‘Digital Transformation’ has become the word du jour. The pandemic sped up the process or, at the very least, the use of the terminology. Love it or hate it, it’s an inevitability within organisations or businesses across sectors.
Digital transformation is the integration of technology into areas of business that change how you operate and deliver value to customers or clients. It’s the process of rethinking old models of operation and enhancing experimentation (responsibly) to become more agile and flexible to changes in your customers’ and markets’ needs. Oftentimes, it extends into the culture of your business.
We often meet with operators and founders with incredibly successful businesses who question the requirement of any digital transformation.
‘Well, it’s worked so far’
‘It hasn’t slowed us down, in fact, we’ve experienced our highest growth ever’
‘Why fix what isn’t broken?’
Good question. If the processes and systems that the business was built upon aren’t malfunctioning or showing any signs of slowing down, why implement technology for the sake of technology? The reason why is slightly less simplistic and requires us to look under the hood in most cases.
Let’s use our favourite market as an example, animal health. Veterinary clinics exist in the grey space where a small minority have exceptional digital processes and systems while the other end of the spectrum still use pen and paper. The majority of the market, however, is somewhere in between. The animal health market has always been a strong growth market but grew beyond the upper expectation since the start of the pandemic. Some practices we have seen grew upwards of 30-40% in 2021. Software level growth rates.
However, the processes and systems within these clinics didn’t adjust accordingly. The middle market was still utilising hybrid systems with some client bookings completed online but a majority still written down for the receptionist to pencil in. Procurement is sometimes automated once stock levels drop but the system itself is left to its own devices. Client updates and post-op literature is physical first and if you forget the brochure, please make sure you come back to collect it. Locum management is an ad hoc adventure depending on the size of the practice and staff scheduling is overlooked and undermanaged.
This paints a different picture, doesn’t it? The surface-level figures we see from growing markets often have an underlying efficiency and sustainability problem. This is common in all expanding industries and businesses. Ad agencies, media houses, home services, and even real estate all have similar issues that can hinder scalability and management.
The leaders of digital transformation projects often receive a lot of pushback from internal teams when people feel their value and jobs are at risk. I believe that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about digital transformation. We’re not talking about robots replacing factory workers but skilled professionals leveraging technology to enhance their work, experience and fulfilment. Nurses shouldn’t feel threatened by automated post-op resource guides or telemedicine but empowered that they can focus on their face-to-face interactions with clients.
The best digital transformation team is not one that implements the best solutions in isolation but one that couples the solutions with soft skills illustrating the benefits and power of technology. Cross-functional teams with empathy that can drive systematic and cultural change within an organisation will have the most success.
That’s what we do at Mandeleo.
Until next time.
