If you're interested in Digital Transformation, we have a treat for you. Head over to this page and listen to the episode of The Manchester Digital Podcast that takes an in-depth look at #DigitalTransformation.
Firstly, what is digital transformation?
Digital transformation is a process in which an organisation adopts digital techniques and practices in an attempt to fundamentally change how it operates.
The process can be scary – one that involves challenging the status quo, experimenting with unknown variables and being prepared, on occasion, to fail.
An organisation going through digital transformation must be prepared to completely overhaul its culture, walk away from long-standing business processes and, in turn, adopt new ones that have often yet to be defined.
As you can imagine, this can be an extremely daunting prospect. Or, depending on your viewpoint, and an incredibly exciting one.
So why are people bothering in the first place?
Depending on the organisation, digital transformation can lead to enhanced efficiency, lower costs, increased profits or a better service for the end user.
Let's take a look at an example of transformation within healthcare.
Within hospitals, many staff have traditionally used pagers to communicate but that could be about to change.
A new app called Medic Bleep looks to save millions by saving nurses and doctors 50 minutes per shift whilst providing better patient outcomes, too. A great result all round, as will be the (hopefully) successful implementation of plans to share the care record’s for all of Manchester’s 2.8 million citizens.
What about within business?
In commerce, failure to transform could prevent new opportunities from being explored, or even threaten an organisation’s very existence.
Remember Blockbuster?
Right now in the S&P 500 list, we’re currently witnessing a rate of change, the like of which we've never seen.
- In 1958, U.S. corporations averaged 61 years on the index.
- By 2011, this figure was just 18 years
- Today, companies are being replaced on the S&P approximately every two weeks
Likewise, only 12% of the Fortune 500 companies from 1955 remain on the list today?
Why is this?
Possibly because only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital transformation strategy.
But, rather than see those stats as a scary thing, we urge organisations within Manchester to see digital transformation as a positive, not a negative – to embrace it as a chance to refresh, to take a look at your business with a fresh perspective and to explore the new opportunities made possible through digital transformation.
In the next section, we are going to look at an example of digital transformation from Co-op Digital, before taking a look at some of the Manchester-based firms that could help you kick start a conversation about transformation within your organisation.
What’s happening in Manchester?
The Co-op – a Manchester institution – places transformation firmly at the heart of their digital strategy.
For Carl Burton, Head of Product at The Co-op, digital transformation is all about continual evolution, as we found out when we caught up with him on the topic.
Change is constant and what we’ve learnt at Co-op Digital is that transformation is never complete.
You need to shift your approach in order to continually evolve and stay ahead – not just survive.
I've recently been leading a team that’s developed a product called Co-op Guardian which has transformed our Funeral business. It’s been developed iteratively and focused on meeting user needs.
This has meant we’ve learnt along the way and reduced the risk of building the wrong thing.
Many things have changed since we started but we’ve been able to pivot several times in order to achieve the outcomes the business needs.
With increased regulation on the horizon and an increased focus on affordability, we could easily have been in a position where we would already need to start another transformation project in order to survive. Instead, we are set to lead the industry through a period of unprecedented change.”
Carl’s insights demonstrate that large organisations stand to gain a lot from digital transformation but they have to be agile, willing to make, and learn from mistakes and be prepared to invest a lot of resource into the process.
There are small margins between success and failure.
Who are Manchester’s digital transformation pioneers?
If you’d like some guidance on digital transformation but are unsure who to speak to, here are some Manchester-based firms that are working in this space.
Discerning Digital
Discerning Digital are transformation experts that bring together planning, product and content in order to make transformation happen.
Their work includes helping the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland to increase membership and to connect existing members to services and resources.
Their impressive results on this campaign have seen:
- €30k saved annually with automation and reduced hosting costs
- 75% increase in monthly site visits since launch
- 34% increase in online bookings since launching, over 20,000 purchases
- 50 days annual administration saved.
Human
Human is an agile software and strategy consultancy specialising in supporting SME’s in the manufacturing and engineering sector with their digital transformations.
Human believe that emerging technologies should be used as a force for good to remove much of the menial, repetitive jobs UK workers are doing every day.
Through the power of automation, cloud computing, and other cutting-edge technologies they’ve helped clients such as Swift Dental to reduce order processing times minutes to seconds.
Skylab
Skylab is a digital agency that believes organisations must embrace digital change to achieve sustainable growth.
Their work has seen them help Swim England to develop an app to get lapsed swimmers back in the water and also create an online magazine tasked with reducing printing costs.
Equal Experts
Equal Experts focus on working together with clients including Hermes, Legal & General and Tesco to deliver regular and lasting success.
A notable case study includes their work helping the Home Office with their digital transformation. During this project Equal Experts replaced a legacy process, saving private beta users 350 hours of usage time per month.
Have you recently gone through a transformation and would like to share what you’ve learned with our members?
Are you a digital transformation consultancy that would like to share your work with our network, get in touch to arrange an interview by emailing thom@manchesterdigital.com.
