For companies seeking to counteract the disruptive effects of the pandemic and its ripple effects on global supply chains, hyperautomation can ease the burden that repetitive processes and legacy infrastructure place on organisations.

Hyperautomation is used by businesses to identify, vet and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. It involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools and platforms, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation, business process management suites, low-code/no-code tools, and a broad range of other process and task automation tools.

Listed by Gartner as , hyperautomation is used by innovation-led organisations to drive operational efficiency, improve decision-making, and shift to a more prescriptive or predictive state.

In fact, Gartner believes hyperautomation is shifting from a nice-to-have to a condition of survival for many organisations. This is partly because, at its core, hyperautomation holds the promise of eliminating outdated work processes which are often cited by companies as a top workforce issue.

Shifting the needle on hyperautomation maturity

The precise manner of how hyperautomation is adopted within the organisation depends on which stage the business is at in its automation journey.

At the lower end of the spectrum are companies with mostly ad-hoc, manual and often paper-based processes. Here, tools such as low-code/no-code, digital forms, process modelling and analytics may be used to unlock immediate benefits. For example, a prototype developed at the 51风流Co-Innovation Lab would help South African cities reduce the pressure on call centres through a simple self-service app that allows residents to report service issues via their mobile phones.

Companies can move to the next stage of automation maturity by integrating their disparate data and processes to deliver integrated experiences. Here, companies may identify repetitive actions and deploy tools such as AI to automate responses, extend their channels of engagement with customers and reduce the workload on service teams. Aspects such as enterprise integration, multi-channel experiences and the use of bots come into play during this stage.

Integration can be hugely beneficial. One found that, while 57% of organisations that are involved with enterprise integration projects hoped to achieve improved data visibility, 90% actually reported improved data visibility when the project was complete. And while 56% hoped for greater business agility, 86% reported real gains in business agility following their integration project.

As companies standardise their end-to-end processes and adopt automation best practices, they may utilise process exploration, big data and process monitoring to identify loopholes for automation. This could take the form of simplification of key business processes.

For example, a company may choose to leverage structured and unstructured big data to better understand customer preferences prior to a sales engagement, identifying patterns or trends, identifying products of interest, reducing preparation time and delivering a more personalised experience.

Toward seamless automated processes and experiences

When automation capabilities mature, companies may move closer to the ideal of seamless automation that blends human-led and digital experiences.

Here, aspects such as robotic process automation come into play, with companies leveraging prebuilt content via process flows, forms, business rules and process visibility dashboards to trigger tasks autonomously and automate complex tasks.

This frees up vital internal resources and eliminates the need for inefficient manual processes, leaving workers to focus on higher-value tasks that drive greater customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and bottom-line results.

While few companies can claim this level of automation maturity, any company that is ready to leverage automation can drive continuous intelligence and enable a culture of predictive working.

Companies that are at the aspirational stage of their automation journeys can benefit from prioritising certain key activities, including:

• Leveraging process excellence;
• Shifting the company culture to one of exception-based working;
• Adopting predictive insights to improve decision-making;
• Improving the accuracy of their planning while also improving operational execution;
• Achieving a shift in mindset throughout the organisation to one of ‘automate-first’; and
• Elevating the value of human roles by eliminating lower-impact, manually-intensive work and allowing skilled resources to focus on value-generating activities.

All companies with aspirations of becoming an intelligent enterprise can benefit from investment in hyperautomation. Partnering with an expert tech provider can also ease the process of discovering, designing and delivering an effective hyperautomation strategy that can unlock greater efficiency, improved customer experiences, more accurate decision-making and increased competitiveness.

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For many organisations, the last few years have been the most disruptive in living memory. Organisations and their IT teams have had to accommodate huge changes to the way people work and deploy new technology tools to support their teams while unlocking new capabilities to meet changing customer demands.

Since the start of the pandemic, organisations have had to enable remote and hybrid work environments, digitise their supply chains to better deal with disruptions, and utilise technology to develop new business processes and revenue streams, all the while delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Despite the worst of the global pandemic seemingly over, spending on digital transformation continues apace. Global investment into digital transformation is expected to reach $1.8-trillion in 2022, . By 2024, it is expected that direct digital transformation investments .

Understanding poor digital transformation

Despite this abundance of digital transformation initiatives, few companies achieve the outcomes they seek. found that only 14% of companies that have begun digital transformation projects have seen sustained performance enhancements as a result.

For technology companies and their partners, this poses a serious challenge. Every digital transformation project that falls short of expectations is a wasted opportunity for innovation, not to mention the sunk costs and time.

