Karen Hardy | June 15, 2018

At this point, business leaders clearly understand the need for digital transformation; they’ve defined top drivers for their initiatives, as well as desired outcomes. Yet for many of these organizations, the digital transformation journey has only just begun. With only 19% of companies disrupting the market, a proven path to getting digital transformation right has become more critical than ever.

This is the goal of IDC’s newest white paper, commissioned by Avaya: “Digital Transformation: Insight into Getting it Right.” The white paper is based on a global study containing key insights from over 1,300 enterprises and consumers to help brands plan and improve digital transformation, specifically through the modernization of business communications infrastructure.

The “Digital Transformation: Insight into Getting it Right” white paper found that adoption of communications is not where it should be for many organizations, and the impact is evident: 56% cite increased costs and 55% reduced flexibility/agility due to poor communication tools. A core focus on communications allows for the seamless adoption of emerging digital technologies (i.e., AI, IoT, blockchain) that help reduce costs, improve employee productivity and deliver faster, more intelligent and more adaptive customer experiences.

In this white paper, you’ll learn how to:

Improve adoption of communication tools among employees: Better CX starts with better communication, and that starts internally (the study shows the No. 1 driver of transformation to be employee productivity/efficiency, followed by CX). A solid communications core for higher employee productivity should provide a solid foundation for more advanced digital transformation focused on CX. This means radically changing how work gets done by embedding communications directly into processes, workflows and applications (91% of organizations believe embedding communications is important for employee efficiency and CX). Keep the human touch central to customer interactions: The human touch is, and always will be, an important part of digital transformation (45% of customers seek human assistance when filing complaints and 40% seek human assistance when returning products). Companies need to prove a path to human assistance along the digital journey, yet still one-third find blending human and digital interactions difficult. Striking the balance between high-tech and high-touch is simple when you know what you’re doing. Integrate back-end service delivery into customer journey to maximize satisfaction: Only 28% of organizations believe they integrate CX with fulfillment and delivery “very well.” Embedding communications into back office processes is key for extending CX organization-wide to deliver truly incredible service that exceeds expectations. Seek continual CX improvement, using technology toward this goal wherever it fits into customers’ preferred ways of doing business: Most consumers are open to advanced technologies like internet enabled smart devices, virtual support assistants, voice biometrics and virtual reality, but how should these solutions be implemented to deliver digital experiences in the ways consumers expect? Is your company even ready to adopt them? The white paper also includes insights on who “owns” digital transformation within an organization (there are differences of opinion between IT and other lines of business); implementing channel-agnostic communications (90% of organizations want a free-flowing interaction application to support all channels); and addressing every part of the customer journey (not only customer-facing elements, but internal elements of the organization that support those parts of the journey).

Transforming the enterprise starts with transforming communications. Organizations with effectively modernized communications will better realize the benefits of new digital business models and technologies. They’ll be able to innovate faster, respond quicker and deliver stronger results.

Take action with “Digital Transformation: Insight into Getting it Right,” and stay tuned for follow-up blogs that will dig deeper into these key elements of executing a successful digital transformation strategy.