Successful digital transformation: the four things companies get right

Navigating the river of technology choices is critical for the success of technology companies. Unfortunately, there is often so much flotsam and jetsam to navigate through and around, can make the correct choice difficult at the best of times. Being able to identify your needs and stick to them goes a long way in keeping on track. Each business without exception wants technologies that can deliver value quickly and consistently and to focus this they need to clarify what applies to them.

Basically they know what they need, want and not to get too bogged down on anything else. Whittling down to the relevant choices makes it a reality because you can guarantee there will be hundreds of cloud platforms or application frameworks that can answer the call. That does not mean they can’t shop around and see what else is out there though.

A wise investment

Efforts to transform require investment and that financial commitment should be clearly set out within the strategy, with digital at the heart of it. The latter acts as an innovative manner in which to answer a customer need and businesses focusing on success are wise to this. Digital transition is quite an undertaking for businesses. It requires them to be aware that revising their existing processes will grow them into an agile customer-focused operation which gives them the competitive advantage.

Customer-focused user design

It is very important to design products and services that keep the customer user design in mind. The most successful businesses get into the user mind and understand the goals and needs of the customer, talking through sticking points and frustrations. Getting in the mind of the user means knowing when to get the balance of user experience right. Using the product development process to test and validate their assumptions and using real users for prototype testing will give added insight through user feedback.

Reducing time-to-market

Businesses that have truly embraced digital transformation know they must accelerate time-to-market. They know that it is a direct indicator of profitability and can significantly increase ROI.

They also know that it becomes more crucial as customer expectations continue to rise. At the same time product quality cannot be forfeited for speed even though these businesses are innovating by riding the digital economy wave. Underpinning this is the core knowledge that software be on (CI) continuous integration and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines. Automation promotes and facilitates communication and validation within the pipeline ensuring timely releases. Consolidated collaboration accelerates the deployment pipeline, advances development cycles and generates a quicker time-to-market.