When it comes to digital transformation it’s no longer a question of if you should do it, but when. According to global market intelligence firm IDC, 85% of enterprise decision makers say they have plans to embark on a digital transformation within the next two years, with more than a third (37%) saying they’ve already started executing one and nearly half (45%) saying they’re in the early stages of adopting one.

Investments back this, with funding of digital transformation worldwide topping $1.2 trillion in 2019, up 18% from the previous year. With the ability to increase revenue, reduce operational costs, and provide enhanced experiences for both staff and customers, investing in a digital-first strategy seems like the best course to take. 

Despite this, only 3% of enterprises complete their digital transformation projects, most attributing failure to either a fear of change, lack of cloud resources, or lack of agility. But by looking at the explosive growth in the automation space — 100% YoY for RPA and 72% YoY for iPaaS, for example — it’s clear what role automation will play in the digital enterprise. Investing in a pervasive automation strategy and a related platform that provides end-to-end solutions is crucial to breaking through the noise and succeeding in any transformative efforts.

There will, of course, be a learning curve when implementing such a strategy, but many organizations have no idea how to start – or where to start – and what immediate value (if any) they will receive once they adopt such a platform. Here’s what we see working for enterprises today when it comes to an automation strategy.

Overcoming the Initial Barriers of Digital Transformation

Forward-thinking enterprises recognize that in order to remain competitive, they must continuously evolve their culture, processes, data and technologies – and this won’t be easy.

Though 83% of IT decision makers say workflow automation is essential to digital transformation, a large number of manual processes still remain active in many companies.  

Unfortunately, even the most dedicated IT teams can’t manage the optimization of thousands upon thousands of processes across the business.

Because of this, only certain processes will get prioritized for automation, meaning only a small number of users will reap the benefits.

For example, workflows critical to keeping the lights on will always be prioritized, while processes in lines of business (LOB) including HR, finance and marketing that could drastically improve with automation may sit on the backburner. This results in an increasing number of inefficiencies across business. 

Automation Platforms that can be used by non-coders like Business Systems teams, analysts, and App Admins democratizes the process of integration and automation. This is key to actually achieving Digital Transformation goals: when bottlenecks prevent progress and automation projects are not agile, there is no way an organization can transform at scale.

Is the Platform Flexible and Secure?

The key to enterprise-wide adoption of automation is that it should be something that can be used by both your IT team and other players like business systems, app admins, MarketingOps, and SalesOps teams. Spreading this skill set out across groups is the only way to scale. However, you still need to ensure that the platform has enterprise security and governance capabilities.

The IT team and security team should be able to monitor everyone’s activity on a single platform.

On the business side, employees often want to use the tool they prefer for their job function.

While IT/business systems teams will want to ensure the tool fits in well with their infrastructure, LOBs will often drive tech purchases without their oversight. To avoid conflict, it’s best to invest in an automation platform that is agile enough to enable LOB to choose whatever technology and tools they prefer.

This, combined with an emphasis of time-to-value or an ability to build agile integrations quickly, makes a no-code solution the best choice. 

Early-Stage Digital Transformation

Once a tool is selected, there are several steps you must take in the first stage of adoption to ensure your investment doesn’t go dead in the water, according to HubSpot:

• Use cases: The decision makers of your team now must identify what use cases they want to implement first. Consider the processes across your business that could use the most help — is it Order-to-Cash or Employee Onboarding and Offboarding? Could your organization use a virtual helpdesk to answer employee inquiries upon command, led by a bot-based protocol which uses ML to improve based on the feedback it receives? Whatever they decide, the right (and wrong) use cases must be identified at the very beginning, which may take a few trials given the amount you have.
• Change management – Part 1: Automation is going to change the way you work drastically, which is different from the typical business-as-usual (BAU) change management. Therefore, it may be necessary to involve additional planning and implementation tools to ensure a smooth transition. The first step should be examining the extent or degree to which change can occur with said adoption. 
• Operations & IT strategy: When testing the functionality of a tool, it needs to be able to support the load of several use cases (hence the selection of use cases in a previous bullet). This will help gauge what’s necessary for scaling in the future and help build an infrastructure for your platform. 

Mid-Stage Digital Transformation

At this point in your digital-first, automation-driven strategy, at least one use case should be actively in production. Now, the hard work begins.

