The most expensive decision is not to digitize

Mostly, companies are aware that in order to stay competitive, they will need to implement certain changes in their business operations in order to bring their business closer to the clients and their needs. Many are still clinging desperately to the established business patterns, mistaken in thinking that the costs incurred through implementation of change will be too high and the time to ROI too long.

However, our experience shows that the organizations focused almost entirely on costs tending to neglect clients and their needs risk losing market share or even threaten their existence in the market.

How to approach a client and satisfy its needs?

Many companies still consider digitalization unnecessary or excessive expense. We should have abandoned this belief a long time ago and start thinking instead about how to optimize and digitize our processes to get closer to our clients. Generali Investments has managed to do just that: as a result of digitalization, the company has cut its key business process time by up to 70% and brought its services even closer to clients.

A satisfied customer is a loyal customer. This is a saying which we have all heard but find hard to achieve, let alone maintain, in today’s agile business environment. The clients’ satisfaction with the user experience provided by the company always translates into performance and financial returns. With the right and innovative approach, we can surely generate the planned business value and therefore justify the initial investment.

Still, digitalization requires certain engagement and the results do not come overnight. The digitalization process may call for considerable employee engagement but it also opens up many opportunities that would otherwise go untapped. There is something organizations should bear in mind: if they do not meet the expectations of their customers, one of their rivals will, sooner or later. Customers are becoming more and more demanding. Their needs and expectations area shaped to fit the user experience offered by the leading global providers, even though their services may not even be comparable to ours.

Let us take a look at MBILLS, a company that knows how important it is for an enterprise to adjust to its clients and their expectations. According to Primož Zupan, the company’s director, digitalization is happening, every day.

By offering payments using e-money and the mBills mobile wallet at all POS terminals, we are enabling clients to use all the benefits of electronic business. This is a clear sign of the organization’s level of maturity for adopting and implementing digital transformation. Still, there are companies that look at digitalization with a certain degree of reservation, fear and distrust. Many decide to make the change on the premise of lowering their own processing and cash handling costs.

– mag. Primož Zupan, Director of MBILLS

Zupan also explains that the first step is to appoint an ambassador of change in the partner organization. This is a person who identifies with the solutions and believes it will deliver a wider business benefit.

Courage and innovation are the key ingredients of success

At Mikrocop we often notice that a mistake many companies make is that they dare not, or cannot, think outside the box and be innovative. Such a company may stay deeply rooted in its traditional, well-tested methods. In today's digital society, courage and openness to change are key qualities that a company needs in order to find the way to new clients or expand its business with existing customers.

Such companies risk losing their market share due to slow response and inflexibility. In the past we saw companies disappear from the market practically overnight for the same reasons. That is why our advice for the organizations that are unable to decide whether to digitize their operations or not is to ask themselves what is more expensive: to upgrade the business and adjust to their clients' needs, or not do any of that and risk being pushed out of the market sooner or later. Without a digital presence, a company simply cannot keep up with the pace of industry.

Digitalization comes with a wide range of advantages and benefits. Only lean, responsive and agile business processes can deliver more clients and, consequently, more profit, and this more than justifies the slightly higher initial investment in the optimization and digitization of business processes.

Want to know more? Contact us!

Tjaša Poljšak is Director of Sales and Marketing at Mikrocop. She believes that with the right approach, no challenge is too great so she actively promotes exchange of ideas, teamwork and a positive work environment. Tjaša is driven by the satisfaction of her clients as she steers them along the path of digital transformation, convinced that luck favors the digital.