Don’t Hesitate to Measure Your Digital Transformation Progress. What KPIs Will Help Track Success?
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5. Afterword
I divide all companies that carry out digital transformation into two groups. The former introduces innovations, but the efficiency remains the same. Others change their approaches and gain superiority. Why is it happening? The case is digital transformation (DX) success depends on interim results evaluation.
So, why not set some KPIs for it? It seems reasonable. But choosing the right metrics is often a challenge for businesses.
Here, I decided to advise how to approach DX KPIs, choosing to collect accurate data on improvements.
All You Should Know About Digital Transformation KPIs
Digital Transformation KPIs are indicators of the progress towards achieving DX goals. This way, businesses can track how their activity affects the digitization processes.
Paul Proctor, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, once said,
“Select just 5 to 9 metrics to track, report, and act on. The value of a metric lies in its ability to influence business decision making.”
But it is difficult to determine what KPIs will be handy. Each company is unique, so the approach to the choice of metrics must be thorough. There are several versatile rules for choosing the most relevant key performance indicators.
Simplicity. Employees should understand KPIs to make a performance.
Business-orientation. The trends or the actions of competitors should not affect your choice of metrics. Consider only your current business needs.
Agility. Appropriate indicators should be adaptable to the environment.
Relevancy. Don't use previous KPI results once again. It is more efficient to choose leading indicators. They directly affect future outcomes.
KPIs define the level of performance on the way to digital transformation goals. They make teamwork structured, effective, and meaningful.
What Digital Transformation KPIs Can You Choose?
“There are 2 KPIs that a business should focus on: 1. The time and human resources spent on maintaining a particular process. Reducing the human factor means increasing business scaling opportunities; 2. Customer Effort Score (CES) - a value, determining the convenience of interaction between customer and business.”
Victor Kmita, CEO at XME.digital
There are no versatile sets of KPIs templates. To be honest, there is not even a certain amount of DX KPIs applied in different industries. Nevertheless, they can be divided into several groups, depending on the area of monitoring. Some metrics are related to:
‣ customers; ‣ employees (human resources);
‣ business processes;
‣ innovations;
‣ profitability.
It's necessary to analyze KPIs for each of the above groups to define what indications to choose.
Customer-Oriented KPIs.
◦ User retention rate. DX improves customer experience and products. The higher this KPI percentage, the less effort it will take to retain existing clients and attract new ones.
◦ Digital channel's popularity. It shows how convenient a company's applications are for its users. Moreover, it determines how well a business knows its audience.
◦ A range of versatile commercial offers. The new software can expand the circle of customers and adapt existing products to new requirements. The more services a company offers to different business areas, the higher level of its digital development.
◦ Marketing effectiveness. The indicator is determined by the ratio of funds invested into digital marketing tools to the number of attracted customers.
Employee and Process-Oriented KPIs
◦ Time spent minimization. Automated systems can significantly reduce running time. Therefore, the fewer hours employees spend on one process, the more effective a digital transformation strategy is.
◦ The level of digital maturity. Before any global digital idea implementation, a company needs to train its staff first. Acquaintance and acceptance from the employee side defines DX efficiency.
◦ Labor Productivity. Well-implemented digital technologies will guarantee high employee productivity.
Innovation-Oriented KPIs.
◦ Quantity of successfully implemented innovations. This KPI considers the number of ideas that became a reality within a certain period and the ratio of resources spent.
◦ Application of innovative solutions. This metric considers the agility of existing software.
◦ Time to market for a new offer. Digital technologies allow you to create a product on a tight schedule.
Profit-Oriented KPIs.
◦ Profitability of multichannel activity. As income rises, the quality of channels improves.
◦ ROI. The ratio of funds received due to transformation and spent on it. This metric tracks how efficient the new approach is. A company should have high margins and reasonable costs of maintaining new software.
It is arduous to choose the most suitable KPIs because of countless options. You should consider the nature of goals, the peculiarities of your company, and a business niche to make a choice easier.
Source: McKinsey & Company
How IT Infrastructure Can Affect Digital KPIs?
IT infrastructure is the first point to consider for the KPIs set. It's a complex of all resources and technologies used by one company.
Companies perform a digital transformation to boost their existing system. Its “behavior” should be a litmus test for those who chose relevant KPIs. While a percentage of the above KPIs will be a partial reflection of the infrastructure state respectively. You should tailor your IT infrastructure for future changes. Otherwise, it will be complicated to develop, implement and integrate new digital solutions.
How to Improve KPI Performance, Using XME Fast-Code Platform?
Gartner reports that low code platform usage will remain a core tech & eco-trend in 2022. Why not? The technology accelerates time2market by optimizing a development circle and cutting project costs. Companies use it to cover different-sized processes in a tight schedule. It helps them to perform DX checklist points faster than ever.
Anyway, traditional low code solutions we know provide users with limited opportunities to design a needed product. Customers cannot change a source code to configure ready-made templates in their manner.
A few years ago, XME.digital decided to fix it and built a new generation of low code solutions - the XME.fast-code platform. It makes the transformation process less laborious and time-consuming. Due to this open-source alternative, companies can satisfy their customers & employees by creating flexible and convenient solutions for a few weeks.
Afterword
Choosing the proper DX KPIs for your business is like building a Lego: you have the figures and the ultimate goal. But the thing is to get to it yourself. Independent experts like Gartner, XME.digital, and McKinsey can advise you on standard indicators without delving into your business. Meanwhile, the choice of the most relevant ones is up to you and your partners assisting with DX.
Do you still have questions? Drop us a line to receive handy tips on how to perform a digital transformation of your company and discover what KPIs will be suitable in your case.
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