Guide to Identifying Business Challenges
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To effectively initiate a digital transformation, organizations must identify and analyze core business needs and drivers such as market disruptions or competitive pressures. Gathering insights from employees and customers through surveys can help pinpoint inefficiencies and improvement areas before implementing new technologies. Additionally, a successful transformation requires establishing metrics for measuring return on investment and addressing foundational challenges like data infrastructure and employee education.
![TRANSFORMATION STEP 1:
Before investing in a digital transformation initiative, you’ll need to identify, analyze and
clearly define the core business needs that a new technology or process will address.
Use these strategies to help your team identify where digital transformation
will have the greatest potential impact on your business.
The top drivers for digital transformation include:
Whether it’s a market disruption or C-level directive, the broader catalyst for change is often a good
indicator of where underlying challenges may exist.
Is transformation being driven from within? Is there a new need or a new idea?
Is there competitive pressure or a source of external disruption?
Review your organization’s annual goals. Do these reflect or align with existing challenges?
What operational challenges have been identified in the past?
Without the end-user perspective, it can be easy to miss the mark when it comes to adding or
changing products or services. Conduct surveys or interviews with customers and employees to
gain a better understanding of the market need.
What processes, approaches or technologies are working? What’s not working?
Where do frustrations or complaints typically occur?
Where do bottlenecks, siloes or gaps in visibility exist for customers,
employees and management?
Although 90% of C-suite executives
believe their company pays attention to
people’s needs when introducing new
technology, only 53% of employees agree.
START AT THE
SOURCE.
GET A
FROM THEVIEW
INTO THE
DATA.
DIG
GROUND UP.
Growth opportunities
51%
Competitive pressure
41%
CIOs
28%
Set the scope and direction for planning
by identifying challenges and defining success at a high level.
More than 59% of businesses are currently using some method of
collecting business insights.
Consider which metrics you have available which can help to pinpoint
inefficiencies, defects or other challenges with your offerings. Which
new areas will you need to measure in order to demonstrate Return on
Investment (ROI)?
By which metrics are you currently doing well?
Where could they be doing better?
According to your data, which areas or departments have the most to
gain from adopting new technologies and new ways of working?
Which business metrics could be used as benchmarks to measure
improvement before and after your initiative has been put into place?
Look for commonalities in the data as well as feedback from customers and employees to
identify underlying issues behind product or service-related complaints.
Is there a physical or technical cause? Are there systems or equipment in need of optimization?
Is there a human cause? Are there areas where lack of knowledge or accuracy are an issue?
Is there an organizational cause? Are there policies or processes that are reducing efficiency?
DO YOUR
RESEARCH.
Top priorities for today’s digital innovation
initiatives include:
In evaluating a transformation initiative, take some time to consider the greater business
landscape, including market trends, competitors and customers.
What do experts and research reports predict for your industry or market?
What challenges may be on the horizon?
What’s the current climate of your marketplace or industry?
What challenges are other organizations in your industry experiencing?
How are they leveraging new technologies or processes to solve these issues?
improving operations
and business procesess
making employees
more productive
52% 41%
COMMON OPERATIONAL BUSINESS CHALLENGES
OF ORGANIZATIONS ARE
WORKING ON A DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY.
How will you transform?
Insight. (2019, May 6). Insight Technology Trends 2019 Report. Insight.com.
PWC. (October 2018). Consumer Intelligence Report Series.
Solis, B. (2019). The State of Digital Transformation. Altimeter.
Tech Pro Research. (Augustt] 2017). How Big Data Is Driving Business Insights In 2017.
Tech Pro Research. (2018). Digital Transformation: A CXO’s Guide. TechRepublic.
Tip: According to the principles of root cause analysis, it takes at least 5 “whys” to trace a problem
back to its true source. Use this technique to ensure you recognize and address the core issue —
not just the symptoms.
Visibility into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
If identifying inefficiencies within your organization is a challenge in itself,
you may benefit from a transformation initiative focused on leveraging
actionable intelligence to drive more effective decision-making through
data unification or real-time alerts.
Foundational infrastructure for data-driven solutions
Whether it’s moving to a multicloud infrastructure or extending to
the intelligent edge, these challenges need to be addressed first and
foremost in order to lay the technical foundation for future digital
transformation efforts.
Digital tools and process optimization for greater efficiency
Business challenges in this area often require a transformation focused on
empowering employees with more effective ways to get things done —
from leveraging smart devices and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to
embracing Agile best practices.
Knowledge and proficiency with operational tools and processes
If keeping employees educated on operations or offerings is a challenge,
transformation efforts focused on enablement through intelligent apps,
chatbots, augmented reality or virtual reality can improve employee
effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
Competitive disruption and an ever-changing business landscape
Even the most technically savvy organizations need to continuously
innovate to stay competitive. Technologies like AI and predictive
maintenance can help to maximize operational efficiency and give your
organization a critical edge.
