If a company wishes to compete in the modern market, it needs to digitalize. Regardless of what the company deals with or who its clients are. The need for digital transformation is slowly but surely becoming a necessity.
Unfortunately, while almost all business owners recognize this as a fact, some are still reluctant to digitize their companies. Certain barriers to digital transformation are shown time and time again, which slow or even entirely halt the process.
So, for this article, we will outline these barriers and give you an idea of how to overcome them.
Common barriers to digital transformation
Once the digital transformation is finalized, it brings a ton of benefits to a company. It opens new alleys for marketing and provides your employees with practical ways to deal with customers and partners alike. Therefore, while overcoming some of these barriers might seem challenging, we are here to assure you that it will be well worth the effort.
1. Overabundance of tools
A big part of digital transformation is adopting new tools. While this seems simple enough on paper, in theory, it is anything but so. A reason for this is that there is a seemingly endless pool of tools to choose from. You have various tools to improve your marketing and tools to boost your sales.
For example, tools to help you find customers and different tools to help you manage them. Or tools to streamline your business and different tools to help manage payments. With this abundance of tools, it should come as no surprise that business owners may feel overwhelmed.
The best way to tackle this overabundance of tools is to prioritize. The process of digitalization is not something you can tackle in one go. It is a process. And as such, it requires prioritization. Outline your most important business needs and look for tools to help you out. Another good approach is to look at what companies like yours did and learn from their successes and failures.
2. Digital Security
It doesn’t take much experience to learn that the online world is anything but safe. With all the hackers, viruses, and data theft, it should be no surprise that business owners are reserved regarding digitalization. On the one hand, it is something that needs to happen. On the other hand, how can you be sure that your business data will remain safe and that a hacker won’t steal all your savings?
The first step in ensuring digital security is recognizing its priority. You are quite right to be concerned about cyber-attacks and data theft. But you shouldn’t consider that as an insurmountable barrier. Instead, know that it is a problem that has an easy solution. You will guarantee your digital safety if you get decent security software and learn safety practices.
3. Cost of transformation
Once you tally up all digital transformation costs, you might be surprised at how high they can be. With all the software licensing costs, website management and maintenance, extra training for employees, and new tools, the total cost of transformation can end up being a small fortune. And if you don’t have your funds in order, this cost might seem like an ineffective investment.
The main thing to remember here is that digitalization is an investment in the future. While the process may be expensive, it is bound to pay off in the long run. Every aspect of your company will benefit from digitalization. And if that is not enough, know that you won’t be able to keep up with your competitors if they choose to digitize. All in all, while the total cost can be one of the bigger barriers to digital transformation, it shouldn’t deter you. Just know that it will pay off in the end.
4. Traditional workforce
The older your workforce is, the less accepting they will be of digital transformation. If they’ve done their job for years, they already have set ways in which they do it. And any process of digitalization stands to upset that. Furthermore, older people tend to be reluctant and even scared of computers. This brings another issue that company managers need to tackle.
To overcome this, you need your workforce to come to terms with certain facts. The first is that digital transformation will occur and that changing business practices is not a matter of choice. Second, you will provide all the teaching and motivation necessary for them to learn. You need to provide a clear incentive for them to learn digital technologies. And you need to present downsides if they choose not to do so.
5. Poor communication
A big part of digitalization is enabling different aspects of companies to function as one. Through it, you’ll be able to connect sales and marketing. Production and shipping. And even finance and customer management. But, to make all this possible, you need to find a way to help different teams in your company communicate. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.
The goal here is to motivate and provide adequate tools. You need to help your employees understand the benefits of centralization. And you need to provide tools that will enable them to communicate with ease. You should also research digital communication within a company of your size and type.
That way, you can adopt proper tools and practices and teach them to your employees. The more they communicate, the more accustomed they will get to it. And before long, they should be able to combine their efforts with relative ease.
6. Fear of change
The last of the barriers to digital transformation is arguably the most present. Namely, we all fear change. The bigger it is, the more uneasy it makes us feel. And unfortunately, there is no straightforward solution to combating it. If you and your workers fear the change the digital transformation will bring, we can only advise you to summon your courage and sail into the unknown. Once the transformation is complete, you will likely see that you felt scared over nothing.
