{"id":11912,"date":"2023-06-16T11:55:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T11:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/presspay.ng\/news\/?p=11912"},"modified":"2023-06-16T11:55:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T11:55:29","slug":"how-to-make-digital-transformation-work-for-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presspay.ng\/news\/how-to-make-digital-transformation-work-for-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Make Digital Transformation Work For Your Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Digital transformation is a hot topic today, but what does it mean for small businesses? Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel, senior partners from global management consulting firm McKinsey, have a book coming out in June that addresses how companies \u201ccan build and flex their muscle by leveraging the power of AI, enhancing customer experience, and driving profitability through an ever-evolving process of transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were recently interviewed for McKinsey\u2019s \u201cAuthor Talks<\/a>\u201d series. And while much of what they address is aimed at big businesses, there is a lot small business owners can learn about \u201charnessing the power of digital transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smaje says they wrote the book after seeing their clients \u201cstruggle with what it really takes to make a digital transformation work\u201d because the \u201c\u2018how\u2019 of it is really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zemmel told \u201cAuthor Talks\u201d that everyone is talking about\u00a0generative AI<\/a>\u00a0right now, and businesses need to think about how they\u2019re \u201cgoing to get value from it\u2026and capture that value for your business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That advice applies to small businesses too. It\u2019s crucial to figure out what AI can do for your business and not worry about how others use it. Of course, you need to monitor your competitors\u2019 activities and understand your industry\u2019s best practices. But you need to deploy AI in a way that makes sense for your business\u2014and no, that doesn\u2019t mean firing your staff and replacing them with AI tools. Smaje says you\u2019ve \u201cgot to think about where the human is in the loop of this in a much more fundamental way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And like any marketing technique you deploy, Zemmel says you must measure, adopt, and scale your AI practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital transformation is an ongoing process<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitally transforming your company is not a short-term commitment. As Smaje says, \u201cOne thing that annoys me about the term digital transformation is it has this connotation that at some point, I am done. [But] I don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever done. This is a journey; it\u2019s a muscle you\u2019re constantly building to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business leaders need to be technology leaders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To truly transform your company, Zemmel says technology needs to be \u201cfully embedded\u201d in your business and that \u201cbusiness leaders need to be technology leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He distinguishes between companies with an \u201cold IT culture\u201d and a new digital one. Businesses, he explains, need to create a \u201cdigital culture\u201d with a key focus on being<\/em> digital, not doing digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoing new things\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When asked what the most important part of a digital and AI transformation is, Zemmel says businesses should focus on \u201cwhere the money is and how you\u2019re going to reimagine the business to really create value.\u201d It\u2019s not, he says, about \u201ctaking a bunch of processes and doing them better.\u201d Instead, you should think, \u201cHere\u2019s how we\u2019re going to, as a business, make more money by doing new things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not enough, according to Smaje, who says, \u201cEven if you know where the value is, [it doesn\u2019t] matter unless you actually have a way of delivering it.\u201d She says everyone is spending \u201cso much time on the what: \u2018What is it we\u2019re going to do,\u2019 they miss the fact that somebody ultimately has to use that technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate article for McKinsey, the three senior partners wrote, \u201cDigital is not a destination<\/a>; it\u2019s a permanent state of operating based on learning and adapting faster than the competition. But that can happen only if CEOs act as digital guardians of their business\u2019s transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How your small business can be<\/em> digital<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That may sound easy for the big businesses McKinsey typically serves, but small businesses also need to become digital companies. In a blog on its site, Salesforce acknowledges that \u201cwith the demands of small business ownership<\/a>, you may be wondering if you have the capacity to take on a digital transformation.\u201d But it adds that optimizing your digital presence \u201cis not as daunting as you may think\u201d and is essential for small businesses to reach customers and foster growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a Small Business Digital Transformation survey<\/a>, small businesses engaged in digital transformation saw eight times the revenue growth of those without digital efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before going digital, it\u2019s essential to understand exactly what a digital transformation means. Salesforce explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n