How to get a successful start on digitalization

Technology is only a door opener – the tool that helps pave the road to new ways of thinking, new strategies, new products and business models. Technology alone is not enough to handle the challenges we are about to face. To put it another way, just because you've got a few sensors installed along the production line doesn’t mean that your business is ready for the digital future. In order to take full advantage of new technologies, you need an intelligent substructure that combines strategy, technology and culture. For consulting purposes, this means that technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructures are not even a subject of focus at the outset. What’s more important is to consider existing workflows and procedures and motivate the client to re-examine these things in a new light. Only after you’ve managed to distance yourself from old ways of thinking and doing is it possible to come up with potentially successful digital business models. The key here is your employees. What kind of in-house resources do you have? What know-how do your individual departments possess? How does your team perceive the digital transformation, and how is it reflected by progress in the company? Many medium-sized companies simply lack the necessary staff to develop and implement digitalization concepts. For them, outside help is absolutely essential.

Every change you plan should start with thorough stock-taking –  a status quo that will serve as your launching-off point. That’s where the COSMO CONSULT DigiCheck comes in. In just a few steps, this tool enables companies to determine their digitalization status and see how they stack up next to similarly-sized businesses in their industry. The result provides crucial insight and lays the groundwork for any digital transformation. Most of all, an objective review is important, because digitalization is an area where your own perception can differ greatly from an outside perspective. An objective self-analysis makes it easier to understand where your digital journey should go.

We understand the unique situation of medium-sized businesses. For over 20 years now, we have been optimizing the business processes and IT systems of companies from various industries. The digitalization experience we’ve been accumulating comes not only from our clients but also from our own digitalization projects. Now, we’d like to share this knowledge and help you succeed with comprehensive digitalization support. What do we mean by “comprehensive” support? Rather than focusing on individual aspects of digitalization, we rethink the entire value creation process from a cultural, strategic and technical perspective.

The process of digitalization takes shape differently in every company, and each new project presents us with fresh challenges. That’s why we rely on individual consulting; for each case, we create a customized digitalization roadmap based on the specific priorities of the company. Using this roadmap we’re able to digitalize each individual process, one after the other. It’s a strategy that ultimately results in complete digitalization success for our customers. In other words, we believe in sustainable end-to-end consulting for long-term success.