There is often a lack of under­stan­ding that digi­tiza­tion means much more than just the use of modern tech­no­logy. In addi­tion, there is a lack of invest­ment power, know-how and resour­ces to formu­late a suita­ble digi­tal stra­tegy and imple­ment it accor­din­gly. — The basic prere­qui­site is the right mind­set: compa­nies must be prepared to initiate the change proces­ses asso­cia­ted with digi­tiza­tion and to deve­lop further. Other­wise, they will lose the connec­tion and help their compe­ti­tors and new provi­ders in the market to succeed.

Another aspect that tends to put the brakes on digi­tiza­tion measu­res is concerns about data secu­rity, which are being given new impe­tus by the incre­asing number of cyber attacks.

The most successful compa­nies are undoub­tedly those with the most satis­fied custo­mers. A digi­tiza­tion stra­tegy must ther­e­fore take at least 50% of the custo­mer perspec­tive into account and not just include the tech­ni­cal side. It consists of many modu­les and is — like all sub- or divi­sio­nal stra­te­gies — an elemen­tary compo­nent of the corpo­rate stra­tegy. Manage­ment must clarify what is to be achie­ved and where the digi­tiza­tion measu­res are to begin with. If effi­ci­ency in the company is to be increased, inter­nal proces­ses can be opti­mi­zed as a first step. Good examp­les here are purcha­sing or finan­cial reporting.

It is also important to take advan­tage of the oppor­tu­ni­ties offe­red by online commu­ni­ca­tion and social media. Today, they are an inte­gral part of the commu­ni­ca­tion stra­te­gies of most B2B compa­nies. Compared to offline commu­ni­ca­tion, online campaigns usually also involve signi­fi­cantly lower costs. Profiles of so-called perso­nas, for exam­ple, enable a stron­gly target group-orien­ted approach. The company’s own media, in parti­cu­lar its website, also provide important data that provide infor­ma­tion about visi­tors and their inte­rests. Not only the clicks on the website are helpful metrics, but also the time spent on a product infor­ma­tion can provide clues as to whether the offer was inte­res­t­ing. — We deal with the topic of cyber secu­rity separately.

Every company, regard­less of indus­try or size, bene­fits from digi­tiza­tion. With the right stra­tegy, not only can liveli­hoods be secu­red and compa­nies aligned for the future. Instead, new paths can be taken that streng­then custo­mer loyalty and gene­rate growth. Even though most compa­nies are aware of these oppor­tu­ni­ties, they often lack the finan­cial resour­ces. The need for change is also often misjud­ged, and with it the danger of being left behind by the compe­ti­tion and new disrup­tive providers.

As a digi­tally expe­ri­en­ced, capi­tal-strong inves­tor who is both at home in the small and medium-sized enter­prise segment and brings the neces­sary exper­tise for all digi­tiza­tion topics in various indus­tries, we can bring fresh capi­tal into the company and formu­late and imple­ment the right digi­tal stra­tegy toge­ther with the manage­ment and experts

About Andi Klein

Andi Klein is Mana­ging Part­ner at Triton and respon­si­ble for the Smal­ler Mid- Cap stra­tegy of the invest­ment company foun­ded in 1997. Prior to joining Triton in 2009, he held various leader­ship posi­ti­ons at Proc­ter & Gamble in Germany, Switz­er­land, Belgium and the United States for eleven years. Triton has its own team of digi­tiza­tion experts that supports compa­nies in all aspects of digitization.