• Cost-benefit analysis – Part 1: Your initial use case(s) will help determine high level/unnecessary costs in the first year of your program. This analysis will be refined later in an integration “playbook.”
• Gap assessment – Part 1: By using automation to eliminate manual, repetitive work, you’ll quickly see areas of improvement for other processes prior to applying automation. It’s best to consult with your IT/business systems team and designated LOBs to determine how to reengineer these processes before applying automation.
• Integration playbook: Building upon your initial use case(s), you will need to deploy a large-scale integration playbook across LOBs and/or timelines. This will allow projection into your pipeline, and act as a primary input into your second cost-benefit analysis.
• Cost-benefit analysis – Part 2: As you build upon use cases, you will continue to identify unnecessary costs, lessons learned, and value received versus expectations. Continue to apply this knowledge as adoption continues, marking it for any future implementations.

Growth Stage of a Digital Transformation

At this point, you will have several use cases in deployment that lack enterprise cohesiveness. Here’s what to do next:

• Gap assessment – Part 2: If there are any reengineering techniques you’ve found successful at this point, now’s the time to apply them. This would also be the time to identify any other areas of improvement to ensure your automation footprint is sound. 
• Power user program – Part 1: The power users, in this case, will be non-technical staff. Sure, IT and business systems need to be able to use the platform, but it’s the extent to which LOBs and other non-technical staff use the platform that’ll make the case for this clear.
• Identify a few LOB champions and assess how to scale and reduce costs based on their usage.
• Scaling IT: At the Growth stage, you will have learned enough to be able to make informed decisions that significantly impact cost, such as the use of on-prem versus cloud systems. 
• Change management – Part 2: In adopting an automation platform that changes the way you work, you will impact every customer, employee and department in your business. Be prepared to launch any change management plans at this point, preparing your enterprise for transformation.
• Power user program – Part 2: As you begin to transition developers and LOB users, you will start to iron out the kinks of your platform. This is necessary before establishing a center of excellence (CoE) or distributing the platform as an end-user computing (EUC) model for the larger enterprise.

Mature Stage of a Digital Transformation

By now, your platform has completed development and you have a centralized program ready to scale. At this point, you’ll want to implement:

• Portfolio management of best practices: Your integration “playbook” is now mature. You will have experienced enough refinements, shifts, and digital transformation on a scale that requires you to apply business intelligence. We recommend getting ahead of the game and investing in warehouse tools like Snowflake and visualization tools like Tableau and integrating them into your platform.
• Modernize IT: As technology changes, so do the available options for automation support. Your company may have since moved to a cloud platform, leaving on-prem systems in the past. Be sure to integrate (or determine the availability of integration) of any new apps or processes.
• Thought leadership: When your business is ready to perform in a new way both internally and externally, this presents an opportunity to reach out to a matured network to leverage the best practices of others. Implementing a seasoned approach, or using it to validate your own, is a necessary last step in becoming a truly intelligent enterprise.

source: .workato

Completing digital transformation initiatives can place organizations well above others in the industry, according to an Avanade report.

Digital transformation is undoubtedly a priority for business leaders, with 66% of leaders saying they have plans for a digital business transformation, according to a recent Gartner report. However, only 11% of leaders admitted to achieving the transformation at scale, Gartner found. 

While reaching that level of success with a digital transformation is difficult, the payoff is well worth it. Companies that have successful digital transformation initiatives can expect to see a 17% return on investment (ROI) over the next year, according to an Avanade report. 

The report, conducted by Vanson Bourne, surveyed 1,150 global decision-makers to gain insight into the various impacts of digital transformation in the enterprise. 

Almost all respondents (96%) said they have a digital transformation strategy in their companies, the report found. However, 43% of professionals said their organizations are becoming fatigued by the digital transformation efforts, resulting in fewer completed projects. 

This fatigue is a result of many factors, the report found.

Some 46% cited hiring and training people in the skills as the biggest challenge, while 35% said they are struggling to modernize legacy systems. 

Regardless of the obstacles, organizations expect digital transformation projects to reduce costs by 10%, increase productivity by 11%, and increase business growth by 10%, according to the report. 

