digital communication transformation - adare sec · research1 found that 30% of those questioned...

Digital Communication Transformation

© Copyright Adare SEC 2019

Contents

Introduction

What does digital communication transformation mean?

What are the key stages

Stage one: What do I want to achieve

Stage: two: How do I achieve this?

Stage three: Which digital communications technologies are right for me?

The benefits

In summary

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www.adaresec.com | 3

The term ‘digital communication transformation’ has been

used to describe everything from creating a fully responsive

mobile website to developing a comprehensive social media

strategy. It’s something of a catch-all phrase that is often rolled

out when organisations want to assure clients and employees

alike that they are technologically sophisticated with the most

up to date procedures in place.

In reality, true transformation needs to involve much more

than just the end product.

While there is no shortage of information available about the

digitisation process, much of this is more of a hindrance than

a help to busy CEOs who may be unfamiliar with some of the

terminology or jargon involved.

What the majority really want to know is what exactly is a

digital communication transformation? How and in which

areas will it help my organisation? What costs are involved? Is

this something we need or is it just the latest buzzword?

Those who decide to proceed will need to understand the

process itself and what is required – whether this is a short-

term fix or a longer-term strategy that necessitates a detailed

plan on how to proceed.

With digital communications in particular, highly persuasive

arguments exist that are in favour of a digitisation process.

However, in order to fully understand what the process

involves and the benefits that can be gained, it is vital to

address potential barriers.

Larger companies operating in traditional sectors may be less

receptive to change than smaller, agile concerns that already

have long-term digital strategies in place.

Others may have large, unwieldy legacy computer systems

installed that may be perceived to be a problem, or an already

stretched IT team unwilling to take on a further challenge.

Whatever the perceived barrier, solutions exist to allow any

organisation, regardless of size or sector, to implement an

effective, relevant digital communications strategy that could

transform the way you interact with your customers.

Introduction


Usually when organisations talk about their digital

transformations, they are referring to technologies such as

artificial intelligence (A1), machine learning and big data, that

can be used to enable businesses to run faster and smoother.

It is without doubt that there are some ground-breaking and

exciting technologies on the market that can help businesses

be slicker and more efficient. The use of chat bots, for example,

is now relatively commonplace in sectors such as financial

services while today, there is arguably more value in mining

data as there is in mining minerals.

However, not all digital developments are relevant to

communications in particular. For digital communications, the

key lies in identifying the developments that will transform the

way organisations communicate with both their employees

and their customers.

For many, this may begin with a switch from paper to digital;

replacing printed, posted documents such as statements and

bills with digital versions while using channels such as SMS,

live chat, online portals or email to communicate directly with

clients. The process of moving documents and workflow to a

digital platform is not something that happens overnight, it is

an ongoing and evolving process.

Regardless of sector, it is vital that businesses react fast to

remain agile and to avoid being left behind.

It’s also a journey that requires responsiveness and the

flexibility to integrate with existing systems. If it’s not

approached cohesively, it won’t work and wastes valuable

resources, time and budgets.

Today’s customers have expectations based on a knowledge

of technology currently available on the market. An un-

personalised, automated mail addressed to a ‘dear member’

and containing general or, worse still, irrelevant information

is likely to be met with disdain and consigned swiftly to the

waste basket. Future messages from the same sender are likely

to meet with a similar fate.

Tech-savvy consumers know that capabilities exist to

personalise communications; to send only relevant messages

tailored to that individual’s interests and in a preferred

format, whether this be SMS, email or in some cases as a print

document. Where digital communications are concerned,

some may prefer to read emails during their morning

commute whereas others are more likely to respond to

messages sent at the weekend when they have time to fully

digest the contents.

Communications have always been a two-way street and

consumers expect organisations to be ‘always on’, ready to

receive and respond to messages 24 hours a day, seven days

a week. Mobile technology has had a huge part to play in this,

allowing access anytime and anywhere.

Research1 found that 30% of those questioned believed digital

transformation involved changing the very culture of an

organisation. Around a quarter believed it referred to ‘ways of

working’ while just 8% believed adopting new technology was

at the forefront of digital transformation.

This final figure is particularly telling. Rather than the

technology itself being a driving force for change, it is instead

an enabler, giving people ways in which to organise their work

and personal lives, a chance to do things better.

Adopting a people-centred approach is, therefore, a

game-changer when introducing digital changes into your

communications strategy. Continue to ask ‘what can this do for

people? For my customers?’ Adopting an agile, multi-channel

digital strategy will not only help identify customers’ preferred

communication channel but will ultimately lead to improved

customer engagement.

