The companies that have successfully accomplished a profound digital transformation are those that have easily adapted to the changes and challenges the internet has brought. This transformation means carrying out a reorganisation of processes, systems and incentives, and must count on the participation and involvement of all departments.
This change must not only be structural, but also strategical: a successful digital transformation involves thinking about your business model from a technological perspective, determining how the use of new technologies will redefine your company from the inside out and how it will affect the way that you currently generate revenues.
At Namirial, we work with thousands of organisations across Europe at different stages of digital transformation. Through that experience, we have identified the six traits common to those companies that have most effectively made the transition to a digital-first operating model.
1. Customer-Centric by Design
With digitisation, there are constant interactions between customers and companies, happening more often than ever before. A customer’s relationship with a company: before, during and after the purchase, is now so critical that it has almost become a more decisive factor than price when choosing a supplier.
In the digital realm, the possibilities of improving and enhancing the customer experience are immense. Furthermore, all those touch points between customers and companies (website, blog, social networks, customer service) can be used to capture data throughout the entire purchase process: data that will later serve to analyse and improve processes, as well as to refine the definition of your buyer persona.
Efficient digital companies don’t just collect demographic data; they capture behavioural data that helps them understand customer movements and determine the best way to interact at each stage of the journey. This in-depth knowledge is critical for any company that wants to become digitally effective.
2. Data as a Strategic Asset
In a digitised world there are multiple touch points between companies and their customers across multiple devices every single day. All these interactions (clicks, posts, comments, web visits) can be captured, measured, aggregated and analysed.
The power of data analysis is invaluable. Companies that succeed in establishing processes to systematise the capture and analysis of every interaction with a client will be able to have a constant pulse with the market. They will know how their product or service can be further adjusted to the needs of their target audience, allowing them to redefine their offering to stay ahead of competition.
Digitalised trust processes, like electronic signature completion rates, document turnaround times, and identity verification success rates, are themselves rich sources of operational intelligence that efficient digital companies use to optimise their workflows continuously.
3. Consistency Across All Channels and Devices
It is imperative that the customer experience is as consistent and continuous as possible, throughout every channel and device, web or mobile. The experience must be consistent not only in terms of visual design, but also in terms of flow and interactive responses.
The term “continuous” means that the flow has to facilitate the completion of a transaction without friction. For this to happen, it is often necessary to smoothly integrate third-party services, such as payment systems, electronic signature, or identity verification, without altering the customer experience, but enhancing it.
A prospect who starts an onboarding process on a desktop browser should be able to complete it on a mobile device without losing progress. A client who digitally signs a contract should receive instant confirmation regardless of the channel through which they signed. This seamless continuity is a hallmark of the most effective digital companies.
4. Redefinition of Operational Processes
Understanding digital transformation as a change that should affect the core of a business structure, it is essential that this change also occurs in all back-office processes. Not only the departments in direct contact with customers must be digitised; this process should also reduce operating costs through structural reorganisation and digitisation of internal workflows.
For legal, HR, procurement and finance teams, this typically means replacing paper-based document workflows (contracts, NDAs, employee agreements, purchase orders) with digital processes backed by legally compliant electronic signatures. The efficiency gains are substantial: what once took days of printing, scanning, couriering and filing now takes minutes.
Namirial’s Digital Transaction Management platform enables organisations to digitise the full lifecycle of their document workflows, from generation and signature to certified delivery and long-term archiving, all in compliance with the eIDAS regulation.
5. Business Model Monetisation
The ways to monetise a digital company have changed many traditional patterns of revenue stream design. Another characteristic of companies that have successfully accomplished their digital transformation is that they have dared to redefine their business model, rethink their value proposition and determine new strategies to generate income.
There are many ways to monetise a business in the digital era. The key is having strategic vision to detect which monetisation methods are suitable for your business model, knowing how to digitally update old revenue streams and how to combine them with new sources. Digital trust services, from certified communications to identity verification as a service, have opened entirely new revenue possibilities for companies in regulated industries.
6. IT Leadership Integrated with Business Management
To perform a complete digital transformation it makes sense to increase the role of IT departments and allow them to participate in strategic decisions alongside management. Technology is central to the whole process, in addition to being core in redefining the business model of any company.
To be an effective digital business, you have to integrate IT departments and enhance their cooperation with strategic management and other key business units: finance, legal, operations, compliance. The most successful digital transformations are not IT projects; they are business projects enabled by technology, with IT serving as a strategic partner.
How Namirial Supports Digital Transformation
Successfully completing a digital transformation is not easy. Each company should be able to determine its own road map and establish milestones and timelines to optimally execute the transition. Effort and perseverance are required — it often takes several years before a company becomes fully digital.
The successful leaders in this area know that all six traits must be fulfilled and executed in the best way possible, involving all workers, while daring to challenge the traditional way of doing business.
Namirial provides the digital trust infrastructure: qualified electronic signatures, identity verification, certified email, and qualified timestamps, that underpins the operational processes of the most efficient digital companies in Europe. Contact us to discover how we can support your organisation’s digital transformation journey.
