For decades, terms such as electronic data interchange (EDI) or enterprise application integration (EAI) have been synonymous with the digitalisation of value creation, the acceleration of business processes and efficiency gains in companies. However, the potential benefits of EDI alone are now proving to be too weak to master the challenges of the future.
Anyone who thinks that future competitive challenges can be solved by making business processes and business models more digital is mistaken - even if the advertising promises of many providers suggest otherwise.
The message is often that the more modern technology is installed and the more applications are brought together, the greater the benefits. However, this is a dangerous misconception. Such an approach often ends with the realisation that you have invested a lot but gained little in the end.
Such an approach also creates significant new problems: costly technological overheads quickly arise, such as a jumble of different interfaces and, in the worst case, redundant applications and data storage. What on the surface appears to be a lack of clarity is ultimately reflected in enormous costs and rising administration costs.
Most decision-makers are already familiar with today's success-defining digital technologies under buzzwords such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and cloud computing. But what is less important whetherbut like these modern digital technologies can be integrated into areas such as sales, marketing, purchasing or production and create tangible added value. Many understand added value incompletely - in the sense of optimisation and greater efficiency. However, today's success is primarily based on using digital technologies to open up completely new opportunities for action!
5 tips for an optimal start to the digital transformation
Perhaps first of all: innovation through successful digitalisation is not something that only online pure players or young start-ups with their fully digital business models can achieve. Companies with traditional business models can also utilise all the advantages of the latest digital technologies for themselves and gain significant momentum and competitive strength as a result.
1. start - and then move on
Digital transformation is not a big bang, but something that requires thought and continuity. The big advantage is that it doesn't have to happen all at once. But don't let time pass unnecessarily - get started.
2 EiPaaS: No success without an open basis
Choosing the right basis is not just about tools and technologies for realising integration projects and solutions. What is important above all is what is technically referred to as EiPaaS (Enterprise Integration as a Service): Rely on a platform that offers you a globally open solution suite with cloud connectivity and thus enables the integration and utilisation of cloud services and solutions offered worldwide (including those from third-party providers). Such a platform provides you with a uniform technological framework for all digitalisation and integration activities.
But that's not all: with an EiPaaS, you reduce your costs, avoid complexity and constant provider changes and gain speed (short 'time-to-value'). This enables you to easily integrate ready-made solutions and modules into your business and utilise them quickly. One such suite of building blocks and services for digital business transformation is our CIS/4-Cloud together with the SAP BTP (SAP Business Technology Platform) as the basis.
3. utilise existing intelligence - in the cloud
Don't repeat the mistakes of the 90s! More important than the costly acquisition of large monolithic "mega-buildings" is that solution modules and services can be easily and precisely combined with each other and complement each other synergistically. That's why our solutions are designed to communicate openly and easily with other solutions and services and can be quickly adapted to new requirements.
Think of our solutions and services simply like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that are already in place, can be deployed quickly and are rapidly beneficial. These can be assembled into a larger whole according to your goals and adapted to your speed of digitalisation, including solutions from other well-known providers. The aim is an open, low-maintenance and high-performance overall solution that is customised to your requirements and offers you the security of being able to react quickly and securely to all new challenges of digital change at any time.
4. define puzzle pieces - the benefit counts
Very few customers have a fully developed roadmap and a precise idea of which technologies and solutions are suitable for them and which challenges they will have to face in the future with state-of-the-art digitalisation
Start with concrete, realisable and measurable projects and goals: Perhaps the first step could be to create personalised services for customers at a manageable cost? For example, check with your respective departments how logistics partners can be integrated more closely via portals, thereby reducing processing costs and production and delivery times. If necessary, it makes sense for data distributed across different processes to be intelligently processed and correlated for specialist departments in order to be able to analyse outstanding payments and delays, for example, easily or identify them at an early stage. The possibilities really are endless.
5. no experiments - avoid expensive detours
No matter which project you choose to start with: The focus must always be on the benefits and tangible added value for the business! Bear in mind that innovations today are often purely digital and complex in terms of their technological architecture. It is therefore important that you have an experienced and competent partner at your side right from the start. A partner who will accompany you at eye level and who knows how digitalisation works. Detours and corrections end up costing valuable time and often a lot of money.
CONCETO means security if you want to utilise the possibilities of state-of-the-art technologies and the opportunities of digital transformation. We make sure that your digital transformation succeeds.
