As the world becomes increasingly connected, digitisation is becoming a key strategic interest for many financial services organizations. There are a few key lessons that entrepreneurs must keep in mind for a successful digital transformation as it has become unavoidable for most organizations. Nearly 97% of financial services firms are investing in digitization and almost 68% have a clear strategy in place (as compared to 63% in other sectors).
It is not merely about buying some software/platform and forcing your team to use it. It involves a carefully created roadmap and there is a high probability of failure if all measures aren’t followed. Around 78% of all enterprises fail in scaling and sustaining their digital transformation efforts.
It goes without saying that implementing digital technology and using it is not an easy shift but an important one. Here are a few things to bear in mind when you adopt digitization.
Begin with the end in mind
Most digitization journeys fail before it begins. The culprit? Not having a clear goal and a plan in place. When you start your journey towards digitization, make sure to map out your plan with clear actions and timelines. Outline your goal whether it’s improving customer experience, saving on costs,or speeding up the business process. It is also great to have one main goal and to have smaller goals for each segment.
Involve Everyone
Digital transformation is a strategic change within the organization and it needs buy-in from all the stakeholders– both junior and senior. A senior official should not be the sole person responsible for it. It needs to involve all the employees who will be using technology in some capacity or another.
Manage the change – It’s a long journey
As the cliché goes, it is not a sprint, it is a marathon. Digitization takes time and effort to be implemented successfully. Handling the changes gradually and effectively is a leader’s responsibility . Communication is key and you should be aware of and manage emotions, fears, and also celebrate small victories and milestones. Beyond implementation, the adoption is where a lot of the challenge lies. It would take a lot of intent, effort, and planning to get people to use digital systems.
Focus on experience
For a successful digital transformation experience, it’s imperative to ensure both the customer and employee experiences. From a CX perspective, you need to ask some of these questions: are the digital solutions you’re implementing saving time and effort for customers? Are they enabling you to deliver more competitive pricing? If not, you could be adding complexity without meaningfully improving the overall experience. In terms of the employee experience, it’s important that employees are onboard with digital transformation and that they gain the skill sets necessary to make effective use of digital innovations. Communication and training will be key here.
Adapt processes and systems to fit the overall goal
Digital transformation is also an opportunity for you to streamline your processes. Some of your processes are critical and have probably evolved over years of work. But this was in a pre-digital world. It would serve you well to relook at all processes and to remove the ones redundant and streamline overall. Digital products allow you to crash your process timelines effectively. Take advantage of this.
Keep security as a central focus
Financial services and BSFI organizations should take their security very seriously . You are dealing with sensitive financial data on a daily basis. Evaluate your partners and scrutinize the platforms that you are choosing carefully to ensure that they have all the necessary features to guarantee the security of your data. It is recommended that you choose established vendors as they usually have a sharp focus on cybersecurity.
It takes a great amount of planning and execution to execute digitization. Get it and forget it approach will land you amongst the 78% of organizations where the efforts ultimately fail. It needs constant attention and cooperation from your entire team.
Entrepreneurs need to remember that the new way of doing business is harnessing the power of technology to make your work efficient and impeccable. Adopting digitization and adapting to it makes it work the way your business will ultimately profit.
Authored by Vaibhav Vasa, Director, Biz Analyst