[Solved]: Why Digital Transformation Initiatives Fail

In today’s era, digital transformation is a truth that you can’t ignore. It’s a reality and there’s no running away from it.

Even if you have an iota of thought that says otherwise, you are living in absolute denial.

Former Executive Chairman at Cisco System- John Chambers once famously said if companies don’t figure out how to change and accommodate new technologies, then surprisingly around 40% of the businesses will stop to exist.

Aren’t we already aware of the companies that failed to evolve and eventually either were wiped out or are struggling to retain the positions that they enjoyed once?

Had they introduced digital photography, it would have been a different picture now! So is digital transformation the need of the hour? Absolutely yes, no two opinions about this fact!

Moving on, there is one set of businesses who say ‘digital transformation is not our cup of tea’ because of two main reasons:

1. They have the wrong notion about it based on what they have read and heard.

2. They have tried it in the past - but failed.

This blog will help you identify why companies fail with digital transformation initiatives, and how common pitfalls can be dodged easily.

Without further preamble, let’s look at some top reasons why digital transformation initiatives fail:

One of the biggest myths is that companies feel that their processes are different and cannot be transformed digitally. This is one of the notions that keep companies away from digital transformation.

This is one of the major reasons why companies stay away from digital transformation initiatives. Businesses claim that they don’t have that kind of IT budgets.

But is it really expensive? Not really, you will find out sooner.

Another myth is that businesses think digital transformation is a time-consuming process, and take months to complete it.

This really depends on how you are deploying digital transformation and what software you are using to get this done. Some take as good as a few weeks. (Hold your horses and you will find out)

When enterprises are using too many platforms or software, they don’t see any point in introducing a new technology that works in a different direction.

Change resistance is the top reason why digital transformation initiatives never take off.

Around 43% of the people do not want to adopt - which turns out to be a major challenge for making any digital strategy work because it is people at the end of the day, who will be using it or making it happen.

This happens because employees aren’t trained well and the benefits are not communicated well.

Sometimes, businesses spend time on training the employees on new technology - but fail to explain ‘why’ they are doing it.

If employees don’t see the benefits and miss the larger picture - they will not really get onboard, no matter how hard you force it down their throat.

We looked at the topmost reasons why digital transformation initiatives fail - there are other reasons like initiatives were taken but the result took really long to show up, too many processes are targeted and rushed into, lack of skilled professionals (talent gap), no clear vision, etc.

Not all of these reasons are valid, and some are far away from the truth.

According to TechRepublic, 80% of the businesses deploy digital applications and services that keep failing - this, in turn, results in bad user experience and fall in productivity.

But then why are businesses failing with digital strategies?

Because businesses fail to have a strong digital transformation strategy.

Here’s a tried and tested solution by Axonator: The Micro App Strategy

Axonator is one of the most trusted platforms for enterprises to build mobile applications that boosts productivity manifold.

Businesses use Axonator to build workflows that automate business processes end-to-end.

The Micro App Strategy is building small apps that allow businesses to target individual processes one by one - rather than digitizing all the processes together in one go that turns out to be very chaotic.

The Micro App Strategy is all about rolling out

Axonator has implemented the micro app strategy in different industries to digitize the processes, which has been successful.

Enterprises have to realize that they have to go where their teams are. They have to move away from desktops to mobile applications.

Mobile engagement is growing at a breakneck speed today. Today, more people use the internet on mobile devices than desktops.

This is just one example to show the usage of mobile devices. There are so many statistics out there to show how enterprise mobility is shaping up.

Mobile apps revolve around engagement. If your digital initiatives are not engaging your teams - it’s writing on the wall that the initiatives are bound to fail.

The Micro Apps are built to solve specific problems. They have limited features - that is, they are not overloaded with unwanted features.

These micro apps built on task-based functionality allow the user to have faster interactions. This, in turn, drives efficiency.

For example, a micro app can be built for teams to capture data on mobile instead of using paper forms, which lead to improvement in productivity.

These micro apps get enterprises started with digital transformation in as few as 5 days, usually starting digitizing paper-based processes first.

The Axonator platforms allow you to build digital forms (mobile forms/e-forms). These forms are used to collect a different kind of rich data on and off the field.

