Digital transformation doesn't come easily. In fact, it's downright tricky. Successfully streamlining and automating the flow of information, processes and customer access points requires a certain creative "knack" along with technology that's capable of collecting, integrating and delivering information from a wide array of sources.
Even with both the creative and technological expertise, a successful transformation relies on the culture-management skills to gather the enthusiasm and support of the entire organisation.
We'll talk about the creative and cultural sides of digital transformation another time. Today, let's focus on the technology considerations.
Understand your inputs
Where is the information you need to transform your customer experience? Legacy databases? In-house web applications, sites and data stores? Document management systems? Customer Relationship Management systems? Advanced analytics and tracking? Make sure the technology your choose to enable your transformation is able to take, transform and deliver what you need.
Keep it flexible
You're not going to transform your entire organisation in a day. Digital transformation will happen in stages. Each stage will have different requirements. Investing in massive hardware resources which are underused makes no business or economic sense. Consider using a cloud service provider to deliver the hardware you need when you need it.
Make it unbreakable
The last thing you need is to lose hours or days of service. From hardware or network failure to malicious hackers, there are many reasons why your systems might not be available. Being prepared for any contingency is an expensive and time-consuming process. Fortunately Squiz is heavily invested in securing your data and maintaining service uptime. You should be considering DDoS mitigation technology, disaster recovery options, continuous monitoring and 24x7 support.
To paraphrase Francis Bacon, "Technology is a great servant but a terrible master." Define your needs and look for a solution that will provide you with the flexibility and robustness that will satisfy them.