It is worth noting, however, that some customers will always

want to receive printed documents, for a variety of reasons.

They may be less familiar with or less trusting of digital

channels; others may simply prefer to keep a printed record of

transactions.

What does digital transformation mean?

1 Research by Organic published in Marketing Week https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/04/14/what-does-digital-transformation-really-mean/


The old adage that failing to prepare is preparing to fail

can without doubt be applied to the digitisation process. A

poor initial understanding of what a digital communication

transformation is and what it can achieve inevitably leads

to organisations starting a process without a coherent plan

or clear end goal in mind, which in turn results in disjointed

implementation and unsatisfactory conclusions.

Statistics2 show that the vast majority of start-ups – some 95%

– have digital business plans in place compared with 87% of

enterprises founded 50 years ago or more. More than half of

start-ups have already implemented this digital strategy yet

just 38% of established companies have adopted a plan.

The benefits of integrating digital communication with

print and paper are varied and far-reaching, from improving

sustainability through reduced paper usage, to lowering costs

and speeding up processes.

Key to formulating a successful strategy is understanding

what you want to achieve. This may be increased customer

satisfaction, underlining success as a digital-first business

where market-leading technology is used to meet and

exceed customer experience expectations and improve the

communications process.

Others may prioritise increasing employee productivity

through technologies such as AI and data access, while for

some the use of data availability and visibility to achieve

better management of business performance will be critical.

Understanding what you hope to achieve is key to formulating

the right transformation plan for your business.

What are the key stages?

Stage one: What do I want to achieve?

2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2018/04/22/the-state-of-digital-business-transformation-2018/

95%

of SMEs recently founded have

digital business plans in place

87%

of businesses founded 50+

years ago have digital business plans in place


For organisations looking to introduce digital communication

channels, what may appear to be significant challenges are

rarely insurmountable, particularly with guidance from an

expert.

One such potential hurdle is company culture. A successful

integration of digital technology with existing paper channels

requires the business to be fully on board, particularly at top

level.

Ensuring a buy-in at boardroom level may be more of a

challenge for long-established companies than smaller, more

agile organisations. However, this is a crucial step as without

support from the top, it can be significantly more difficult to

make an impact. Without management support to drive plans

forward, it may be perceived that there is no need for change.

If you can demonstrate that digitisation will be valuable to

customers, and that technology will help deliver what is

required, this will help drive the argument for change – and

help persuade those in control of the purse strings that

investment in new technologies is money wisely spent.

Existing legacy systems should not be considered a barrier

to change, despite it being difficult to imagine existing

systems generating the output required. Many businesses

will have invested significantly in systems focused on creating

personalised print as opposed to digital messages – and

employees will have been trained accordingly.

Fortunately, it is possible to incorporate the latest

technologies into existing systems, without starting from

scratch or taking support teams away from urgent day-to-

day tasks. The latest document composition systems enable

almost any data format to be ingested and used to create

digital output, regardless of whether that data is in a raw

format, stored in a database or composed ready for printing.

Content can be extracted from virtually any source then used

to create fresh digital messages.

One potential hindrance to a smooth digital transition is a

skills gap that continues to widen. According to research3, only

12% of executives currently believe graduates have sufficient

digital skills, down from 20% in 2017. Just 16% believed their

current teams could deliver their digital strategy while half

of executives questioned thought their board had a clear

understanding of AI.

In a survey of Yorkshire businesses4, resource constraints and

a lack of digital expertise were holding many companies back

in their digitisation process, despite 88% stating that their

website was crucial to their company’s success.

To address this, and to reman ahead of the curve, many

organisations choose to collaborate with an expert solutions

provider. Working with a trusted partner with the appropriate

expertise can save you time and resources by mapping out the

most effective journey for your needs. Leading providers will

gain a full understanding of a business’ needs and goals before

suggesting the most efficient steps to take.

This can range from creating documents from scratch through

to delivery using the most appropriate channels and even

processing inbound communications. Some may offer

the option of secure storage and 24-7 document retrieval

capabilities.

Stage two: How do I achieve this?

3 Deloitte, The UK Digital Skills Gap, 20184 Yorkshire Digital Pulse survey, Yorkshire Business Insider


The current market offers an ever-expanding and continually

evolving technological offering. Each organisation’s

requirements will be unique, therefore the ‘one size fits all’

approach is inappropriate.

In addition, the transition to digital communications is a

continuous process rather than a one-off event. As technology

evolves and new options emerge, there will always be

opportunities to update and enhance the options in place. The

challenge is to identify which are the best – and most cost-

effective – options for a particular business or sector.

