6th March 2025
1. Identify areas in need of change
Where are the bottlenecks in your business processes? Put yourself in the shoes of a start-up. If you were just coming into your industry now, what is the one thing you could do better, faster or cheaper (or all three) by adopting purely digital techniques? You also need to look at your staff skillset, in a traditional marketing team structure do you have roles that can support new initiatives, or are you relying on agencies to plug the gaps? Increasingly the trend for larger companies has been to bring the tech side of digital marketing in-house, setting up internal agencies that can provide a client service model to different areas.
2. Assemble the right team
Successful digital transformation requires the right steering group. These people need to have a mix of skills: digital champions to identify opportunities and act as evangelists, alongside senior managers in relevant departments who can drive change. The group will almost certainly need to include both your CIO and CMO. Gartner reports that it’s likely your CMO will be spending more than your CIO on digital, but as your CIO will be ultimately responsible for the smooth running of all digital systems, a close working relationship between the two of them is vital.
The size of the groups is important: Too many people and any digital innovation is likely to grind to a halt as everyone gets involved. Too few and new ideas might not have the backing to successfully embed, or worse could negatively impact in unexpected ways if all avenues haven’t been fully explored.
3. Data data everywhere
The digital age has brought with it an abundance of data, but you need to make sure you are looking at the right metrics. Generally, customer experience will be your driving force. Depending on your industry, you could be looking at interaction points, customer journeys, sentiment, feedback or website journeys. Identify what metrics are the most important, how you are going to monitor them and, crucially, what you are going to do with that data. There’s no point in sending a weekly report to managers to scan for a few minutes then forget. You should have plans in place as to how that data is going to drive your digital strategy. If it isn’t, ask yourself if you really need to be reporting on it.
4. Create virtual teams
Take a leaf out of tech companies’ approaches and bring departments together. If for example, you are bringing in a new finance system, don’t just leave picking up the new software to the finance team. Pull together a working group that includes end users from other departments. You might want to consider backfilling roles for a few months to allow seconded staff to concentrate on the project.
5. Ensure you sell the need for change
Finally remember that while some get excited at the thought of change and new ideas, many others don’t, and intrinsically distrust those who are always looking for a new way of doing things. Make sure internal communications is involved so they can help push out the message about the need to change, and the tangible benefits the digital revolution can bring.