Digital transformation: we hear these two words so often, yet many leaders are still confused about the term’s true meaning. Suppose you already know what digital transformation means in theory but don’t know how and where to start implementing it in your business. In that case, this article is for you.

To tackle digital transformation, first, you need to know the current status of your company or business.

It sounds simple, right? While it seems trivial, most companies who embark on a digital transformation journey skip this essential step. Usually, because they think they know their status, that’s not entirely true most of the time.

Before getting into the details of a digital transformation journey, I want to quickly explain why knowing your starting position is essential. 

Imagine that you need to drive a car to Paris. A motivational speaker will usually say that it’s enough for you to know your destination. On a conceptual level, this is true, but something is missing from this formula.

Assessing your starting position is key to future growth, success, and reaching your concrete and parabolic destinations.

Let’s expand on the Paris-example. Whether you are in London or in New York, driving to Paris requires different efforts. From London, you will have to go to the Eurotunnel, where you onboard a train that will take you to the continent. From there, you can continue driving. From New York, however, you have two options: you can ship your car via plane or go by boat to one of the ports of Europe from where you can start driving towards Paris.

Both are unusual trips that require serious preparation and effort, but you need different strategies with different costs to get to your destination.

Getting back to digital transformation: it is critical to know precisely where you start. And the most efficient way to do that is to have a Digital Due Diligence (DDD).

Is this another complicated term? If it sounds like that, I want to demystify it.

Digital Due Diligence is the methodology that helps you accurately define your current digital status.

It takes into account your industry specifics, brand positioning, and applicable trends to show you potential digital growth paths relevant to your situation. So does this mean that digital transformation doesn’t start exactly the same way for each brand? Yes, it does.

Back to my example before. To have a successful trip, you need to know whether you are in London or New York, Tokyo, Rome, or a completely different city. Once you know where you are, you will build the right strategy. 

Now, let’s look at what Digital Due Diligence looks like. It’s built on three main pillars.

The first pillar is the digital market pillar. If your brand is positioned, for example, in the machinery industry, you shouldn’t compare yourself to Netflix or Nivea. However, you should understand the digital KPIs of both your close competitors and your industry as well. 

The second pillar is related to digital technology. Most companies who start their digital transformation journey don’t have a strategically aligned technology ecosystem in place. That’s not a problem if you can map and analyse the company’s technology stack. This audit helps you build a 360-degree view and identify potential technology gaps and opportunities.

The third pillar is regarding your digital assets. There are two main types of digital assets: those that assist your internal work processes, such as internal documents, flow charts, dynamic dashboards, etc., and those that serve for external communications: social media material, images, videos, text content, and so on. Auditing these assets aims to let you know whether you have a way to manage and create the right quality and quantity to support your transformation process.

To sum it up: a Digital Due Diligence helps you position your brand by understanding the digital market you compete in, the digital technology you need to compete, and the digital assets required for your growth.

Because at the end of the day, digital transformation should be a catalyser of expansion.

If you are just planning to start your journey into digital transformation, or need some help along the way, contact us for more information.