Some 83% of respondents said employee engagement, and customer experience solutions should have equal priority when planning these initiatives; and 88% agree that integrating innovation into business systems is necessary for agility and continued improvement.

source: techrepublic

تختلف الأهداف والغايات من عملية التحول الرقمي من دولة الى أخرى الامر الذي يؤدي الى اختلاف في مسارات التحول ونتائجه، وينجم هذا الاختلاف عن ضرورات موضوعية تفرضها الحالة الاقتصادية لكل دولة، ففي حين تأتي عملية التحول الرقمي في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي في سياق سياسة تنويع النشاط الاقتصادي والكف عن الاعتماد على الثروات الطبيعية كمورد شبه وحيد للثروة، فإن التحول الرقمي في الدول غير النفطية يأتي كضرورة للإحداث عملية التنمية المستدامة اللازمة لرفع المستويات المعيشية وامتصاص البطالة وجذب الاستثمارات الاجنبية، وان كانت عملية التحول الرقمي تتم عبر استراتيجية عامة توضع عبر الأجهزة الحكومية، فإن متطلبات السوق هي العنصر الأساسي الذي يفرض شكل ومسار التحول الرقمي الذي قد يسبق رؤية واجراءات الحكومة لعملية التحول الرقمي ليأخذ دوراً ريادياً في هذه العملية، وهي حالة المغرب حينما التقط القطاع الخاص زمام المبادرة مبكرا حيث عرفت الشركات الرقمية الناشئة في المغرب نجاحات كبيرة على المستوى القارة الافريقية، ومن امثلة ذلك ما حققته شركة buzzfeed بالعربي للمحتوى الترفيهي و "شييبلي" المتخصصة في أغراض النقل قليل التكلفة و تطبيق "دابادوك" الذي يقوم بالربط بين الأطباء والمرض بغرض حجز المواعيد الطبية، وشركة ميدتراكس Medtrucks  المتخصصة في العيادة الطبية المتنقلة، بالإضافة الى منصات البيع الالكتروني المتنوعة والتي كان اخرها منصة بيع الاعمال الفنية eldon& choukr. 

   ساهمت الشركات الرقمية و منصات البيع الالكتروني وتطور وسائل الدفع الرقمية في رفع تصنيف المغرب في مؤشر التجارة الالكترونية الصادر عن الأمم المتحدة لتحتل المرتبة 81 عالمياً والخامسة افريقيا حيث سجلت التجارة الإلكترونية بالمغرب نمو مطردا، فبعد أن كانت مجمل المعاملات التجارية لا تتخطى حدود الـ 120 مليون دولاراً في عام 2014 وصلت في عام 2017 إلى أكثر من 200 مليون دولاراً بنسبة نمو تصل الى أكثر من 60% لتحقق قفزة جديدة في عام 2018 حيث بلغت حجم المعاملات التجارية الالكترونية حوالي ال300 مليون دولار بمعدل نمو يصل الى 50% عن عام 2017 وفقاً للبيانات الرسمية الصادرة عن وزارة الصناعة والاستثمار والتجارة والاقتصاد الرقمي المغربية التي تفيد أيضاً بان 12% من المغاربة قد قاموا بعمليات شراء عبر الانترنت خلال السنة نفسها، ومرد هذا النمو، بالإضافة الى توسع منصات البيع الالكتروني والتشجيع والتسهيلات الحكومية للتجارة الالكترونية، هو ارتفاع نسبة المشتركين بخدمة الانترنت في المغرب حيث تجاوز عدد المشتركين المغاربة في خدمة الانترنت ال 22 مليون مشترك بنسبة 61% من اجمالي عدد سكان وبمعدل نمو 30% عن عام 2016.

اما عن الدور الحكومي في عملية التحول الرقمي فيبرز بعدة اتجاهات لعل أهمها الدعم المالي للشركات الناشئة في قطاع التكنولوجيا الحديثة عبر تخصيص صندوق مالي "صندوق المغرب الرقمي" الذي رصد 100 مليون دورهم لدعم الشركات الناشئة، وذلك في اطار استراتيجية "المغرب الرقمي 2020" التي اطلقتها الحكومة المغربية لغرض احداث التحول الرقمي، والتي يمكن تلخيصها أهدافها بما يآتي:

• إثراء صافي الناتج المحلي ب27 مليار درهم.
• خلق 26 ألف فرصة عمل جديدة في النشاط الرقمي.
• تعزيز القدرة التنافسية للمقاولة المغربية.
• المساهمة في تشجيع نشاط المقاولات في مجال الاقتصاد الرقمي.
• المساهمة في تنشيط سوق العمل.
• تشجيع نشر الأدوات الرقمية.

