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The digital consulting market has been continuously growing during the last decade, reaching $48 billion in 2018. It is projected that the global digital consulting market value will exceed $53 billion in 2021. Regardless of the industry in which you operate, you have undoubtedly heard about digital transformation. It is more than a buzzword. We live in the digital era, and many organizations are searching for the most effective way to adapt their business. Innovative methods and technologies are introduced every day to improve operating models and daily business operations. Digital transformation has become a mandatory step to satisfy consumers’ needs and remain competitive.
So, why is digital transformation consulting so important in 2021? The purpose of digital transformation consultancy services is to help organizations embark on their digital transformation journey and achieve goals in transformation and innovation as efficiently as possible. In response to dramatic fluctuations in customer expectations and demands, companies accelerated their digitalization journeys in 2020. They made their operations more productive and agile than ever before in order to prosper during such a tumultuous year.
The range of digital strategy consulting services spans from immediate transformations (e.g., business process automation, cloud computing and cloud migration, integration with third-party services, etc.) to long-term digital innovation strategies. The many opportunities for improvement lead companies to seek help from digital transformation consultants.
Why are Digital Transformation Consultants Important and What Tasks Do They Have?
A digital transformation consultant’s role is to help companies identify ways to implement strategic changes with the help of digital technology, as well as strategies to become more efficient and profitable. From defining a client’s digital strategy, to executing it and providing support, organizations need to designate their DT leaders and their team. Digital Transformation consulting firms lead and help companies through changes in their business and operating models toward a more secure and stable digital future.
What are the tasks that a digital transformation consultant or consultancy company needs to conduct? The typical duties include:
- Assessing their customer’s needs and current position. They do this to determine which company segments can improve from new technology, and how they can help them implement it to secure a sustainable future.
- Developing strategies around digital solutions. Digital transformation consultants determine where and which technologies could be used to outperform the competition or enter a new market.
- Helping to develop business cases for new digital transformation endeavors. Effective change management is essential. Convincing employees to change the way they have always performed can be challenging and must be managed carefully.
- Analysis of key user journeys and design of new journeys. Consultants help understand at which step their clients could provide additional services to the user or use automation.
- Helping during the implementation of the new digital strategy.
Defining a valid digital transformation strategy that supports the company’s mission and vision is the most important step in the digital transformation journey. By analyzing a company’s current situation, assessing opportunities and risks, and understanding business problems, the DT consultant can help build a strong foundation for the digital transformation. The company and its digital transformation team need to design a roadmap that includes transformation milestones in order to plan, execute, and track the solution delivery.
With a defined roadmap and strategy, the digital transformation consultancy company leads the execution process. The execution phase involves an in-depth look at the organization’s provided technologies and infrastructure. The consulting team then acquires and utilizes the right technologies and tools to execute the transformation one step at a time.
Of course, this is just a short overview of objectives for which a digital transformation consulting company is responsible.
The Benefits of Hiring a Digital Transformation Consulting Company in 2021
- Introduce intelligence
Many companies still struggle with data and manage to manifest only a small portion of their value. Big data can bring many new business opportunities, but it is often too massive and heterogeneous to manage. Businesses need adequate data infrastructure and strategy in place in order to utilize it to the full extent. With digital transformation consulting, companies can overcome these obstacles and make the data work in their favor. Expert consultants can provide a company’s decision-makers with a data strategy that:
- Relates to the company’s business goals
- Defines what data has potential
- Explains how to evaluate
- Establishes roles
They can also build all the required technologies and tools needed to transform vast amounts of raw data into actionable insights, such as data analytic and visualization tools, predictive models, advanced analytics based on machine learning, etc. In other words, digital transformation consulting partners can help you integrate data solutions, leverage data, get access to actionable insights, and improve decision making overall.
- Help with change management
Digital transformation projects are not isolated from the rest of your company’s business processes. During a digital transformation journey, most organizations notice that their top teams also change. You need a consulting partner who understands the business. Understanding an organization’s current position is critical to developing a digital transformation roadmap and engaging with key stakeholders along the way. For a successful digital transformation, your consulting partner will include change management in the strategy, relying on their implementation experience to tailor a digital transformation strategy for your unique organization. It is not enough for systems to work together. Your team must also successfully collaborate.
- Reduce risk and optimize cost
Any digital transformation entails risk and requires investment. Organizations choose different strategies to optimize costs and minimize those risks. For example, some chose to manage their analytics and IT needs in-house, so they can maintain more control. Others expand their resources by outsourcing tech team services. The majority of companies today consider a partnership with a consulting firm to reduce expenses and complexity. Partnerships optimize their digital transformation efforts. For example, companies like 7 Eleven, Renault, and UPS address their digital needs to IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle, even though they have their own IT teams. However, there are many companies and government agencies that rely on the expertise of digital transformation consulting companies.
- Protect your data
With the shift to remote work and cloud platforms that occurred in 2020, many organizations were not equipped to handle the security risks that arose from the digital change. Transforming an organization should not compromise the security of the company. A digital transformation consulting company provides expert knowledge on the latest security technologies and how they can cater to specific business needs.
- Follow digital transformation trends and address customer needs
Good quality design and the role of user experience in business growth, customer loyalty, and sales are immeasurable (particularly in the B2C sector). Since they directly affect customer engagement, retention, and conversion, they have become a competitive advantage for many organizations. But monitoring constantly changing consumer behavior and keeping up with design trends is often challenging for non-tech organizations. This is another area where digital business transformation consulting can help. Consulting companies have extensive expertise in customer behavioral patterns, user experience, and understanding of intuitive design. They can conduct a custom analysis for your company, examine customer journeys, find UX issues, and identify improvement opportunities.
- Stay relevant in the market
The fast-changing competition landscape, social media influence, and progressing technologies are all areas that lure organizations into a race to stay relevant. Digital transformation consulting companies can help win that race. They know how to explore new digital channels and scale up, create integration strategy, get the most out of industry-specific digital platforms and products, and use competition shifts for their clients’ benefit.
With digital transformation advisors, organizations get more opportunities to improve customer reach using emerging technologies and channels. They can scale up to new platforms and create a seamless experience for their audience.
Digital Transformation Consulting Can Be Your Success Factor
Each digital transformation journey is unique, complex, and comes with its own set of rules. The commitment to follow the organization along the entire change process and provide support at every point is a crucial success factor. Since digital transformation is a significant change for the entire organization, communication between all stakeholders is essential. Every organizational level must be aligned. A digital transformation consultant’s highest objective is to embody a confident partner for the client throughout the entire digital transformation journey. They should provide necessary information to management to ensure flawless transfer of knowledge and clear communication. An understanding of the digital transformation strategy by all affected stakeholders is a strong indicator of customer success.
The ability to drive continuous improvements and long-term impacts within your business is one of the most significant benefits of partnering with a digital transformation consultant. Consultants are impartial collaborators who bring combined knowledge of supply chain operations and digital offerings to your business. Hiring a consultant often does not require making substantial investments. Many business owners are cautious about bringing in external transformation consultants because they believe consultants only offer generic action plans that are difficult to implement or come at a high price. Avoiding costly or inefficient partnerships is why it is essential to hire the right consultant with a combination of implementation experience, change management skills, and technical knowledge.
When it comes to your digital transformation journey, be sure to make the right decision. Our Digital Transformation Consulting processes are scalable, iterative, and proven. Reach out to the i4 Group and explore our Digital Transformation Consulting services.
