Digital solutions are tools which use technology to streamline processes and open up new channels of customer interaction. They can help businesses remain competitive, satisfy customer needs more efficiently, or boost growth. It takes careful planning to identify and select the most appropriate digital solutions. Here are some important aspects to take into consideration when selecting a complex digital solution for your business.
Many digital solutions are a result of innovative and scalable technology, allowing them to grow and evolve with the company. However, this flexibility comes at costs. It’s not unusual for successful solutions to create demand for expanded services, greater personalization, and greater scalability. The problem for digital businesses is to be able to enjoy complexity that can add value while avoiding complexity that doesn’t.
Digital solutions that are complex can automatize routine tasks, which reduces the time that employees devote to tedious administrative tasks so that they can concentrate on more important projects. They can also improve the handling of data and enable better decision-making by monitoring data in real-time. These solutions can also help reduce costs and make scaling the business more manageable.
Sales professionals face a problem in communicating the value of these capabilities. They need a strategy to show how the solutions can provide tangible benefits for specific customer requirements, and they have to be able to alter their value proposition as the demands of various customers change. Jeanne Ross is a principal researcher at the MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research and co-author of Designed for Digital : How to plan Your Business to Profit for the Long Term (The MIT Press 2019). Follow her on Twitter @mit_cisr.