اما على صعيد الخدمات الحكومية الرقمية وفي سياق الاستراتيجية الموضوعة للتحول الرقمي عملت الحكومة المغربية على رقمنة عدد مهم من الخدمات والإجراءات الحكومية كالتصريح الضريبي الإلكتروني للشركات الكبرى والمتوسطة، ومنح ترخيص البناء، ورقمنة الأعمال الجمركية المتعلقة بالاستيراد والتصدير.

رغم تواضع الأرقام السابقة بما يخص التحول الرقمي في المغرب بالمقارنة مع الدول الغربية المتطورة ودول الخليج كالإمارات والسعودية إلا انه يجب الاخذ بالحسبان عامل حجم السوق والامكانيات المادية بالإضافة الى وتيرة النمو المتسارعة حيث يمكن القول ان المغرب يسير بخطوات سريعة في عملية التحول الرقمي يقودها رواد اعمال من الفئات الشابة، وعليه فان الأفق يبقى مفتوحا لتحقيق المزيد من التقدم على هذا الصعيد لا سيما مع ارتفاع الاستثمار الأجنبي المباشر في المغرب وخصوصاً في قطاع التقانة وصناعة السيارات والطاقة البديلة التي تحتل فيها المغرب مكانة ريادية في منطقة الشرق الاوسط الأمر الذي يحتم القيام بالمزيد من الإجراءات لإنجاز عملية التحول الرقمي ويدفع باتجاه زيادة الاستثمار في القطاع الرقمي.

There's a misconception that keeps those with dreams of owning their own business from following their dreams.

It's a misconception that's not only false but dangerous to the small business community.

It's not true that every entrepreneur sits in a rundown apartment somewhere in Silicon Valley, eats boxes of cheap mac-and-cheese and stays up all night building the next big startup.

Most entrepreneurs aren't living in poverty hoping to someday sign the papers for millions of dollars in funding only to see their dreams become the next worldwide craze.

The real landscape of entrepreneurship is much different and more mainstream than the model seen in the movies. According a Kauffman Foundation study, entrepreneurs are more likely to be between the ages of 45-54 and of minority descent. They may be starting businesses as second careers, but even those entrepreneurs don't fit the stereotype.

Another misconception is the notion that businesses have to start with a "bang," which translates to lots of time, quitting your day job, sacrificing family time and taking a big personal and financial risk on a dream that may not succeed and could burden you with large amounts of debt.

In fact, many business owners start their businesses as side ventures. They don't quit their day jobs, but instead use the skills they've learned to start that side business.

They aren't expecting these businesses to pay the bills, but they don't limit themselves on growth either. Starting small keeps the startup costs low. If it does fail, they have lost very little. How do you start a side business? Here are a few tips.

Make It Scaleable

So you love to cook? You could start a restaurant that will take a full-time commitment and a lot of money – or you could start a weekend catering business or a mobile food truck.

A business where you provide small services on your own schedule can grow as much or as little as your time allows. Look for those opportunities while you're starting out.

Limit the Formal Marketing

You want to gain business, but investing in large marketing efforts could have two negative effects: You could waste a lot of money on a campaign that produced very little business or it could produce so much business that you don't have the time to handle all of the orders.

Instead, focus on word-of-mouth advertising and let the business grow debt free.

Compartmentalize

If you're going to keep your day job, try not to mix the two businesses.

The job that pays the bills and offers health insurance and a retirement package deserves the bulk of your time and energy, even if you've lost some of the passion for that position.

After work, when you get back home, concentrate on your side business.

Don't Expect It to Be Easy

Before starting your side business, consider your expectations. If it's going to be a part-time effort, expecting to rival your full-time competitors in the first few years is unrealistic.

You don't have to be the biggest to find fulfillment. Expecting to do something you enjoy while making a little extra money is a healthy and appropriate goal.

The Bottom Line

If you dream of starting a business, don't fall for the misconception that you have to quit your job and put all of your time and money into your idea.

Instead, start small and see where the business takes you. Launching a business for the enjoyment of doing what you love is just as noble as being a Silicon Valley entrepreneur starting a dotcom.

source: investopedia