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5 Reasons Why a Downturn is the Right Time for Digital Transformation

Patrick Boren • Sep 11, 2020
Invest in Digital Transformation strategy during an economic downturn

Economic downturns affect every industry at some point in time. During these moments of uncertainty, it is critical to take the right steps for your business. For the few who navigate the situation effectively these instances can pivot from trying to survive to ready to thrive.  


Digital transformation is paramount to any long-term business strategy. Instead of postponing or pressing pause on your digital efforts, we recommend using a downturn to actively pursue your organization’s digital advancement.  


Here are the key reasons why: 
Do More with Less 

Fact: Digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers.  

When business gets tight, cost management is critical. For most businesses, scaling back is a hard thing to achieve without sacrificing quality or convenience. Through technical improvements, such as process automation, you can optimize your operations while decreasing costs previously related to implementing manual tasks. 

Executives say the top 3 benefits of digital transformation are: 

Improved Operational Efficiency 

Faster Time to Market

Ability to Meet Customer Expectations

Long-term those three benefits can help your business scale as the market rebounds. In the short-term even moderate digital adoption can help improve your delivery time for products and services. For instance, if you have a warehouse for fulfillment implementing an inventory management system and automated workflow could ensure your team spends less time sorting through orders and more time exceeding customer expectations to ensure returning sales. 

Cutting costs in the short-term are just that short-term. Investing in specific technologies can provide short-term cost benefits as well as long-term ones.   
B2

Enhance revenue 


Fact: B2B digital leaders have 5x the revenue growth compared to their peers. 

 

Digital advancements benefit your internal operations as well as your customer facing interactions. When technology is set up to support your sales team, they can spend less time sorting through paperwork and more time closing leads.  


As mentioned above, your team can also have more time and tools to focus on improving customer service. With faster customer response times you will increase your customer satisfaction and retention rates. 
Key Resource Availability 

Fact: 71% of leaders say the workforce is important in supporting their digital transformation strategy. 

Like any major business transformation, a digital transformation strategy requires the collaboration of multiple team members within an organization. However, many times it is hard to find time to allocate to these special projects that are outside the realm of day to day responsibilities. The ever existing “I’m too busy” remark from your team can keep even the best technology partner from being able to get a project to the finish line.
 
Pursuing digital initiatives during a lull in normal business operations helps ensure key staff members have more bandwidth to dedicate to the success of the project. Your technology integrations partner will work more effectively with consistent access to your staff and you can avoid the dreaded bottleneck caused by insufficient time for vendor and cross-department collaboration. 
Get ahead of the curve  

Fact: 55% of companies without a digital transformation believe they have less than a year before they start to lose market share 

In a time of shrinking customer demand and increased competition, it is tempting to focus on short term competitive strategies. Those short-term strategies can set your company in poor position to respond once the market begins to rebound. Instead, we recommend investing in your business and regaining traction you may have previously lost by delaying your digital transformation in the past.  

Of companies that haven’t started their digital adoption 59% fear it may be too late. If you are in that position or you want to halt your progress, ask yourself:  

  • What it would mean to your organization’s success if you keep waiting to adapt this technology? 
  • Would you be in a better position to handle this current downtown if you had adapted sooner? 
  • What advantages would you have over your competition if you were more digitally equipped now and in the future? 
  • If you don’t pursue adaption today, then when? 
While your competitors are in complete capital conservation mode, you can turn your attention to investing in your business and its future. Then when the boom returns, you’re ready to scale while the rest of the market struggles to return to full operations.   

Expert availability 

Fact: Fewer than 30% of a company’s technology vendors are actively involved in their digital transformations. 

Unless you are an enterprise business with a highly equipped internal team of digital experts, running a successful project will require outside expertise. Take advantage of the current climate to claim availability of highly sought-after consultants and firms who might have otherwise been booked solid.  

Remember finding a strong technology partner can make or break any digital transformation initiative. A good partner should be committed to learning your business, processes, and strategy. Their role should not be limited to implementing technical changes but also actively supporting and enhancing your overall efforts to make sure they are aligned with your overall goals. Prioritizing a partnership when there are fewer outside projects can lead to a more aggressive development timeline as well as more accessible specialty resources. 

An economic downturn may mean the end of your industry as you know it, but that doesn’t need to mean the end of your organization’s success. By focusing on your digital advancements and adoption you can come out ahead as a market leader while your competition continues to struggle to maintain the status quo. If you are ready to be the one causing market disruption instead of being a victim to it contact our team and see what digital transformation can mean for your organization.  
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