Movement into the era of digital transformation

Movement into the era of digital transformation

discover | Sunday - 18 / 02 / 2024 - 6:09 am

Our ERP System

Digital transformation. In contrast to the client who considered our company “evil capitalism”. Hossam placed the cost of subscribing to our digital ERP system in front of accountant of the company. Hossam requested that the transaction be completed as quickly as possible!

When Hossam was asked about the required system (among our many systems), he answered with a painful statement: It makes no difference, what is important is that my company moves into the era of digital transformation in the simplest way.

Arabs say “cattle – or camels – are not watered this way” (An Arabic proverb that refers to someone who does a job or performs a task without skill or mastery).

At Logix, we do not care about marketing our products, as much as we care that, the customer chooses the product that is exactly right for his company.

After a ten-minute conversation, it became clear that Hossam was about to end his company’s activities! He told us about the cessation of the company’s business following the pandemic, and how some advised him to adopt digital solutions [each according to his experience], and the situation reached “legacy spaghetti.”

Legacy spaghetti?

This term refers to the intricate, intertwined web of outdated software systems and applications built on top of each other. They complicate the company’s operations so that, in the midst of all this chaos, it is impossible to meet customer needs.

To put things back into perspective, we asked Hossam: have you made a backup plan in case your competitors decide to destroy your business model?” The question seemed strange for Hossam, and here we told him how every company in his field is making the same changes as companies try to catch up with digital transformation. Competitors companies maybe a step ahead of his company. We informed Hossam about the story of Netflix and Blockbuster.

The Story

Here is the story in short: While Blockbuster limited itself to renting films to its store customers, Netflix realized it could offer a much larger movie selection, allowing customers to browse the list from home, then mail it out, and not charge any late fees;  This means providing an unlimited number of movies and TV shows for a modest subscription fee.

Today everyone knows what does Netflix mean in the market!

The First Step

To get out of this impasse, we guided Hossam on the first steps of digital transformation:

Instead of clinging to a dying business model, it is better to know what features and user experiences will make customers’ experiences ideal ones in the suddenly changing business world.

Then we moved on to talk with Hossam about employees. What do your employees think about digital transformation?

We expected Hossam to recount to us the details of their heated discussions, which reflect their fear of digitization, but he shocked us by saying: I am the only decision maker… so, I did not consult anyone. Don’t your systems streamline workflow? So… employees won’t mind the change.

It seems that we have reached a dead end in talking to Hossam. It’s likely that as his employees transition to working remotely — fully or partially — he’s already figured out a lot about what works well. But what about the shortcomings and bottlenecks in current processes?!

How did Hossam know that ERP systems would help him make work easier if he didn’t ask his employees about what seemed difficult or more complicated than it should be, and how does all of this affect the customer experience?

The Second Step

Here we spoke with Hossam about the second step of digital transformation, which is: Keep in mind that you are not just making changes in the workflow, but rather your goal is to completely transform into digitalization.

To give Hossam reason to think twice, our sales manager brought out Robert Llewellyn’s best-selling book “The Transformation Files”, and he read the following highlighted paragraph: The dilution of digitization and the obsession with digital transformation have led to countless leaders declaring their shift to digitalization when they were under pressure of the change. As a result, many well-meaning executives have led their companies into decline!

It is crucial for leaders to understand that transformation creates a new future free from the constraints of the past, while change only creates a better version of what already exists.

Don’t let Frankenstein devours your digital transformation efforts!

In a last attempt to help Hossam, we gave him a choice between several of our systems, but he insisted on saying: Any system will do the trick, as I just want to complete “my collection.”

This reminded us of the famous story of Frankenstein, where a scientist randomly collected human organs and the result was a monster and not a human… a fate that we wanted our client to avoid, so we tried to convince him that choosing the appropriate system, and only the appropriate one, is what will allow for immediate analyzes and personalization.  Customers, simultaneous multi-channel operations, scalability and centralization, and most importantly: it saves him from legacy spaghetti (and this is the case with any company that is more than 10 years old, like Hossam’s company)… But unfortunately, he was not convinced.. and we learned a lesson.

The Third Step

Third step to digital transformation: Building awareness among stakeholders: In many companies, especially in change-heavy industries, a lack of urgency has been a major barrier to digital transformation.  Perhaps Hossam, like most managers, was trapped in a “wait and see” trap.

We may have lost Hossam as a client… no problem… What is important to us is not to lose you, dear customer!  So, our next message will be to you:

Dear esteemed company owner, Now that it is everyone’s duty to embrace digital transformation (whether they want to or not), it is time to discuss the big picture rather than just focusing on immediate/temporary changes/corrections.

Today, many companies are dealing with the repercussions of postponing digitalization.

Awareness of the importance of digitalization makes it possible to more easily providing justifications for established and increasing digital applications. As Jack Welch famously noted: “If the rate of change abroad exceeds the rate of change at home, the end is near.”

The lesson was tough!

Well, there’s no point in denying…we stumbled!.. This stumble opened our eyes to important questions:

If a customer is considering modernizing his systems, should he choose a full or partial data migration?  Should he select installed or cloud systems?

If he is pursuing data analytics, then what is the first step? How does he collect all the data he needs?

In other words, how do we guide a client who realizes that digital transformation is a wise and profitable move but he’s not sure about his first step?

We forwarded the top questions and asked for advice from Greg Verdino, a Fortune 500 digital transformation consultant and co-founder of Adapt Manifesto, who replied:

• The biggest challenge today is not ambition, but action. As far as I know, every successful digital transformation journey begins with one step; Ask your client to identify a project that is important to him in terms of potential impact but is limited by what is possible in terms of time, resources and risks
• Emphasize that the project must be clearly defined, have tangible outcomes, and involve multiple groups of stakeholders across the organization, so that project’s success helps validate your vision for digital transformation
• Furthermore, you should remind him of the need to demonstrate success gradually, then replicate and scale up what works out. Digital transformation is a process of revolution through evolution that moves your organization towards a state of market adaptability, not just a one-time change.
• Do not scatter your opportunity of digital transformation by choosing “any system!”

Today, digital transformation is not only important, but an urgent necessity. If you are seeking to take the lead at the expense of your competitors, be sure to choose the “optimal system”;  A system that reflects your company’s position, and is aligned with the trends shaping the market over the long term.

In other words, choose Logix system.

Finally, if you are looking for reliable information about smart and successful digital transformation, then our entire technical support team is standing by.