Guide to
Identifying Operational Challenges](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/0420-di-identifyyourchallenge-41ddbc96-8fe9-4894-9407-aa561a462d13-1772198406-200602183138/85/Guide-to-Identifying-Business-Challenges-1-320.jpg)
Guide to Identifying Business Challenges
- 1. TRANSFORMATION STEP 1: Before investing in a digital transformation initiative, you’ll need to identify, analyze and clearly define the core business needs that a new technology or process will address. Use these strategies to help your team identify where digital transformation will have the greatest potential impact on your business. The top drivers for digital transformation include: Whether it’s a market disruption or C-level directive, the broader catalyst for change is often a good indicator of where underlying challenges may exist. Is transformation being driven from within? Is there a new need or a new idea? Is there competitive pressure or a source of external disruption? Review your organization’s annual goals. Do these reflect or align with existing challenges? What operational challenges have been identified in the past? Without the end-user perspective, it can be easy to miss the mark when it comes to adding or changing products or services. Conduct surveys or interviews with customers and employees to gain a better understanding of the market need. What processes, approaches or technologies are working? What’s not working? Where do frustrations or complaints typically occur? Where do bottlenecks, siloes or gaps in visibility exist for customers, employees and management? Although 90% of C-suite executives believe their company pays attention to people’s needs when introducing new technology, only 53% of employees agree. START AT THE SOURCE. GET A FROM THEVIEW INTO THE DATA. DIG GROUND UP. Growth opportunities 51% Competitive pressure 41% CIOs 28% Set the scope and direction for planning by identifying challenges and defining success at a high level. More than 59% of businesses are currently using some method of collecting business insights. Consider which metrics you have available which can help to pinpoint inefficiencies, defects or other challenges with your offerings. Which new areas will you need to measure in order to demonstrate Return on Investment (ROI)? By which metrics are you currently doing well? Where could they be doing better? According to your data, which areas or departments have the most to gain from adopting new technologies and new ways of working? Which business metrics could be used as benchmarks to measure improvement before and after your initiative has been put into place? Look for commonalities in the data as well as feedback from customers and employees to identify underlying issues behind product or service-related complaints. Is there a physical or technical cause? Are there systems or equipment in need of optimization? Is there a human cause? Are there areas where lack of knowledge or accuracy are an issue? Is there an organizational cause? Are there policies or processes that are reducing efficiency? DO YOUR RESEARCH. Top priorities for today’s digital innovation initiatives include: In evaluating a transformation initiative, take some time to consider the greater business landscape, including market trends, competitors and customers. What do experts and research reports predict for your industry or market? What challenges may be on the horizon? What’s the current climate of your marketplace or industry? What challenges are other organizations in your industry experiencing? How are they leveraging new technologies or processes to solve these issues? improving operations and business procesess making employees more productive 52% 41% COMMON OPERATIONAL BUSINESS CHALLENGES OF ORGANIZATIONS ARE WORKING ON A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY. How will you transform? Insight. (2019, May 6). Insight Technology Trends 2019 Report. Insight.com. PWC. (October 2018). Consumer Intelligence Report Series. Solis, B. (2019). The State of Digital Transformation. Altimeter. Tech Pro Research. (Augustt] 2017). How Big Data Is Driving Business Insights In 2017. Tech Pro Research. (2018). Digital Transformation: A CXO’s Guide. TechRepublic. Tip: According to the principles of root cause analysis, it takes at least 5 “whys” to trace a problem back to its true source. Use this technique to ensure you recognize and address the core issue — not just the symptoms. Visibility into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) If identifying inefficiencies within your organization is a challenge in itself, you may benefit from a transformation initiative focused on leveraging actionable intelligence to drive more effective decision-making through data unification or real-time alerts. Foundational infrastructure for data-driven solutions Whether it’s moving to a multicloud infrastructure or extending to the intelligent edge, these challenges need to be addressed first and foremost in order to lay the technical foundation for future digital transformation efforts. Digital tools and process optimization for greater efficiency Business challenges in this area often require a transformation focused on empowering employees with more effective ways to get things done — from leveraging smart devices and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to embracing Agile best practices. Knowledge and proficiency with operational tools and processes If keeping employees educated on operations or offerings is a challenge, transformation efforts focused on enablement through intelligent apps, chatbots, augmented reality or virtual reality can improve employee effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Competitive disruption and an ever-changing business landscape Even the most technically savvy organizations need to continuously innovate to stay competitive. Technologies like AI and predictive maintenance can help to maximize operational efficiency and give your organization a critical edge. Guide to Identifying Operational Challenges