DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The Digitization Staircase

Insights from 100+ Firms

The Digitization Staircase framework was conceptualized by us at Fieldmaster.ai after extensive conversations with over 100 organizations across industries and sizes. This research delved deep into their digital transformation journeys, uncovering both success stories and stumbling blocks.

In the sections below, we explain each step of the Digitization Staircase.

Step 1: Manual Processes

The Digitization Staircase with the first step highlighted: "Manual Processes"

You know you're on Manual Processes if:

  1. Your field staff are using spreadsheets or Google Forms or pen and paper to capture data or record progress
  2. Your back office staff are communicating manually with your field personnel
  3. Your operations planning is done manually

How you're missing out:

  • 70-90% of your time is spent on repetitive, manual tasks

Next Step Benefits:

Digitizing your primary fieldwork process is easy and delivers huge benefits quite quickly:

  • 80% improvement in operational efficiency.
  • Save 200+ hours/month on task completion.
  • Measure and Improve revenue per man-day or other metrics.
  • Reduce overheads by at least 50%

Step 2: Digitization of Primary Process

The Digitization Staircase with the second step highlighted: "Digitization of Primary Process"

What's working for you:

Task Creation, execution, assignments, routing & planning, and measurements of basic metrics.

How you're missing out:

  • Back-office processes cost $50-200k/year as overheads
  • High rates of delays and errors due to manual validations, reporting and attendance tracking

Next Step Benefits:

In the next step we digitize the back office partially, starting with the most common processes. What this brings you:

  • 80% improvement in operational efficiency.
  • Save 200+ hours/month on task completion.
  • Measure and Improve revenue per man-day or other metrics.
  • Reduce overheads by at least 50%

Step 3: Partial Back Office Digitization

The Digitization Staircase with the third step highlighted: "Partial Back-Office Digitization"

What's working for you:

If you're here, you've digitized the most time intensive components of your office tasks. This can include Reporting, analytics, attendance, validations, etc.

How you're missing out:

Depending on your industry and company specifics, you have between 5% and 20% of your office processes still being done manually that's not integrated with the rest of your systems, leading to:

  • Cost leakage of 5-20% due to unintegrated systems

Next Step Benefits:

In the next step we move to digitize the remaining back-office processes. Here's what you stand to gain:

  • Plug cost gaps, recapturing $20-100k/year.
  • Improve employee productivity by 20-35%.

Step 4: Extensive Digitization

The Digitization Staircase with the fourth step highlighted: "Extensive Digitization"

What's working for you:

If you're here, you've digitized Compliance documentation, customer reports, document approval workflows, operational endpoints and invoicing. You've also integrated the system with other external systems, possibly that of your clients'.

How you're missing out:

  • Missed automation opportunities cost $50-200k/year.

Next Step Benefits:

By this step, you have a lot of data of your operations. In the next step we can add in some intelligence and automation.

  • Save $50-500k/year by automating routine workflows and adding intelligent decision-making.
  • Increase overall efficiency by 30-50%.

Step 5: Intelligence & Automation

The Digitization Staircase with the fifth step highlighted: "Intelligence and Automation"

What's working for you:

If you've digitized your primary process and also your office operations, now there is a lot of data in the system about your operations. By taking advantage of AI models, it's possible to identify hidden patterns that can further improve your efficiency.

If you reach here you have:

  • Augmented some of the human decision-making with AI
  • Set targets for the system (in terms of revenue, customer service score, or other metrics) that the system can now automatically achieve

How you're missing out:

You still have a system that's by and large static in nature. If a competitor makes a new move or your customers demand something different, it's going to take you months to adapt your tools and software to the needs.

Next Step Benefits:

  • Scale operations 2-3x without increasing overheads
  • Adapt to changing market conditions without adding IT overheads

Step 6: Perpetually Adaptive System

The Digitization Staircase with the sixth and final step highlighted: "Perpetually Adaptive System"

What's working for you:

You've built a system that adapts to changing markets and customer demand within days, that too without adding much overhead.

Ultimate Benefits:

  • Unlock 10-20% growth annually by outgunning the competition.
  • Seamlessly adapt to market and operational changes, future-proofing the business.

Key Learnings

  1. Digital Transformation is not a single-step, do-it-once process.
  2. When most organizations say "We are digitized", further questions reveal they are still only on step 1 or 2, and have a lot of gaps in digitization that are like holes in their pockets.
  3. Companies that implemented a higher step of digitization like AI or automation before completing the lower steps didn't achieve the results they hoped for.

Reimagining Product and Solution Design

What we learnt from this exercise enabled us to:

  • Package our services and solutions to address your needs at the current stage of your journey
  • Create a disruptive pricing model that adds maximum value to you
  • Create a clear path for progression on your Digital Transformation journey so that you can reap the best rewards

We'll help you ascend the Digitization Staircase step by step.

Click here to get started >