For example, a facility management firm based in California - WagonStar, has developed a simple mobile forms app for its inspection teams, driving productivity from day one of deployment.

Inspection teams collect data using mobile forms instead of paper forms. The data is shared in real-time as soon it is submitted from the mobile app on the field.

Technically, the company didn’t just convert paper forms into mobile forms but also did avail benefits that came along like

Were these applications complex for teams? No.

Were the teams forced to use complex software? No.

Did the teams realize the benefits of using the micro app?

Yes, it made it easier for them to collect data. They didn’t have to carry long paper forms to the fields anymore. Made their work life easy.

So, both teams and the management had a win-win situation here.

In most cases, the digital initiatives deployed where employees don’t see any benefit get abandoned - just like the apps that don’t engage users are uninstalled.

So is it just about data collection and making work easy? No - it is way more than that!

Apart from data collection, micro apps can also be used for automation. Platforms like Axonator allow enterprises to build workflows which then make automation happen.

Enterprises are using Axonator’s micro apps to streamline a list of processes.

Imagine this, your front-line executive just collected data from the customer on the field with his mobile app while routine inspection of the facility.

When there was a problem found, he raised a ticket - which was then forwarded to the concerned plumbing department.

The plumbing department receives a notification on the mobile app with a new task generated.

The manager too approves the task through his mobile application. When the task is completed by the plumbing department, the manager and the customer both are notified.

The customer gets a report on his email.

This is streamlining of processes through just a simple mobile application.

Such a digital transformation makes relevant people stay updated through mobile apps and eliminates possible delays and bottlenecks due to non-approvals.

It just cuts the manual dependency and streamlines repetitive time-consuming work, which leaves more time for the decision-makers to focus on strategic goals.

Even further, as soon as the data is submitted, these micro apps have the ability to generate reports. The reports are then sent automatically to the managers, customers, or stakeholders, etc.

The Micro apps can enable such kind of automation. It’s not a hypothesis - businesses, in reality, are already using micro apps for automation.

One of the major pain points for businesses has been that they have too many platforms, mobile applications, and legacy software that they are already using.

Adding another makes little sense to them, even if it means digital transformation.

This concern is valid, and Axonator tackles this problem too well because it offers the ability to counter it with dynamic integration feature.

You can integrate other platforms like Zapier, Google Drive, SAP, CRM, Salesforce, PeopleSoft, etc. with Axonator.

Okay, what this means is you have platforms that talk to each other and work in the same direction. The data can flow from one platform to another without anyone having to engage in multiple data entries.

Information from one platform can make sense for others. The data you submit on the micro-app can be used in your CRM or ERP or even an Excel sheet.

Your sales force, operations team, etc. can focus on their core area rather than spending time on admin-related non-revenue generating tasks.

Axonator offers intelligent dashboard that gives you insights on data. This data can be accessed through various graphical representation - charts, diagrams, etc.

You can learn from this data - you can track and analyze the performance of your teams, and then take corrective action and preventive action (CAPA).

You can also access insights of your field teams based on location (GPS).

Axonator micro apps have been used by businesses to collect data, build workflows, generate reports, deploy intelligence, etc.

That’s digital transformation unleashed in true sense!

Getting an enterprise-level app developed from a third party can cost you more than $250,000-500,000 and take around 10-12 months to get the final release.

Whereas the chances are that the off-shelf products will not match your requirements, and probably be never taken seriously your teams for a long-term, that’s the bitter truth.

But platforms like Axonator are dirt cheap as compared to such third-party applications. More importantly, they can be made functional and be deployed in a week.

Remember, Axonator micro apps are hyper-agile - meaning they can be customized at any point in time and are fully scalable, no matter how fast your team size grows.

If you are thinking how you could digitally transform your business processes, get in touch with Axonator to learn how micro apps can help you deploy a robust digital transformation strategy.

Write to Axonator at support@axonator.com

Axanotar’s digital strategy can help you streamline and digitize the process from start to end.

BTW, you can also create a micro app on your own without a single line of code - just by dragging and dropping widgets.

These apps offer a rich user experience - one-click actions that make your work faster like never before.

Use Axonator Micro Apps for:

Remember, no business is too small or too large, for digital transformation!

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