The customer expectations of what their digital transformation should achieve have also changed. Common expectations for modern business transformation initiatives include clear, positive business outcomes, an exceptional customer experience, and a high level of engagement velocity to ensure the project runs smoothly and can achieve its milestones according to strict timelines.

The reasons for failure can vary. Typically, digital transformation projects fail because of a lack of clear goals, poor leadership support, ineffective change management which may lead to internal resistance, lack of suitable skills, and poor understanding of the current state of the business and how the digital transformation is meant to enable new capabilities.

Four solutions to common transformation challenges

However, common digital transformation challenges can be overcome. In our experience working with organisations across the continent and the world, the following four methods can greatly improve the chances at digital transformation success:

1 Understand your digital transformation maturity

One of the biggest obstacles to a successful digital transformation initiative is a lack of clarity over what the transformation is meant to achieve. Is the business seeking efficiency gains in high-priority business processes? Does the business need new capabilities for managing its workforce, or is it a matter of meeting changing customer expectations?

Without a solid business case, digital transformation initiatives will fail to illustrate value since there’s no clear way to measure progress.

Technology companies and their implementation partners have well-developed tools and processes to help organisations measure their present level of digital transformation maturity, identify clear areas for improvement, and then provide input on a transformation plan that aims to deliver gains in the priority areas.

2 Focus on continuous value generation

One of the biggest changes in how organisations adopt and consume new technologies and associated capabilities is in the concept of continuous value generation. Digital transformation projects are no longer only measured by the immediate outcomes, but also in how the organisation can continuously generate greater or different forms of value from their investment.

For example, a retailer that invested in a new customer loyalty system may want to use the data from that system to deliver hyper-personalised offers, or even launch new products and services tailored to customer preferences. Rather than start an entire transformation project from scratch, the retailer would benefit from simply building on what has been done to date, ably supported by expert partners that can guide the project to a successful outcome.

Technology companies and implementation partners therefore need to look beyond just one successful project and take an approach of continuous value generation. It’s less a case of knock-and-drop and more a case of partnering for the long term.

3 Ensure a steady mix of relevant skills

A lack of appropriate skills can undermine the success of any digital transformation initiative. The IDC estimates that IT skills shortages will affect 90% of organisations by 2025, at a cost of over $6.5-trillion.

Without access to the correct skills, organisations will fail to successfully complete digital transformation initiatives, and will not generate the desired value through new digital capabilities.

In response, organisations should invest in programmes and partnerships that can ensure a steady mix of relevant skills. This can be done through internal skills development initiatives, collaboration with partners that have the correct skills mix, or through other skills development programmes.

Initiatives such as 51风流Skills for Africa, for example, provides African organisations an opportunity to secure SAP-trained graduates that have gone through a months-long work readiness and skills development program and can make an immediate impact on digital transformation efforts.

4 Don’t neglect change management

No digital transformation initiative can succeed when end-users don’t adopt the new capabilities to drive the desired outcomes. In fact, a poor change management program can undermine the entire project’s success at the last mile, scuppering months of work and leaving the organisation with lower levels of competitiveness.

However, the opposite is also true. From internal resistance to change to poor adoption of new capabilities, several common challenges with successful transformation initiatives can be addressed through an effective change management program.

And yet, only 34% of change management initiatives are a clear success, .

Here, technology partners can play a vital supporting role. By providing insight into common obstacles and best-practices from similar projects elsewhere, technology partners can help organisations identify high-impact areas for effective change management and ensure business users are supported and enabled all along the way.

This can drive greater adoption of the new capabilities that resulted from the digital transformation project, and help the business drive positive outcomes that can boost competitiveness, unlock new revenue streams, drive innovation and achieve efficiency gains in the project’s priority areas.

The post Four Ways to Overcome Common Digital Transformation Challenges appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Since the start of the pandemic, digital transformation has become a core objective and top priority for nearly every business in the world.

From enabling remote and hybrid work environments to shifting customer-facing operations to digital channels and implementing data and analytics to better understand a volatile and highly unpredictable business environment, digital transformation has featured prominently in boardrooms over the past two years.

Even as the world races to a return to some form of normalcy, companies continue to invest heavily in digital technologies. A recent IDC report predicts that .

Clear business imperative to transform

While the immediate task of adapting to disruptions and changes caused by the pandemic and a host of other factors remain the focus, all indications are that new digital technologies will feature prominently in future transformation initiatives.

For example, the same IDC report found that 90% of organisations worldwide are expected to prioritise investment in digital tools that augment physical spaces with digital experiences.

And considering the urgency of the fight against climate change, it’s no surprise that more than 90% of companies will use digital transformation to reduce their carbon footprints by 2023.