For some, managing inbound mail may be a priority and

a system will be required where incoming messages are

processed and scanned, then digital images created that are

indexed then stored in a secure document repository. This

is ideal for highly confidential documents such as payments

or employee details. Market-leading secure storage systems,

such as SmartView from Adare SEC, offer long-term storage

capabilities for both inbound and outbound communications

including print and email messages.

Leading document composition platforms enable almost

any legacy or current data format to be ingested and used

to compose digital output. It does not matter if the data is in

a raw format, in a database or composed ready for printing.

Also, intercepting data in flight, from a mainframe to a printer

for example, enables content to be extracted from that data

stream to create new digital communications.

The integration of inbound communications, such as

regulatory forms or unstructured content, paper or digital,

into existing back-office systems is also possible.

Robotics, in combination with good data capture solutions,

can receive the inbound document, extract the required

content and input it directly into back office systems with

limited human intervention, even if this is achieved by a

member of staff inputting the data into an old ‘green screen’

monitor.

Robotics are there to perform these repetitive tasks by

emulating what humans do. This can be taken further by

implementing Artificial Intelligence to understand the intent

behind a received message, directing a new order to the order

processing team, or sending a complaint to the complaints

department.

Again, an understanding of your end goal is vital when

identifying the most useful and productive technology for

your needs. This may involve extensive market research into

what is available and whether, where required, it can be

integrated into your existing system. Fully understanding your

own and your customers’ pain points will help identify which

solution is the best for you.

A recent survey5 found that around half of businesses

questioned believed they were only around halfway through

their digital journey, partly due to the number of emerging

technologies available and the seemingly never-ending

stream of products arriving in the marketplace. Few felt their

online presence was complete.

Partnering with an expert system provider will not only

advise on the various steps needed during the integration

process, but can help businesses develop and implement

clear, achievable communication objectives to meet client

needs over an agreed period of time, to make their digital

communication transformation a success.

Stage three: What digital communications technologies are right for me?

5 Yorkshire Digital Pulse survey, Yorkshire Business Insider


For companies looking to enhance their customer experience

offering, a transition to digital communications can bring

significant benefits. In an age where customers are hyper-

connected, expectations are high. People expect to be able to

access all they need via their smart phone, 24-7, free from the

constraints of regular business hours.

In delivering this expectation, organisations selecting the right

digital solutions find they have a system to dynamically create,

manage and deliver communications. A market-leading

system will design and process a broad range of documents

such as statements, quotes and contracts while, crucially,

remaining cost-effective.

Gone are the mountains of paperwork that were problematic

to track and store; precious employee time spent seeking a

specific letter or quote can be diverted to more value-added

tasks. Documents can be stored securely online and retrieved

instantly at the touch of a button. High quality systems can be

accessed by huge numbers of users, 24 hours a day, to create

personalised documents that remain on-brand.

Meanwhile, consumers are better informed, more engaged,

less likely to contact call centres and ultimately unlikely to look

for an alternative provider.

The benefits

Happy customers

Speed is of the essence

Regardless of the sector, the length of time required to obtain

approval from consumers via printed, posted documents may

be causing unacceptable delays in processing information.

The use of interactive digital messaging, for example, with

secure links and attachments, could reduce this time frame

from days or even weeks to just a few hours. Not only that,

today’s sophisticated systems can track when an email has

been opened, offering an unprecedented level of traceability.

Reduced risk

The introduction of GDPR brought into sharp focus the way

organisations store and use personal data. Market-leading

systems have in-built features that are designed to reduce risk

and improve security, while history tracking and full audit trail

features enable greater transparency.

Lower costs

Reducing the need to print and post documents invariably

reduces costs of paper and ink, while employees are freed

from the task of inserting letters and forms into envelopes.

Reducing paper usage has the additional benefit of enhancing

an organisation’s environmental credentials.


Technology can be used to transform the way organisations

interact with their customers. However, there are many

variations available that may or may not work for you.

By partnering with an established solutions provider,

organisations can glean an excellent, well-informed

understanding of what will work best for them. Once an

effective strategy has been formed, an expert will advise

on how to implement the changes efficiently and, crucially,

without undue cost.

Despite many perceived and real problems that need to

be overcome – from legacy systems, the lack of available

IT resource and the uncertainty around how to undertake

the digital transformation journey – the benefits, once

implemented, are too great to ignore.

In summary

To find out more about Adare SEC and the range of digital communication solutions on offer, please contact:

T: +44 (0)1484 763411

[email protected]

www.adaresec.com

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