Finding the Right Partner for Your Digital Transformation

In the broadest sense, “digital transformation” means moving your business operations from manual processing to digital processing or updating existing legacy systems to the modern technologies available now. And now, with many people now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for digital transformation is coming into sharper focus. So many companies were caught off guard by the mandatory business shutdowns and the resultant sudden need to have infrastructure in place that makes it possible to be fast, agile and managed from anywhere.

The challenge is often in the transformation itself. When it comes to customer communications, digital transformation can be complex. In converting your customer communications to digital, there a number of issues to consider:

• How to review and sort existing customer information that you may or may not want to carry over to the new system
• Finding communication technologies that suit your business and are adaptable to customer media preferences
• Developing messaging that allows for the customization and personalization needed to conduct meaningful and relevant interaction with customers

Companies might have two, three, ten, even 20 systems that are being used to manage their communications, and now realize that they need to find ways to streamline and bring more efficiencies to their processes, as well as help the transformation to digital. When that happens, the question becomes: how to get there? And inevitably, they turn to partners.

Transformation partners ease the transition

Finding the right partner to assist with digital transformation is not always a straightforward process. Different companies provide various types of support, from software vendors who offer installation services and training, to direct partners like SaaS companies, to boutique agencies that specialize in specific areas of implementation, to print service providers that are equipped to help your business make the change to digital output.

Some prospective business partners can help you to reimagine your communications infrastructure, as well as how to move those forward into a digital environment, and then also help to transform those communications and systems from a legacy environment into the modern world, including delivering your content digitally through multiple media channels. Conversely, other organizations may be limited to only moving you from one platform to another. Their involvement does not include driving or supporting the entire strategy; they’re merely providing the assistance to “lift and shift” your existing data and content.

Given all these different options, when choosing a partner, it is best to start by identifying your goals in modernizing. Questions to ask include: Are you simply migrating from your legacy systems with few other changes, or are you looking for improved efficiency and faster, less costly operations? Is the main purpose to provide a better customer experience? (If not, please rethink your goals.) Your digital transformation should be part of an overall communications strategy that satisfies your company’s goals, with enough flexibility and/or scalability to serve you well into the future. You won’t want to do this all over again in five years—so choose your partner carefully.

Choosing wisely

Ideally, the partner you select should have a background that demonstrates expertise in the areas you most need it. For example, offshore firms, which can be very cost-effective, have the capability to take on mechanical work, but it’s unlikely they can help you determine what document content is most effective with your customer base. Additionally, be sure to consider your industry environment. Companies that work largely in the consumer retail space have different requirements and issues than, for example, a property and casualty insurer. The partner you choose needs to have a proven understanding of your space and the markets you serve. It’s also important to determine whether the partner is flexible enough to take your business seamlessly into the future. Usually, this involves the implementation of a destination content management system—a content hub, if you will, that allows you to intelligently manage content and deliver it to any of the tools, channels or technologies you’ll want to utilize today or in the future.

The content hub also should provide mechanisms to help you keep that content well organized. This is where artificial intelligence becomes a powerful part of digital transformation; it brings the power and intelligence of the system into your everyday activities and processes—not just as a one-time migration activity, but as part of the ongoing maintenance and control of the system. Any partner that plans to stay with you long-term will understand that AI and its companion, ML (machine learning), need to be well-integrated across your communications platform, not only to hasten the transformation process, but to better support your company’s future growth.

That leads us to the question of whether you want a partner for the duration of the migration or longer term, one that will continue to work with you after implementation? If you are looking long-term, it is important to assess your potential partner’s core competencies to determine whether you can count on their longevity. One strong indication is a company’s history of innovation. In the digital world, being able to create and/or deploy new approaches and technologies is the norm, and any partner who can’t keep pace may not be able to support you for very long. Which is why this thought bears repeating: You won’t want to do this all over again in five years—so choose your partner carefully.

Read the original article on DocumentMedia.com by clicking here.