According to Bitkom, only about 20% of German SMBs consider themselves fully digital. The rest live somewhere between Excel, paper-based approvals, and point solutions that don't talk to each other. The good news: digitalisation doesn't have to be a mega-project. With the right approach you can show fast, visible progress — and that builds the acceptance for further steps.
Step 1: take stock — where are you today?
Before you digitise, you need to understand what you're digitising. Document your most important business processes: how does a customer inquiry run? How is an order processed? Where is data captured, where does it get lost? Look for:
- Media breaks (digital → paper → digital again)
- Manual transfers between systems
- Processes that depend heavily on individual people
- Points where errors happen often
Step 2: prioritise with an ROI matrix
You can't digitise everything at once — and you shouldn't. Rate processes on two axes:
- Effort to digitise: how complex is implementation? (low → high)
- Value: how much time, money, or error reduction? (low → high)
Start with processes that score high value, low effort — those are your quick wins. Our workflow digitalisation service always starts with this prioritisation.
Step 3: pilot — one process, one team
Digitalisation often fails not on technology but on acceptance. Pick a team open to change and a process where value is felt quickly. Typical first projects:
- Digital leave requests instead of paper forms
- Digital incoming invoices instead of post
- Automated order confirmations instead of manual emails
Step 4: bring your people along
Digitalisation is change management. Employees who don't understand why a new system is being introduced — or how it helps them — will boycott it, consciously or not. Invest in:
- Clear communication of value (not just technology)
- Training grounded in daily work
- Multipliers inside the team who answer questions
- Feedback loops to catch problems early
Step 5: measure, learn, optimise
What isn't measured doesn't improve. Before every digitalisation project, define concrete KPIs: how many hours should it save? How much should the error rate drop? Review after 4–8 weeks and optimise. Then repeat with the next process.
"Digital transformation isn't a project with a start and end — it's a posture."
Conclusion: start small, scale consistently
Digitalisation is a marathon, not a sprint. Companies that step through one process at a time and bring people along are more successful long-term than those that try to flip everything at once. If you want a sparring partner for your digital strategy, we're here. Book a discovery call.
Sources
- Bitkom e.V. (2024): Digitalisation in the Mittelstand 2024 — status and potentials. bitkom.org
- Capgemini Research Institute (2023): Digital Mastery — How Organizations Have Progressed. capgemini.com
- IDC (2024): European Digital Transformation Spending Guide. idc.com