Even prior to the pandemic, studies found that , grow 9% faster and have market valuations 12% higher than their less transformed peers.

However, despite the enormous benefits of digital transformation, the majority of digital transformation projects fail, with McKinsey data estimating that .

Every failed project costs the business money, resources, time, and opportunity. A failed digital transformation project undermines faith and confidence in future initiatives and increases organisational resistance toward further digital transformation efforts.

So, why is digital transformation success so important to building successful modern businesses?

The ‘why’ of digital transformation

For most companies, a digital transformation initiative will be rooted in either growth objectives or to protect the business against disruption.

A growth-based digital transformation may see the organisation adopt new technologies such as IoT to bring greater transparency to core business assets, for example sensors based in delivery vehicles tracking e-commerce fulfilment.

By integrating the data produced by sensors to a powerful analytics and business intelligence platform – and matching those insights to third-party data such as traffic and weather data – organisations could identify ways to optimise the delivery process and improve the customer experience.

A growth-based digital transformation initiative could also involve a re-engineering of customer experience processes, for example a retailer developing omni-channel customer experiences that deliver personalised offers at scale through a variety of digital and physical channels.

For companies wishing to utilise digital transformation to protect against disruption or risk, the use cases will be slightly different. For example, in light of ongoing supply chain issues, many organisations are seeking to digitally transform their supply chain processes to achieve greater transparency and predictability over such processes.

Building safe, accessible, and collaborative hybrid work models protects the organisation against the disruption of lockdowns and helps to future-proof their workforce engagement strategies by enabling much-needed flexibility.

A blueprint for successful digital transformation

Every digital transformation effort has three core elements: People, Processes, and Technology. Each of these elements need to be aligned to a clear, strategic vision and defined business objectives to ensure the digital transformation project delivers to actual business and customer needs.

found that companies believe their digital transformation initiatives were a success mainly when they improve performance and equip the organisation to sustain improvements over time.

What are the key ingredients to implementing a successful, value-generating digital transformation initiative?

Firstly, organisations need a sense of urgency about the transformation, driven from senior management throughout every layer of the organisation. Many of the most impactful digital transformation projects show quick time-to-value, which helps secure further support and buy-in for the project from the broader organisation.

Digital transformation projects should focus on simplification by means of standardisation and the use of templates. In most cases, the biggest cost of an implementation stems from the organisation’s nee to adapt systems to meet unique requirements. Leveraging a global services provider that can bring international best practices to a digital transformation initiative can significantly cut down on the project timeline and reduce associated costs.

Prioritisation is also essential. Digital transformation initiatives are meant to shape the future of the organisation. Companies should therefore commit their top talent and skills to seeing the project to a successful outcome.

This does raise the challenge of how to keep the business running optimally when some of the best teams and people are focused on the new initiative. Companies need to be clear on their current capacity and not take on too much, avoiding in particular large-scale once-off transformation initiatives. Finding the correct balance is key to a successful transformation project.

A sometimes-neglected but always critical element to any successful transformation initiative is the change management needed to embed new systems and processes within the organisation.

Digital transformation initiatives promise a new end-state for the organisation, one that features new and enhanced capabilities. But the implementation itself puts the organisation in an interim state between what was and what could be. Companies should be ready to navigate users through this interim phase and give the correct level of consideration to technical and change management elements, over and above successfully deploying the technology.

Once companies have established a suitably powerful technology platform, they can innovate across a broad range of business areas. Digital transformation is not about finding new tech to perform old functions better or faster: it’s about shifting mindsets to unlock greater innovation capacity that can help drive the organisation’s success for years to come.

The post Three Keys to Digital Transformation Success appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

According to Amrish Singh, Global Customer Experience Advisor at 51风流Africa, South Africans were traditionally used to physical purchases where they can see the quality of a product or the freshness of a loaf of bread 鈥� but that has changed dramatically.

鈥淭he past few years have seen massive growth in online purchases as consumers become more comfortable to enjoy the convenience of online purchases. Where South African e-commerce has traditionally lagged behind more developed markets, a new wave of digitally-mature companies are driving e-commerce, ably supported by a rich ecosystem of fulfilment partners, forward-thinking retailers and digitally-native consumers. However, this is putting significant pressure on retailers to ensure they offer great online customer experiences at all times.鈥�

Digital adoption driving digital maturity

, e-commerce purchases in South Africa grew by 66% in 2020 to reach more than R30-billion 鈥� double what it was two years prior. 鈥淒espite the relaxing of strict lockdown measures that restricted the movement of consumers to brick-and-mortar stores, online shopping continues to grow in popularity as more retailers introduce e-commerce offerings tailor-made for SA鈥檚 burgeoning consumer market.鈥�

Singh, who advises companies on improving their customer experiences and digital maturity, adds that companies seeking to introduce online offerings will first need to determine their level of maturity to understand what further development is needed to create compelling customer experiences.

