Business Soſtware
Digital transformation – changing the culture of your business
Tony Pey (pictured), Head of Product Marketing, Kerridge Commercial Systems, discusses how businesses can best undergo the digital metamorphosis.
Y
ou process sales transactions on your ERP system. You have a website. Your customers can trade
with you over the internet. You market your business on various social media platforms. Does this mean you can sit back and bask in the belief that you have ‘digitally transformed’ your business? Unfortunately not. The briefest of research
into this complex subject and its definition will show you that ‘digital transformation’ is all about implementing technology to change the culture and behaviours within a business - rather than just using it to streamline existing processes. We’ve all seen a significant increase in
investment in digital technologies over the last few years, but increasingly business owners are questioning how these technologies should be applied and what the long-term strategy for their continued investment is. We believe this new attitude is a result of the growing realisation that IT has the capability of making money for the business, not just saving it – by totally changing the nature of how people are doing their everyday jobs.
ewnews.co.uk
Defining your strategy Digital transformation is also about the ability to meet the levels of today’s customer expectation – and the instant gratification we’ve all come to expect from being constantly connected through aps and mobile devices. Not surprisingly, when reading around the subject, the term ‘customer-centric’ stands out, but so does the ‘limitations of legacy culture’. Digital transformation is clearly being seen as an opportunity to differentiate your brand through enhanced customer experience, alongside enabling, rather than resisting, cultural change within the business. Today we believe there are two approaches to defining your IT strategy. The first is simply to extend the digital reach within your existing business model. Most likely a similar route your original IT strategy took as you integrated functions across the organisation. You probably began with investing in automated accounting and ERP, and continued by embracing CRM, supply chain, sales force management and other business functions. Applying this strategy to further areas of the business such as HR, payroll etc., are examples of how you might carry on
applying new technology to existing processes and activities.
The second approach involves using IT to
transform the business model itself. (This was the initial promise of first generation digital strategies, but one that often reverted to simply streamlining processes as outlined above.) Wholesaler and other distribution businesses are now seeing how they can take advantage of this shift in technology and behaviour to substantially improve efficiencies – and customer service - and are looking to their software providers to develop apps for use on iOS and Android devices to help facilitate the transformation. The objective being to enable multi-operatives to undertake tasks in a showroom or warehouse that historically would have to be done back at a desk or behind the counter. This will be made possible by fast, easy access to content rich functionality on a responsive device that is integrated via a server link into the IT infrastructure of the business. For example our ePOD solution delivers a new
autonomy to drivers by enabling them to access and manage a branch generated electronic manifest with signature capture. Deliveries or
●Continued over May 2019 electrical wholesaler | 17
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