How to Measure the Success of Your Digital Transformation Strategy
The mere adoption of a technology-based solution or a few new business AI tools isn’t enough for businesses to truly transform. Companies worldwide are grappling with the complexities of digital transformation, a process that requires a deep-seated shift in both operations and culture.
Successful transformation is not simply about embracing technology; it’s about leveraging it to enhance internal processes, elevate customer experiences, and foster a digital-first internal culture.
Despite promising numbers, 70% of digital transformation endeavors “fall short of their objectives,” research by American global management consulting firm, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows. That’s even among top-performing companies.
Global spending on digital transformation is set to near $3.9 trillion by 2027, with a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1%, data by the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows.
The IDC also reports the United States will account for 35.8% of global digital transformation spending, followed closely by the Asia-Pacific region (including Japan and China) with 33.5%. Finally, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region will account for the remaining 26.8% of global spending.
But spending on digital transformation is one thing and achieving results and measuring success is another.
Defining Digital Transformation Success
Digital transformation isn’t a one-and-done step or a series of steps. It’s a process.
Keeping this in mind can go a long way toward ensuring a successful digital transformation strategy for your organization.
Your strategy should begin by defining your objectives. What do you want to achieve with digital transformation? And what does success look like?
Your second step is conduct a digital maturity assessment of your organization. Also known as a digital capability assessment, this is a comprehensive evaluation of your company’s current digital capabilities. It looks at your organization’s readiness across various fields, including business strategy, your employees, your tech infrastructure, and your processes.
You will also need to consider developing your teams’ digital skills and how they adapt to technology to ensure a successful digital transformation strategy. This includes upskilling programs with a focus on enhancing digital capabilities among your team.
Part of your strategy should also be evaluating operating efficiency and how it benefits from your digital transformation initiatives. Operating efficiency metrics vary depending on your business. They can include lower error rates, better inventory management, better resource allocation, new software adoption, and streamlined operations and workflows, to name a few.
Finally, consider the impact of your digital transformation efforts on customer experience. Review metrics such as customer satisfaction scores and retention rates. If you are in tech or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, consider churn rates and higher adoption of self-service options.
KPIs for a Successful Digital Transformation
There are various key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure for a successful digital transformation strategy. While these KPIs may vary depending on the size and industry of your business, you can consider the following KPIs as essentials.
The return on digital investment KPI measures the financial impact of your digital transformation efforts by evaluating profitability and value generated. Return on digital investment KPIs can include cost saving and optimization, higher revenue, along with impact on operating efficiency.
Digital technology greatly affects employee productivity, making it an important metric for measuring the success of your digital transformation efforts. Metrics for employee productivity can include time saved, the number of tasks completed before and after the digital transformation, employee satisfaction, among others.
Determine the customer experience metrics you want to measure. A successful digital transformation strategy should result in a higher retention rate or lower churn.
A cost-benefit analysis is a key factor in measuring the success of digital transformation initiatives as it assesses the financial impact of those initiatives.
Conducting a cost-benefit analysis is key for measuring the success of your digital transformation initiatives. Examine metrics such as cost savings, return on investment (ROI), and cost per transaction.
Besides cost-savings and more completed tasks, are your digital transformation efforts delivering additional revenue for your business? Tracking the revenue generated from digital investments answers this question. It also shines a spotlight on the tangible value created, along with the success, of your digital transformation strategy.
The revenue generated from digital technology KPI helps you see the impact of digital initiatives on generating new sales and new revenue streams, as well as expanding to new markets.
Further reading: Considering Rapid Business Expansion? Beware of These Hidden Traps
Common Mistakes When Measuring Success
It’s easy to pinpoint KPIs and outline a strategy. And yet, 79% of businesses fail in their digital transformation attempts.
One of the most common mistakes is setting unrealistic goals, which is a surefire way to ensure the failure of any strategy.
But with digital transformation, there are more serious mistakes business owners and managers make.
