Digital Transformation, Part 6: Examples of digital transformation done right
Every business should jump at the opportunity to improve and transform, especially when there are great rewards to reap, and when not doing so could be harmful. The never-ending advancement of technology presents enterprises with countless promising opportunities for every aspect of their business.
If you had the chance to double the number of customers or make your employees twice as efficient, wouldn't you take it?
Digital transformation is not something to be left for the future. In fact, quite a number of businesses have already begun their successful digital transformations. For any doubtful readers that remain, let me convince you of the benefits of digital transformation with three outstanding examples, for which we had the pleasure to co-innovate: Marriott, Nespresso, and T-Mobile USA.
Marriott
Marriott has done an excellent job using technology for learning, engagement, and sharing across its 15 brands. Rather than letting its large size hinder any changes, Marriott focused on tapping into the value of its employees. It accomplished this by adopting a collaboration solution to highlight best practices, accelerate decision-making processes, collect proposals, and rank ideas. This solution ensures that innovations and information don't fall through the cracks and can instead be shared across the enterprise.
This fundamental aspect of digital transformation involves networks and collaboration
The core of Marriott's efforts lies in sharing. This fundamental aspect of digital transformation involves networks and collaboration (see Digital Transformation, Part 3: the Building Blocks). To make this transformation comprehensive, key executives at Marriott came up with a shared vision centered on collaboration and mobile (see Digital Transformation, Part 4: The Role of Leadership). Next, Marriott adopted Work Patterns to bring the sharing of best practices into its company culture. This ultimately improves Marriott's business practices and increases customer satisfaction.
Sharing also extends beyond the company. Through collaboration with vendors on project requirements, Marriott has reduced the time of issue resolution. Having successfully adopted these measures, Marriott is agile and ahead, ready to handle future challenges.
Nespresso
Our next example is also my favorite, given the amount of coffee I consume. Nespresso provides another illustration of digital transformation done right.
Nespresso's overarching goal is the same as it has always been: to provide customers with the perfect coffee experience. What has changed is Nespresso’s incorporation of technology to achieve this, allowing for an even greater focus on the experience aspect of its products.
The desire to win new customers, gain a deeper understanding of its customers, and manage complex buying processes triggered Nespresso's transformation.
The desire to win new customers, gain a deeper understanding of its customers, and manage complex buying processes triggered Nespresso's transformation. Its initiatives are supported by a modern customer engagement solution based in the cloud, complete with network capability. Its cloud solution serves as an innovation platform with a full-fledged sales solution capable of handling the entire buying cycle: pricing, quotes, and orders. With the help of these networks, Nespresso pulls information about its customers from external sources like social media. Nespresso now can also engage directly with its customers, a market that the industry calls “a segment of one.”
Nespresso's digital initiatives have proven fruitful. Benefits include greater penetration into new markets, higher sales and user adoption, better sales productivity, and better visibility across the entire engagement cycle. Business processes are faster than ever thanks to its new capabilities, with delivery and innovation cycles now as short as four weeks.
Most importantly, Nespresso has a single, simplified, and optimized view of its customers across all channels (an omnichannel) and systems, irrespective of connection method. It encompasses customers who engage via the website, via mobile, at an airport vending machine, or those who plan to meet George Clooney in a flagship store:
T-Mobile US
Like our other two examples, T-Mobile's digital transformation has been fueled by its customer-centric vision. With over 50 million customers, this approach certainly makes sense. To achieve this, T-Mobile has pursued digital transformation across the board in IT, marketing, customer service, and sales.
Let's look at these departments one by one, starting with the transformation of T-Mobile's IT department. T-Mobile's CIO is spearheading the change with T-Mobile's vision and cost-effectiveness goals. The IT department now works faster and smarter, with an end-to-end application testing environment that cuts the time and labor necessary for testing processes.
Automation plays a big role in this, with over 83% of test scripts now automated. This frees up time and energy for T-Mobile's IT experts to tackle the most difficult test scripts. Consistent and streamlined testing methods also boost efficiency and lower chances of error. Finally, T-Mobile rounded off its IT transformation by appointing experts for every step of software development.
Of course, T-Mobile didn't stop its transformation with just IT. It's gone on to change its marketing, customer service, and sales for the better.
One fundamental change affecting these departments is T-Mobile's decision to make access to data on its 50 million customers available to all staff. Now, the customer experience is personalized with targeted offers and content drawn from high-speed analysis of each customer's attributes.
Such widespread change has seen widespread results. T-Mobile now enjoys a 50% reduction in transaction costs and better collaboration within and beyond its company.
For example, marketing campaigns designed by outside companies are easier than ever. Using a CRM-integrated media management network, outside marketing agencies log on to see what T-Mobile's marketing department needs. After creating the campaign, these outside agencies simply upload it onto the same system for T-Mobile's marketing and legal departments to okay. It doesn't end there – the campaign is then sent to the brand library for future use. Other benefits include shortened training times (three months to four days!), a 15% increase in customer engagement productivity, and faster resolution times. Now, T-Mobile has the ability to act before a customer is lost.
Takeaway
Now that we've seen what some companies are doing for their digital transformation, it's time to think about what your business could and should be doing, too.
These examples have hopefully provided an inspiration of the benefits of digital transformation when it's done right. Every business is different, but every business can and must digitally transform. Only then will you enjoy new capabilities and significant business improvements while avoiding disruption and pulling ahead of the competition.
Up next: the outlook for digital transformation
Follow us via @SAPCloud and @SDenecken.
____________________________________________________________
Digital Transformation, Part 5: Transformation by Industry
Digital Transformation, Part 4: The Role of Leadership
Digital Transformation, Part 3: The Building Blocks
Digital Transformation, Part 2: What makes it disruptive?
Digital Transformation, Part 1: Rapid State of Change