However, the pandemic shone a light on the necessity for transformation. Middle market leaders are coming to the realization that they must have robust IT systems and processes in place to serve their customers and constituents, secure their assets and grow their business.
Projects to streamline business operations and bring together data across areas to work together are now in sharp focus for middle market organizations that want to be more profitable, efficient and competitive.
Not too long ago, digital transformation seemed reserved for large organizations with significant capital resources. Fortunately, it has evolved over time and become more affordable, scalable, and essential for middle market organizations.
Digital transformation is quite simply the use of technology to drive business forward. As the name implies, it is about using a connected, somewhat interwoven, set of digital technologies to change the way a business operates—holistically, from the core outward. In a digitally transformed organization, the infrastructure as a whole is designed to be greater than the sum of all of its parts.
Digitally transformed organizations have worked to achieve:
Streamlining operations is always top of mind for executive leadership. This is especially true in the pandemic-era, where middle market organizations must be capable of changing directions at a moment’s notice, and when many are scrambling to do more with less. Enhancing operations by identifying barriers that are often artificial within an organization is key. And it’s worth challenging the “that’s how it has always been done” mentality.
In early 2020, as workforce practices literally changed overnight because of shutdowns, middle market organizations got a rude awakening to the need to be digitally resilient. Suddenly, they had to shift their business processes online since core functions could not take place in person. Were employees able to maintain the level of productivity they had working in the office from their homes? Is all sensitive data protected from all of the places employees are now accessing it?
There is no doubt that customer and constituent behavior has greatly shifted during this time of great economic disruption. Retaining and delighting customers with new and innovative products and services to meet their needs should continue to be a top priority. According to the BDO 2020 Digital Transformation Survey, more than two-thirds (68%) of C-suite executives say improving customer experience is their top short-term business goal, and 22% cite it as their top digital priority.
Staying afloat is now more challenging than ever before, and middle markets must be creative with so much competition. Many are looking to diversify revenue growth opportunities, while concurrently maintaining priority services, and cultivating new business with long-term, data-driven planning.
Likely one of the industries most reliant on collaboration and process is construction and real estate. If any step of a deal or project is missed, everything thereafter is off, and deadlines are often missed. While project planning has been steadily migrating to the Cloud for collaboration purposes in recent years, the pandemic accelerated the use of office productivity tools such as Office 365, back office enterprise resource planning (ERP), and overall company-wide collaboration. Automation of manual workflows can also enhance productivity in this industry by automating daily reporting, purchasing, invoice approvals, time and material tickets, and job photos.
Not only are financial services companies concerned about cybersecurity and the protection of their clients’ private financial data, but many are concerned with being able to simultaneously focus on enhancing the customer experience and expand their product mix. That means providing a seamless customer experience that reassures customers that their assets are protected, while at the same time, anticipating the products their clients will need before their competition. Data can pave the way for this kind of planning.
Higher education continues to be big business, as more and more institutions shift to online and hybrid learning platforms.
In addition to the marketing benefits digital transformation can provide through the use of social media, this sector has other data-driven opportunities. With the potential to serve these life-long customers, institutions can capture an enormous amount of data throughout every stage of the student lifecycle—from recruiting and enrollment, to instruction, career services, graduate studies, and ongoing alumni initiatives. All of these areas are ripe with information that leaders can use to make data-driven decisions for institutional success.
For many nonprofits, digital transformation may seem impossible on a shoestring budget. However, limited budgets are exactly why transformation is so important. Nonprofits can never lose sight of their mission, basing every business decision on initiatives that will result in the most impact and operational efficiency for those they serve. Elimination of manual processes that slow decision making is at the heart of this market.
Manufacturing has seen a rapid shift focused solely on data in how they operate, go to market, compete and serve its customers. A National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM) survey of 500 C-level middle market executives reports that the top initiatives for manufacturing are modernizing legacy IT infrastructures while deepening customer relationships, along with real-time warehousing and inventory management tools to streamline distribution and logistics, and electronic invoicing and other automated financial functions. Due to the unpredictability of manufacturing today, being nimble and capable of changing directions at any time, while still being able to do more with less, is the focus. According to research from Harvard Business Review, companies that focus on operational efficiencies over layoffs to manage costs are more likely to experience “breakaway performance” coming out of a downturn.
For organizations ready to embark on the path toward digital transformation, leadership must be willing to change the way something has always been done. To start, an assessment should be conducted of all existing systems, processes and people to evaluate:
Tomorrow can come sooner than any of us think, as we all learned in 2020. The time is now for business leaders in all industries to take steps toward digital transformation in 2021. Contact Hartman Executive Advisors today to connect with an advisor who knows your industry and can guide you in the right direction.