transformation
- February 2022
What Are the Top Digital Transformation Challenges?
So, you have decided to join the digital movement and want to address issues related to legacy systems. Knowing and addressing the top digital transformation challenges is essential before creating a digital transformation strategy or roadmap.
This article will list the challenges of digital transformation that organizations must consider before building their digital transformation strategy.
Why is digital transformation important for business?
Digital transformation disrupts an organization's operational processes. It allows organizations to modernize their legacy systems, older processes, organizational workflows, and culture.
Read our ultimate guide on digital transformation: Digital Transformation Guide: An In-Depth Review for Undertaking Organizational Digitization Initiative
An organization's decision to opt for transformation affects business-wide operations. This decision helps them centralize their previously isolated processes and allows them to make real-time data-driven decisions. So yes, digital transformation is essential to match the current competition and scale with efficiency.
Why do companies struggle with digital transformation?
If not 100%, the struggle is partly due to human psychology. Yes, humans naturally struggle to accept any change or transformation. An add-on struggle or challenge is created due to fear of not achieving the desired ROI, time estimation for achieving transformation, and the upfront capital investment.
When the question arises, "Are you ready to make real fundamental changes to your business?" The most prompt answer will be "Yes." However, some common digital transformation challenges prevent companies from taking such initiatives.
What are the standard digital transformation challenges?
Even though digital transformation helps organizations reimagine their business with digital technologies, digitized processes, and personnel, it will be met with challenges.
Top digital transformation challenges
Digital transformation is not just about integrating cutting-edge technologies into the business mix. It is about understanding which process requires innovation, where automation will profit the business, and where technology can improve customer experience.
1. No digital transformation strategy
The following questions must be answered before implementing any digital transformation strategy.
- Why did the need to modernize the legacy systems and automate your manual processes arise?
- Does your organization plan to implement an advanced technological stack?
- Is your business well prepared to migrate the existing systems into modernized ones?
Without creating a digital transformation strategy, the success of a digital project is not guaranteed. Never rely too much on any false assumptions or fancy terminology.
Businesses must find areas where they can improve their organization's process and the areas that need immediate digital upgrades.
2. Lack of IT skills
54% of organizations said they could not accomplish their digital transformation goals because of a lack of technically-skilled employees. – Harvey Nash Group
Finding a skilled and high-performing IT team is another challenge organizations face while implementing digital transformation efforts. The current work-from-home environment is a major challenge for businesses trying to find the right IT workforce for their digital transformation initiative.
The significant challenges that are put in front of modern organizations wanting to take digital transformation initiatives are lack of skill sets in
- Cybersecurity
- Application architecture
- Software integrations
- Data analytics
- Data migration
Organizations that lack IT professionals with these skill sets face roadblocks while implementing their digital transformation strategy.
3. Budget constraints
Budget is a significant pain point and often a challenge for digital transformation. Yes, investments in a new technology stack are hefty and should be considered completely before digitalizing.
Plus, when an organization already feels budget pushback, a transformation strategy will only make things tricky and add more delay to the entire digital transformation initiative.
4. Pushback in accepting new technology stack
New technologies are intimidating, and enterprise solutions are inherently complex. With legacy systems and manual processes integrated into an organization's core process, changes often occur much slower.
Such an organization will have difficulty convincing the workforce about the benefits of automation and training them on new technologies.
5. No change management strategy
When you think of transforming the business, you think of including the latest tech stack that assists you in making profitable decisions. Throw in using new tools, combine them with employee resistance, and you can see the digital transformation initiative fail.
This is where the lack of a change management strategy abruptly spoils digital transformation efforts. Sometimes, businesses are so focused on the technical aspects that they overlook or fail to consider the workforce that will directly be affected by the initiative.
Conclusion: You need a digital solution consultant to overcome the challenges of digital transformation
While undertaking digital transformation initiatives, organizations' challenges help them prepare for unwanted pitfalls. We hope this article helps you pinpoint those pitfalls and allow you to determine the effort you will require to achieve success.
The ultimate change businesses want to see in their processes requires a bold vision and failproof tactics backed by practical and sensible shifts across their organization.
Remember that transformation doesn't occur overnight, and it is not a one-time process. Stakeholders must be notified about the incremental changes that will take place over time.
In the meantime, create a list that helps make the time, talent, and budgetary investments required for the transformation. You will need concrete process data to smoothen the decision-making process and help prioritize all the transformation activities.
Digital transformation is a continuous process; what is new today will be outdated 5-10 years later. So, your digital transformation strategy must be combined with long-term organizational goals and objectives.
Rapidops has worked with organizations as a digital transformation consultant at every transformation phase. We have helped clients consolidate their business strategy and efforts with a more pragmatic approach, keeping future disruptions in mind.