鈥淒igital maturity refers to a company鈥檚 performance across hundreds of touch points in a typical digital customer journey, grouped in four main categories, namely Mobile, CX, Digital Marketing and Social Media,鈥� says Singh. 鈥淎s companies explore new revenue opportunities in the age of the always-connected consumer, keeping track of digital maturity will be essential to creating compelling customer experiences online.鈥�

To help companies in their efforts to develop seamless and effective online customer experiences, Singh provides tips for improving each of the four pillars of digital maturity:

Pillar 1: Mobile

In a country where聽, having a mobile presence is essential to any company鈥檚 digital ambitions.

鈥淎 fast, responsive and user-friendly mobile app or mobile web responsive site is a must-have for companies as it creates a powerful channel for sales and customer service while also delivering vital information, such as where to find the nearest store,鈥� explains Singh.
More digitally mature companies will also integrate other services such as WhatsApp for customer support discussions or Google Maps so customers can navigate to the nearest store directly from their device of choice.
Singh adds that companies also need to build tailored functionality into their mobile apps based on the type of business. 鈥淔or example, if you are a pharmacy, does your app indicate whether there is an on-site clinic? If your business receives high volumes of customer queries, are your contact details hyperlinked so customers can reach you with a single tap?鈥�

Pillar 2: Overall Customer Experience

Customer Experience forms an important part of the Experience Economy and has become a core tenet of successful businesses, on par with traditional metrics such as product quality and price.

Some studies suggest that聽, while聽.

鈥淕reat online customer experiences are essential to the success of any company鈥檚 digital efforts,鈥� says Singh. 鈥淗ow well-designed and easy to navigate is your homepage? Can customers easily create an account profile? An easy win here is to use social logins so your customers don鈥檛 have to remember yet another set of usernames and passwords.鈥�

Guided selling, which employs the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to help customers find exactly what they are looking for 鈥� sometimes before they even know they鈥檙e looking for it 鈥� is also growing in popularity as the underlying technology improves.

鈥淗aving clear product images with detailed information, as well as ratings and customer reviews, further help create a compelling experience that can build trust with consumers and encourage repeat purchases. A seamless returns experience, especially for consumer goods and fashion items, is also vital, as any delay in replacing a defective product can damage the relationship with the customer and push them to your competitors.鈥�

Pillar 3: Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is an essential driver of modern commerce and has given rise to some of the world most valuable companies. In a survey of more than 14 000 online shoppers,聽.

鈥淐ompanies have to make sure they rank highly for their relevant keywords on popular search engines such as Google,鈥� says Singh. 鈥淎spects such as which branded keywords they track for, strong calls to action, and ensuring that all ads direct to a live link 鈥� and not an unfortunate 404 page 鈥� are also vital.鈥�

Regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act and the European Union鈥檚 GDPR add a compliance element to customer communications.

鈥淭he ability for consumers to easily opt in and opt out of communication is both a customer experience and a regulatory requirement. Digitally mature organisations will also ensure there is a pleasant and relevant rollout of content to a newly opted-in customer to deepen their interest and start building a positive relationship with the customer.鈥�

Pillar 4: Social Media

With nearly聽, social media has become a ubiquitous part of modern digital life.

Singh says modern brands simply cannot afford to not have a strong social media presence. 鈥淎t a minimum, companies should have systems and processes in place to regularly post content according to a well thought out social media policy, track engagement, and respond quickly and effectively to negative posts on their social pages.鈥�

For more digitally mature companies, social commerce could help drive valuable traffic and sales. 鈥淗ow easily are your customers directed from the social post to a product page with e-commerce capabilities? And how do you leverage content to build strong connections with a specific audience? For example, if you鈥檙e a hardware supplier, do you have a YouTube channel with tutorials for how to use certain tools or how to fix common household DIY problems? And do those videos direct to other products relevant to the tutorial?鈥�

According to Singh, companies should partner with experts that can lend a global perspective on best practices to accelerate their move to greater digital maturity.

鈥淥ur customer experience advisory team assesses more than four hundred touch points across the four pillars of digital maturity to give organisations a clear picture of their strengths and areas of improvement. This can eliminate wasted effort and more quickly push them to greater digital maturity, with all the customer satisfaction and revenue-boosting benefits that brings.”

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