The Top 4 Digital Transformation Challenges You’re Likely to Face (and How to Best Overcome Them)

When you’re talking about something as inherently malleable as technology, "challenge" and "adversity" are two things that you can never truly eliminate. The key to success in terms of digital transformation has less to do with trying to totally eliminate all potential problems and is more about knowing how you’re going to react when you do reach these pain points along the journey.

Yes, your digital transformation process is one that will be filled with certain challenges, but by taking steps to understand them as much as possible today, you’re putting yourself in the best possible position to overcome them tomorrow.

1. Cybersecurity in the Modern Era

Cybersecurity is, and will always be, one of the top digital transformation challenges that you’re likely to face, but new legislation that was recently introduced in Australia is about to make that much more difficult. Essentially, the new law will punish organisations who fail to report a data breach that compromises personal information to their customers and the public at large in a timely manner.

Though this is a good idea in principle, experts believe that this could actually make organisations a more attractive target to hackers than they already are. But would you rather pay a fine to the government for failing to report a data breach or a ransom to hackers who hit your system with a massive ransomware payload?

By far, you need to establish a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to cybersecurity, which is mainly why partnering with a managed service provider is so important. Instead of desperately trying to maintain control by keeping everything in-house (and possibly paying a hefty price along with that control), you can turn to an MSP to proactively monitor ALL of your resources to help make sure that these are the types of situations you don’t fall into in the first place.

2. Change is Good. It’s Time to Start Believing It.

Another one of the top digital transformation challenges you’re likely to face is resistance to the very idea of change in the first place. One of the biggest hurdles that most digital transformation projects fail to overcome involves a lack of support from an organisation’s financial department, marketing, business departments, and even leadership.

Yet at the same time, a total buy-in from all key stakeholders and collaboration between IT and business departments are often seen as the key factors behind the success of projects like Internet of Things (IoT) implementations. In order to overcome this challenge, you need to be ready to prove that any digital transformation is going to be worth the trouble to justify its own existence in the first place. Be prepared to present key research findings to company leaders, identify certain challenges to implementation, and present viable solutions. Anything less than an "all hands on deck" approach just will not do.

3. Out with the Old and In with the New

Another significant hurdle you’ll likely face in terms of digital transformation involves a heavy (and unnecessary) dependence on legacy systems and business models. Oftentimes, company leaders are resistant to change not because of massive disruption, but more because they’re overly protective of the legacy systems and processes that are already in place.

But this is one area where the old rule of "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" does not necessarily apply. You must be willing and able to see tech as the constantly evolving entity for which it is. Some products and services that you used to charge for will now be provided for free. Some systems that you’ve relied on for decades will need to be replaced. Being resistant to these ideas will only serve to delay the inevitable and squander your competitive advantage at the same time.

By far, flexibility is the key to survival in the digital era that we’re now living in. You need everyone involved to embrace that fact as quickly as possible.

4. It’s All About the Customer Journey

Finally, a significant challenge that you must address when it comes to digital transformation ultimately involves creating a digital customer value proposition to understand how this transformation will help you better meet the needs of your customers.

In simple terms, you need to first understand what your customers need and want and then build digital transformation efforts around achieving those goals as efficiently as possible. Change for the sake of it is ultimately meaningless, and buying into fads that the tech world has to offer simply because it’s the "latest and greatest" won’t generate the type of results you’re after. You need to go deeper than that.

Before you begin any digital transformation, think about it in terms of the customer journey. Find out what their unmet needs are and see which technology trends will help you fill them. Then, establish the processes designed to align your digital transformation with the customer journey. Anything less than that is unacceptable in the modern era.

Powernet: Your Technology Partner

At Powernet, we understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day and the digital transformation journey that you’re about to take won’t be finished in a day, either. This is a long and involved process that will be filled with successes and setbacks, stumbles and victories — but then again, this is to be expected from a situation where the stakes are so high. However, we’ll be by your side every step of the way to help make sure your tech is optimised in a way to virtually guarantee the business objectives you’re after.

If you have any additional questions about the top digital transformation challenges you’re likely to face and how to overcome them, or if you’d like to find out more information about what a managed service provider can do for you during this time, get in touch with Powernet today.