Digital Commerce Transformation Services

It was common to treat updating an online storefront as an upgrade of underlying technology before. Now the process is turning into a much wider initiative which covers many aspects related to the order management, inventory visibility and customer service processes. Companies using digital commerce transformation services realize that the real challenges appear only when a new platform is launched. Quite often commerce projects consist of many systems which could not work together from the very beginning. Enterprise software, pricing engine and product information databases are usually at the heart of the issue. It is not always the lack of digital solutions that causes challenges. It is a difficulty to connect them properly in order to meet current needs of buyers. Implementation timelines become longer as companies try to avoid the impact on order processing and customer accounts. It is possible to launch a new website and to face delays in updating inventory or providing consistent product information. Such problems directly influence customers' trust and internal processes' efficiency. Expansion of digital commerce transformation services occurs partly due to companies' desire to get help from outside experts who would be able to coordinate such integrations. Buyers start expecting service providers to solve workflow issues which go far beyond the process of launching an online storefront. Commerce teams need help with data governance, migration planning and coordination of technology and business processes. It has become another factor which changes the approach to evaluating digital commerce projects. It is not enough to look at the traffic growth or improvements of visual components of the project. Buyers ask whether systems could meet future requirements of new products' launches, sales channels' introduction or changing customer expectations without rebuilding the entire commerce infrastructure again. Such shift influences the approach to the ownership of digital commerce initiatives as well. Quite often such projects belonged to marketing departments previously. Now they involve finance, operations and IT department leaders since there might be significant consequences for the company in case of any problems during implementation. Service providers start facing new challenges too. They should start considering internal processes and change management issues instead of focusing on software implementation. Their responsibility becomes bigger since their role becomes less technical. In other words, digital commerce transformation projects begin turning into business programs because of the growing number of integrations and other tasks related to internal processes which should be accomplished after implementation timeline ends. Buyers should pay attention to such shift as it changes the way digital commerce initiatives should be considered. Integration quality and internal coordination efforts define the success of digital investments quite often nowadays. Many companies face the reality that digital commerce transformation requires them to learn how systems interact rather than replacing them.

An increasing number of companies are reconsidering their investment in digital commerce as customers' shopping behavior doesn't follow the traditional pattern anymore and transactions can start on one channel and be completed on another one. This tendency affects the discussion about digital commerce transformation services. Flexibility has become an important factor when making a choice due to the fact that companies understand that their customer interactions will continue changing. The desire for adaptability influences the planning of transformation projects. Now, companies pay special attention to such factors as manageability of product information, adjustability of pricing policies, and possibilities of introducing additional selling channels in the future. In other words, decisions which were made on the basis of current requirements should be evaluated in terms of long-term flexibility. In particular, it becomes evident in the case of enterprises which work with B2B as well as B2C clients. As expectations related to product availability and shopping experience emerge in the consumer market and migrate into B2B purchasing environments, businesses which cannot react fast enough may have difficulties keeping up. More and more often digital commerce transformation services are sought after in order to re-think internal organization of the commercial functions. It turns out that sales teams, marketing departments, and IT departments of businesses often take independent decisions regarding the introduction of new selling channels. The focus of the discussion around digital commerce transformation has also changed – commerce is moving beyond websites. It starts including such elements as customer portals, self-service options and connected commerce through the whole buyer journey. Providers of digital commerce transformation services are expected to help their clients to prepare for types of engagement which may not exist yet but are considered likely. This uncertainty influences the decision-making process. Buyers don't seem to be looking for the most convenient solution any longer, and questions about extensibility and possible future changes of the platform or process are now a part of the evaluation criteria. Providers of digital commerce transformation services find themselves facing quite specific challenges – they need to help their clients to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Decisions which seem appropriate at the moment may prove to be too narrow in the future when the expectations of the customers will change once again. It seems that digital commerce transformation services have evolved into the process aimed at creation of space for further evolution. Companies want to invest into technologies which will allow absorbing future requirements without having to go through a costly re-factoring of their system once again. It looks like digital commerce transformation has transformed into the planning exercise just as much as technological one. Companies which understand digital commerce transformation as an ongoing process of adaptation may benefit from it more than those who consider it to be a project with a specific ending point.

Digital commerce initiatives tend to start with conversations about technology. Much of what ends up as a problem further down the road has nothing to do with technology at all. Talent and governance pressures are starting to surface as companies expand their commerce vision. Companies embarking on a journey of digital commerce transformation often realize that they lack talent capable of driving large-scale transformation efforts. Technical experts know their platforms, commercial experts understand customer needs. Integrating the two viewpoints is often very hard. That becomes especially true since digital commerce projects become increasingly complex, spanning more and more areas of an organization. Product information management, pricing strategies and fulfillment processes belong to different departments, pursuing their own agendas. Small decisions have impacts on several departments. That's why digital commerce transformation services are increasingly requested not just for their technical expertise but also for their ability to drive change and facilitate communication in organizations. Service providers are increasingly called upon to provide project and program management expertise and governance frameworks. Training and coaching are also turning into a major challenge. Employees have to adjust their workflow and redefine their job responsibilities. Uncertainty about how new processes affect one's work can slow down the adoption of the new technology. It's also common to underestimate the amount of internal coordination required once the solution goes live. Digital commerce platforms are constantly evolving through introductions of new products, changes to pricing and processes. Without clear ownership, such systems become hard to manage. It also brings additional pressure on corporate leadership to approve investments in the system and define priorities for its evolution. That becomes increasingly challenging when governance structure isn't well defined or departmental agendas conflict. Thus, service providers increasingly operate as change facilitators rather than technical consultants. Ability to build communication lines and drive decisions that aren't going to be made otherwise becomes essential. It's becoming increasingly critical when assessing digital commerce transformation services. Technical capability is certainly important, but the experience in managing organizational complexity is becoming equally crucial. Companies realize that commerce modernization requires not just a system upgrade but a completely new way of doing things. The rise of governance and talent pressures is an indication of the next phase of digital commerce transformation journey. Organizations that invest in digital commerce platforms but neglect ownership and governance issues will have to deal with implementation challenges long after the software deployment is done.