Digital Transformation: Ready or Not?

Unless your organization is stagnant, uncompetitive and happy that way, digital transformation is a matter of when, not if. More than merely digitizing paperwork and other analog processes, digital transformation is about leveraging the Internet of Things to make smarter, faster business decisions, improve operational efficiency and wow your customers.

Enabling those kinds of fundamental changes is daunting, even for the most seasoned IT pros at the largest organizations. That’s why CDW developed the “Digital Transformation Insight Report” that is a crash course into the concepts, technologies and best practices for developing and executing your digital transformation strategy. You’ll learn how to:

• Accelerate your digital transformation by creating a grand plan that can be divided into small, achievable steps.
• Eliminate major roadblocks such as departmental silos and converge IT with operational technology so everyone and everything is working together to achieve the organization’s digital transformation goals.
• Line up the must-have IoT, big data, analytics and cybersecurity skills, technologies and best practices.
• Get input and buy-in from executives, middle managers and everyone else to ensure the entire organization is on the same page and committed to what will be a multiyear journey.

Real-World Lessons

CDW’s “Digital Transformation Insight Report” is packed with real-world examples of how manufacturers, schools, healthcare providers, municipalities, retailers and other organizations developed and executed their digital transformations. Their success stories provide food for thought to help you start defining business outcomes such as cost savings, new revenue streams, improved safety, greater productivity and a better customer experience.

One example is real-time location systems, a set of IoT technologies that can pinpoint employees and equipment. Hospitals are using real-time locating system (RTLS) technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to know exactly where every single patient-monitoring device, infusion pump, wheelchair and other high-value asset is located. This maximizes productivity and customer experience because nurses and other staff now spend more time helping patients instead of hunting down what they need.

RTLS also enables those hospitals to track each asset’s utilization so they know when they have the right amount of each type. That illustrates how digital transformation helps protect margins by ensuring that expensive equipment never lies fallow. It also protects people because RTLS and other IoT technologies enable panic buttons for lone-worker staff and geofencing for wandering patients.

Finally, the guide also includes exclusive research conducted by IDG, which interviewed more than 400 IT leaders worldwide. Some highlights:

• Forty-two percent plan to make operations the initial focus of their digital transformation initiatives. Another 39 percent will focus first on IT and customer service, and 31 percent will initially focus on sales.
• More than 30 percent say insufficient budget and resources are the top barriers to their digital transformation. For another 24 percent, internal resistance is the big hurdle.
• Improved employee productivity is the most common success metric, followed by improved process efficiency through automation and greater customer satisfaction.

If you’re serious about digital transformation, our guide is a great place to start. And when you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here to help you develop and refine your strategy, build a roadmap to get you there, identify the right vendors and start the journey.

To learn more, visit CDW.com/Orchestration.

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