Digital Transformation ROI: How to Plan and Measure

By Mary Beth Hamilton | Friday, January 15th, 2021

ROI is a tricky calculation under the best of circumstances. At its most straightforward, it's how many dollars you bring in compared to how many dollars you spend. However, this bare-bones equation often fails to examine the less tangible factors that contribute to the bottom line.

When you're working with a broad concept, like digital transformation, the answers can get even murkier. Nathan Dionne, the Vice President of Digital Transformation at Eze Castle Integration sheds some light on how companies can make their calculations more accurate.

Wipe Out Assumptions

If a company starts out with a measurable goal, such as improving operational speed by 10% in 6 months, the next step is usually to look at which parts of the business need to change for this to happen. Yet before an internal team can make this list, they first have to understand operations on a deeper level.

This will mean talking to the people involved, observing how daily operations flow, and constructing a bigger picture. Dionne has seen far too many teams rush into digital transformation without doing the prep work. Not only will this skew ROI and waste your budget, but it will result in future skepticism that digital transformation has a place at the company.

Recognizing the Reality

A digital transformation is wrapped up in more than the price tag of automation software or the work order to build a new API. Whether you mobilize your internal team or hire an outside service, it's critical to understand how employees interact with technology and whether it will make their jobs easier or more cumbersome.

For many companies, it can be invaluable to have a partner like Eze Castle Integration that has witnessed the obstacles that stand in the way of successful digital transformation. Experts in this field understand that it's so much more than choosing the flashiest, most seductive technology available and then expecting everything to fall into place.

Every company faces its own challenges when it comes to improving daily efficiencies while managing risks. For some businesses, it may make more financial sense to invest in a third-party to build out a solution. For others, they need to reallocate existing resources or adjust processes to better address the needs of the staff or clients.

Dionne has seen too many companies take a shot in the dark and end up with wildly conflicting numbers. To better align predicted ROI with actual ROI, it helps to have a better foundational digital transformation strategy aligned with the business.