Steinbeis experts support implementation of digital transformation projects.
Implementing the digital transformation may no longer be a new challenge for businesses, but a systematic, evidence-based methodology that has been tried and tested can help to tackle it. Having recognized this, Professor Dr. Andreas Pufall and Professor Dr. Steffen Jäckle, both Steinbeis Entrepreneurs and professors at Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences (RWU), developed the Digital Transformation Excellence Navigator (DTXN). Businesses can use this tool to help successfully implement transformation projects and achieve their overarching transformation objectives.
A successful business is a competitive business, and digital technologies are key enabler for that. As digital technology also increasingly comes to dominate business models, it will play an even greater future role in determining whether a company succeeds or fails.
Digital transformation is a means, not an end
Against this backdrop, it is vital for businesses to continuously and reliably measure their competitiveness. After all, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. This is where the Digital Transformation Excellence Navigator comes in. It uses two dimensions to measure competitiveness:
- customer benefits (customer-dimension) and
- service delivery efficiency (company-dimension)
Based on the results of the measurements, appropriate methods can be used to leverage competitive potential. However, it is important to remember that digital technology is just a means to an end – the ultimate goal is competitiveness. Failure to properly understand digital technology often still leads to it being wrongly seen as an end in itself. This approach is bound to fail, as amply demonstrated by unsuccessful digital innovations such as the Amazon Dash Button, Scorefab and touch screen steering wheels, all of which failed to deliver enough customer benefits and/or efficiency gains. It’s so simple, and yet so difficult.
When developing a digital transformation strategy, it is thus important to focus on how digital technology can be harnessed to strengthen and enhance the two dimensions – customer benefits and efficiency – so that they ultimately become more competitive. Two recent examples illustrate how this can be done:
- Goal: “more customer benefits”
EGYM Smart Fitness equipment features digital apps and adjusts to each user’s body to provide a personalized, interactive workout experience. This offers significantly greater customer benefits compared to traditional home fitness equipment. - Goal: “more efficient service delivery”
Amazon Audible audiobooks are now being read by AI clones of narrators’ voices. This approach enables faster and cheaper audiobook production compared to conventional production methods.
Returning to DTXN, the navigator reliably determines the business’s current competitive position, enabling subsequent identification of concrete innovation projects geared towards increasing customer benefits and/or efficiency. The navigator has been designed with collaboration in mind and is open to interested partners from the Steinbeis Network.