How to create a compelling business case for Digital Transformation
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
6 likes•4,449 views
Often, one of the greatest challenges for marketers is persuading senior leaders to more fully embrace digital within their organisations. Many marketers have a good idea about what they want to do, but need to argue the case internally in order to receive funding. In many cases, this is the major barrier to moving towards digital transformation. It is imperative to have a clearly informed business case that helps position how digital can closely align with the goals of the business, and not on digital trends and fashions. This presentation, which Building Blocks' co-founder, Jonathan Whiteside presented at the Figaro Digital Summit in March 2015, provides six practical tips for creating a business case.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (11)
Similar to How to create a compelling business case for Digital Transformation
Similar to How to create a compelling business case for Digital Transformation (20)
More from Building Blocks
More from Building Blocks (8)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
How to create a compelling business case for Digital Transformation
- 1. Building Blocks Building a Business Case For Digital Projects Jonathan Whiteside, Principal Consultant Building Blocks www.building-blocks.com
- 2. Building BlocksPresentation Name I wanted to hear about smart watches!
- 3. Building Blocks Want to be more strategic and demonstrate business value of digital
- 4. Building Blocks Why isn’t our digital strategy given more prominence?
- 5. Building Blocks Why isn’t our digital strategy given more prominence?
- 6. Building Blocks Why isn’t our digital strategy given more prominence?
- 7. Building Blocks How can we demonstrate the influence digital could have on achieving our business strategy?
- 8. Building Blocks 6 areas where we have seen success engaging senior teams. (innoparticularorder)
- 11. Building Blocks New CMS Consolidated 5 systems Provided tools for new capabilities to achieve long term objectives
- 12. Building Blocks Savings Software Licenses and ASM Infrastructure (server) costs IT support & maintenance Future upgrades and enhancements 3rd party supplier costs Issues and inconsistencies between systems Opportunity costs of not focusing on revenue generating activities
- 13. Building Blocks Otherideas Print and mail costs Customer support costs Sales / account management Cash collection times through self services tools Admin costs (e.g. Freedom of Information requests)
- 14. Building Blocks Real numbers – in context2
- 15. Building Blocks Existing Conversion rate Target Conversion rate Conversion rate uplift Anticipated monthly conversion uplift 27.55% 30.93% +12.25% 4,920 Additional Leads Captured each month (value of £20 per lead) £98,000
- 16. Building Blocks ROI Investment £250,000 First year return £1,176,000 ROI 370%
- 17. Building Blocks Understanding and quantifying how your website is performing is a complex task. There are so many tools and activities available to marketers these days that help to drive and convert traffic it’s hard to know where to start and where to focus. A measurement framework helps businesses to benchmark performance, by presenting information in a consistent format as well as pinpointing areas for improvement. Measurement Framework?
- 18. Building Blocks 1) Be tied to your companies business strategy. 2) List clear objectives which performance can be measured against over time. 3) Outline what tools the business can utilise to collect data 4) Pinpoint what KPI’s will be measured to track performance against objectives. 5) Detail what activities will be undertaken to help achieve the objectives. A Measurement Framework should…
- 19. Building Blocks Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Activities KPI’s Measurement Framework Tools Activities KPI’s Tools Activities KPI’s Tools Activities KPI’s Tools Digital Strategy
- 20. Building Blocks Objective 1: Increase website traffic by 20% by over H2 of 2015 whilst growing % Organic Traffic against % total traffic Supporting Business Objective: Increase online revenue by 5% Activities - Keyword research - Competitor research - SEO keyword optimisation - Link building - Targeted PPC campaigns - Display Advertising - Social media marketing - Targeted email campaigns KPI’s - Website traffic - Volume of organic search % total traffic - Search engine keyword ranking - Competitor market share search reports Example Measurement Framework Tools - Google Analytics - Google Adwords - SEO tools - Competitor Research Tools
- 21. Building Blocks Objective 2: Increase user engagement across the website as a whole whilst reducing site wide bounce rate below 40% by H2 of 2015. Supporting Business Objective: Increase online revenue by 5% Activities - Create persona driven high value content. - Implement data capture value exchange campaigns - Personalise content based on content consumption - Conduct A/B testing - Dedicate a team to tactical BAU changes - Conduct User Tests KPI’s - Page views - Conversions (downloads, contact forms) - Time on site - Pages per session - Returning users - Bounce rates - Page load speeds Example Measurement Framework Tools - Google Analytics - Remote User Testing Tools - Personalisation module - Site Surveys
- 22. Building Blocks Real life feedback3
- 23. Building Blocks Spoke to customers and staff who interact with customers20 Customer telephone interviews 25 Customer facing, internal Staff interviews
- 24. Building Blocks Highlight real examples of where digital is causing issues or where there are opportunities Normally I'd Google ’[product name]' or something like that, and I know that that will be the first result that comes up. I find that’s normally a bit quicker than going into your website and typing ’[product name]'. I currently can't talk customers through finding products on the site as I know it is too difficult for them. So I spend time doing it myself and emailing them [INTERNAL] the website assumes you know what you’re looking for
- 26. Building Blocks
- 27. Building Blocks Digital disruptors analysis4
- 29. Building Blocks Digital tools can attempt to commoditize some traditional high volume products And provide convenience/pricing not offered previously Disruptors usually more digitally savvy
- 30. Building Blocks Traditional businesses can use existing assets (Reputation, Relationships) as a competitive advantage when building digital tools
- 33. Building Blocks Designed the ideal team structure filling skills gaps with external help to deliver the project
- 34. Building Blocks Upskill team during the project – building their capabilities and confidence
- 35. Building Blocks Leaving the team more self-sufficient – reducing external costs for BAU work
- 36. Building Blocks Roadmap and detailed plan6
- 37. Building Blocks Just because it’s written down doesn’t mean it will happen Be clear on how
- 39. Building Blocks Highlight where activities that need business case funding fit into the overall digital roadmap
- 40. Building Blocks RACI Identify responsibilities and who is accountable and needs to be informed of certain decisions
- 41. Building Blocks Align business case directly against business plan/strategy Use numbers within context of business objectives Provoke emotional reaction for less numerical cases using user feedback Explore all ways that costs will be saved Ensure the business case is sustainable Have a detailed plan with clear responsibilities Don’t ignore threats from digital disruptors Wrapping up
- 42. Building Blocks Thank you! Building Blocks
Editor's Notes
- A number of you may think that this is a dry topic… And perhaps not that interesting! But this talk is prompted by spending a good percentage of the couple couple of years working with a number of client to help them explain to their businesses - and particularly the leaders within their business - the need to more fully embrace digital within their organisations. We also attended the Healthcheck event last year and talked to a number of attendees who were also at that same stage. They had a good idea what they wanted to do, but needed to argue the case internally in order to receive funding. In many cases it was the major barrier to moving forward. So for the next few minutes I’ll highlight a few of the elements that we have seen to be successful in communicating to senior management teams the imperative for digital investment.
