Agile digitalization is crucial for companies

Whether it's the growing global competition, the move to digital channels due to the pandemic or the ever-changing needs of customers and users - the need to digitalize your business has never been as high as it is today and it will only grow further.

Tl;dr: Even though the need to digitalize is immediate, companies should plan long-term instead of implementing short-term solutions. With agile working methods, it's possible to stay productive long-term without losing goals and deadlines out of sight.

Content: 

1. Digitalization is not a one-shot solution

2. Agility leads the way

According to Statista, the spending on digital transformation is projected to reach 1.78 trillion US dollars in 2022. Different outlets are speculating on a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 15 - 20 % in the following years.

"The digitalization of a single business unit or process creates an island for its users."

Digitalization is not a one-shot solution

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But for many companies, one quick digital solution often is the first - and only - step. We've had many customers who started their digital journey with a digital shop environment only to realize that they could not connect the shop to their sales, marketing and service activities. Furthermore, their stationary and digital shops and channels were isolated from each other, thus creating gaps in the customer experience.

A shop without a CRM system, marketing automation and connected service technology is like an island with a single ferry route. Of course it can function on its own but things take a lot longer and often need to be managed manually. Additionally, it left the customers on the island with no connection to other parts of the company's journey.

DIGITALL offers you a 360°-solution for your online shop and customer (journey) management. 

Should you immediately implement everything at once?

Of course, it's hardly feasable for many companies to digitalize everything in one gigantic project, whether due to budgetary reasons, lack of resources or structural reasons. After all, even with the best implementation partners, you need to set aside resources to write requirement catalogs, document processes and data and work on an overall strategy for your new digital platforms and tools. Besides, a transformation almost always affects the daily business and the bigger the project, the bigger the possibility of having to halt or reduce business temporarily (not to mention the risk of halting everything if something goes wrong throughout the process).

Agility leads the way

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Agile project development, DevOps and lean management all are part of a culture that acknowledges that big (or endless) transformations can be easier managed when they are deconstructed into smaller work packages and milestones. They support a viewpoint that sees change as something constant and fluid and adapts by offering ways to plan, implement, test and optimize changes continuously without ignoring deadlines (in fact, it's much easier to hit deadlines and budget limits with these approaches).

The digital transformation itself is not finished once you've implemented your shop, CRM platform or Cyber Security systems. The digital transformation is ongoing, due to technological developments, the advancement of data sciences and megatrends as well as disruptions creating new ways and a new culture to work, interact, communicate and automate.

And I specifically use the word "culture" because agility shouldn't just be part of project management but also of your company's strategy, your leadership style and your business models.

"Agility should be part of your company's strategy, leadership style and business models."

An agile company can weather any change

Agility means to acknowledge that things will always change and that it's necessary to be able to move with these changes. That doesn't mean that you can't have a solid foundation, routines, business models and reliable platforms, far from it.

But instead of building something made out of one concrete frame, you work with building blocks, that individually can be changed, moved, exchanged or expanded. That way, you don't have to change everything just to move an inch. Instead, you can adapt what's necessary, while the rest can continue business as usual.

In that way, companies grow more natural, like a tree that shapes itself with its environment by growing in different directions (sometimes even through obstacles), spreading out horizontally or vertically, leaning towards the sun and showing just enough flexibility in a storm that they can move with it instead of breaking.

Read how Komax adapted to the agile project style for their CRM project which succeeded all expectations.