First Solution: Why every digital transformation project has to start with your people and infrastructure

Nigel Church, Group Managing Director of the award winning First Solution Group, shares his thoughts on the key steps involved in successful digital transformation.

The high-speed development of technology, coupled with more customer centric approaches and increased employee expectations are transforming businesses in almost every sector. To stay ahead and remain at a competitive advantage, companies are now having to transform how they operate.

Many SMEs realise the importance of innovation and are asking us how they can stay ahead of the competition.

So how do you go about digitally transforming your business?

It’s a complex question, but we have three key tried-and-tested stages that we follow:

1. Listening and understanding your business needs and ambitions

There’s one place that we think all transformation should begin. And that’s with your people. That’s why we always start our client relationships by listening, and taking a people-fi rst approach. After all, it’s the individuals in your organisation who determine your success - or failure - when it comes to transforming.

Using our bespoke Employee I.D.E.A. System approach, we talk to individuals in different departments, finding out their motivations, their challenges and how technology might be able to help them. We’ll look at how your teams work together and how they might interact with other departments to increase efficiency or grow more effectively.

2. Laying the right foundations to increase the success of your digital transformation

Transformation needs strong and secure foundations - so your cloud solutions, cyber security and managed services need to be right before transformational technologies can be integrated. Our First Solution team are equipped to build these foundations.

With cloud-based structures in place, you’ll be able to maximise your digital business strategy and continually increase your business flexibility, reducing risks and costs.

Cyber security is essential to safeguard your business ensuring you will be safe from hacking or malicious software that can cause huge financial or reputational damage to your business.

Our managed services keep your business running 24/7. With your IT taken care of, you can concentrate more time on helping customers and growing your business. You’ll also benefit t from a Technology Strategy tailored to your business’s needs.

3. Making digital transformation affordable and effective

With sound infrastructure in place, you can start moving from traditional business processes to becoming a digital leader and our teams at First Digital are here to help you do that.

We believe the most effective way for SMEs to transform is to do it in small increments, learning as you go and applying lessons to maximise the impact of your new technology.

Part of this process is dovetailing new technology with your existing infrastructure, which allows you to innovate cost-effectively with low risk and without shelling out for expensive platforms.

When it comes to integration, we’re big advocates of the Microsoft Power Platform. This smart piece of technology is made up of multiple elements that can help you increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Whether you’re ready to implement the Power Platform or need to fine tune your cyber security or cloud solutions first, the key is to keep moving forward.

To see how ready you are for automation, you can take our Automation-Ready Assessment

Or to find out more, why not book a free consultation call with our digital transformation lead today