- Most people realise the importance that digital now plays and that is it critical for businesses to embrace it. But a number of teams we work with are still frustrated that their activities are still very tactical and ad-hoc - or simply a series of sticky plasters attempting to hide a bigger problem. These teams have a good ideas – but need resources and funding to be able to fix it.
- Often asked “Is this just us? Why isn’t our digital strategy given more prominence”? And the answer to this issue is in the question.
- In the majority of cases where this is a problem, those organizations have not yet been affected by a real negative impact on their revenues because of digital. The leadership teams know that digital is there, but haven’t been forced look holistically at their organization by a problem and consider where digital can play a major role at improving performance. And so digital strategy is something that sits independently by itself.
- In organisations where this isn't a problem, digital is likely to be a 1. key revenue stream, an 2. operational necessity or a 3. differentiator - and so the digital strategy is actually a key part of the overall business strategy. So this is why it’s so important to have a clearly informed business case helps position how digital can align closely with the goals of the business - and not on digital trends and fashions. Need to make the business case for digital to be integrated – a business case is a document that they understand. So putting argues across in a business case can be a good way to unlock budgets or just convince leadership teams of greater support.
- So perhaps it’s better to ask this questions…. Also more chance of being accepted if it is aligned with organizational goals and KPIs linked with performance incentives.
- Not going to be a step by step guide on how to write a business plan There are lots of areas missed out!!!! Some different ways of approaching them and some examples
- A good place to start – before looking more speculatively! It’s good to start an argument asking for money when you’re going to save some. Must be based on real numbers And usually over 3 years Can be found in lots of places
- Lots of different systems. What did they want to achieve now Objectives for next 3-5 years
- The operating cost savings over 3 years were noticable – so extra investment budget was made available.
- This is the obvious one – but is the one area that will be put under scrutiny by senior managers Cannot be pages and pages of stats – and need to be easy to understand
- Which tools to use and when
- SEO Tools: Tools such as ‘SEO Monitor’ (http://seomonitor.com/) can provide traffic forecasts for keyword searches and your ranking for keywords vs competitors as well as allow you to identify keyword opportunities. You can also compare your sites visibility in search engines vs your competitors. - Competitor Research Tools: - Competitor research tools such as ‘Hitwise’ (http://www.experian.co.uk/marketing-services/products/hitwise.html) allow you to see what your competitors are doining, how much traffic they attract in comparison to your site as well as analyse search trends.
- Remote User Testing Tools: Remote user testing tools such as those at www.usertesting.com allow you to get real life users to test your website providing valuable insights in how users navigate your website uncovering quantitative insights on any pain points you may have noticed from reviewing your web analytics data.
- Sometimes the numbers are hard to prove – CX etc… Can use case studies and what happened in other ords As well as the numbers, it is possible to develop an emotional response. This sort of evidence is more importance when the project or strategy is focused around improving Customer Experience or building a Brand online Examples are from a B2B services organisation - real from a project over a year ago - all anonymous!
- Takes opinion out of it. Very powerful to show a short video with a real person’s comments Can be painful to be in the room when it is shown!
- Often in business cases, there is an element of comparing activities with competitors – to justify why something needs to be done
- Now worth looking beyond the usual competitors. Who else is out there? What start-ups are out there – how are they using digital technology differently?
- Legal Once a very personal (and expensive service) based in professional services model – hours spent
- Use it for difference means Efficiencies with HIGH VOLUME clients Value add timesavers for HIGH VALUE clients
- As digital is accepted as being critical to achieving business objectives, there will be an increase in organizations wanting to retain digital knowledge internally. There will always be a need for external suppliers and there will still be cases where organizations outsource some (or all) of their digital operations. But there will (and already is) a push for building competence in in-house teams – and indeed improving the digital skills of the entire business. Can help with staff engagement and retention – if they are given more responsibility and a real career path can be seen
- Digitals starting to become the major revenue stream Not able to react quick enough
- Develop existing skills Build confidence in the team to deliver bigger projects
- Everything needs to be backed up with a plan And very detailed costs
- What When Who
- Articulate what the end goal is
- Get everyone to buy into it
- Which tools to use and when