1- Failing to identify risks
Digital transformation affects all aspects of your business. That includes cyber and network security, third-party integrations and partners, privacy, operations, among others.
Regulatory factors and data leakage are also among the risks to consider and keep an eye on when implementing digital transformation.
2- Assuming digital transformation is an IT thing
Digital and tech are two sides of the same coin. It’s why many managers, and even employees, assume digital transformation only pertains to the IT department.
Whether your digital transformation strategy involves digitizing HR systems, automating inventory, streamlining marketing and sales operations, something else, or all the above, the process may begin from the IT department but it impacts everyone and everything.
3- Failing to keep your teams in the loop
One of the key factors for a successful digital transformation strategy is ensuring every employee is aware of the strategy and how it affects them.
This is where a change management strategy comes in. It’s a structured process that helps your team members understand the upcoming changes and embrace those changes.
Failing to keep people in the loop is one of the biggest mistakes companies make and that results in lots of money invested but no change within the organization.
4- Doing too much, too fast
As mentioned, digital transformation is a process involving various teams in your company. So, it’s not something you can achieve overnight, like a system reboot. Many companies begin their digital transformation with enthusiasm and big plans. Too big, in fact, that they end up trying to do too much in a short time frame.
The result? A failed digital transformation.
Examples of Successful Digital Transformation Projects
Although a large percentage of businesses fail to implement digital transformation, others have succeeded.
Here is how 3 global companies have fared in their digital transformation attempts.
Adobe
Computer software company Adobe’s digital transformation is by far one of the most important to note when discussing digital transformations. The company previously operated on a license-based model, where customers purchased a license to use Adobe’s products.
However, Adobe’s digital transformation strategy involved changing its business model to a subscription-based model, making it a cloud and SaaS business. It also involved acquiring e-commerce platform Magento and web analytics company Omniture.
Adobe’s digital transformation strategy wasn’t limited to technology, the US company invested in an HR management strategy that included employee benefits and satisfaction, as well as improved employer branding.
Adobe’s digital transformation efforts resulted in where the company is today. In 2023, Adobe Inc. reported over $19 billion in revenue.
Starbucks
Global coffeehouse Starbucks’ digital transformation strategy was named ‘Digital Flywheel.’ The company generates 90 million transactions each week across its 25,000 worldwide coffee shops.
To make use of this massive amount of data, Starbucks turned to predictive data analytics across its supply chain and marketing and sales efforts.
Starbucks knew its digital transformation strategy relied on its world-renowned Starbuck Rewards program and its mobile app., which offers quick, easy payment options.
The coffee maker’s digital transformation strategy is a customer-first strategy. The Digital Flywheel focuses on 4 pillars, which are rewards, personalization, payment, and order,
Combined, the strategy along with the rewards program and mobile app answer two essential customer needs, which are convenience and avoiding long queues.
Amazon
Mega shopping retailer Amazon began as an online bookstore. But its digital outlook and investments transformed it into one of the world’s largest online retailers and marketplaces.
The US-based company’s digital transformation focused on harnessing the power of data and analytics, giving it a clearer view of buyer behavior and patterns. Using AI, Amazon is well-known for its AI-based product recommendations, which drive sales and repeat business.
However, its digital initiatives don’t stop at its mobile app, they impact the company’s mega warehouses and delivery systems, around the world.
Amazon’s digital initiatives also play a major role in customer success and experience. From its easy returns to quick payments to automated and human customer support, Amazon is a case study of digital transformation success.
Building the Blocks
Embarking on a digital transformation of a business is a big endeavor. Often, it’s hard to fathom how much is truly involved during the transformation process, while maintaining daily business operations.
Companies like Adobe, Starbucks, and Amazon knew that digital transformation was critical for their growth and success. They also knew it was not an overnight reboot of current processes.
Depending on the size of the business, a digital transformation strategy can take years to implement. But it’s important to maintain operations during that time, while avoiding making changes to all teams all at once.
Learn more about successful digital transformation and how it would look like for your company when you book a free consultation from Valuwit.
