If 2020 was the year of the pandemic, and 2021 was the year of learning to keep business on the rails despite the pandemic, then 2022 and beyond prove to be the year of digital transformation. If you are reading this article either you’ve started it, assessed it, or trying to measure the value of digital transformation.
Summit LLC understands what a challenge digital transformation is for companies of all sizes and wants to help you set key performance indicators to measure the level of success your Salesforce digital transformation project has.
Digital transformation is either about providing an omnichannel presence for your customers with access to your company whenever and wherever they want it or about putting in place tools and systems like Salesforce that enable your company to provide an omnichannel presence at scale. Or both. Usually both.
Customers don’t just browse your website to learn about your company, products, and services. They download your app, engage with your brand on social media, read about you on other websites, and look for other platforms to engage with you. The tools you deploy are mission critical to the value you create for your customers. Keeping up with the growing demand requires tools that provide you with a 360 degree view of your customers and the ability to use that data to meet them wherever they are looking for you with the content and information they desire.
Digital transformation is the key to achieving this and doing it quickly. Summit LLC wants to be your partner in digital transformation and is sharing these KPIs so you can measure the success along the way.
1. Return on Digital Investments
Overall return on investment is one of the most popular KPIs for any new deployment. After all, you want to be sure you’re getting your money’s worth when purchasing new technology and working with an implementation partner to get it up and running.
Return on digital investments tells you the relationship between money brought in and money taken out in relation to your digital transformation project. This would compare how much you spent on new technology, training, new hires, and other expenses related to the new technology or processes, and the amount of revenue you’ve brought in since making the transition.
While this can be a strong indicator of success, it’s important to remember that returns can take time to appear. It’s likely that your ROI will seem small in the first few phases of transformation, but measuring long-term can give you a better idea of how successful the initiative was.
2. Employee Productivity
New technology and processes can drive employee productivity and help them get more done in less time — or they can become complicated and convoluted and actually make teams less productive. It’s important to not assume any digital transformation initiative will help make your employees more productive. Summit couples all our Salesforce quickstarts and implementations with customized admin and end user training to ensure the tools you are putting in place improve employee productivity.
Before you can start to measure employee productivity, you need to quantify and define what that means. Do you want to reduce the amount of time an employee spends performing a certain task, or do you want them to be able to complete more tasks in the same amount of time? Get clear about your productivity metrics. Salesforce and Einstein automations can achieve either goal.
Keep in mind that it can take time for employees to really adjust and get the most of your digital transformation, but keep an eye on metrics as they’re learning. If their productivity starts to plateau before reaching your final goal, they might need additional support or training. Be ready to jump in if necessary. Summit can help you create a curated Salesforce Trailhead that helps your employees achieve mastery of your new system quickly.
3. Adoption & Performance Metrics
Digital adoption and performance metrics tell you how employees or users are engaging with specific tools or platforms. Popular adoption and performance metrics include:
- Daily/Monthly active users. The number of individuals who use a product or service every day or month.
- Adoption rate. The number of active users compared to the number of total users.
- Average time spent using a product/feature. The average amount of time spent using a particular product or feature.
- Retention. The number of individuals who continue to use a product or service is usually represented as a percentage.
Adoption and performance metrics can give you an idea of how well your team is adjusting to your new product, platform, or particular features. If adoption and performance metrics are low, it could be an indication that your audience isn’t connecting with your offering and it might be time to make a change. It could also be an indication they need additional training.
4. Customer Experience Metrics
Customer experience (CX) is key to building a loyal customer base. Measuring how they’re engaging with and using your Salesforce platform or product is crucial for long-term success and return on investment.
Popular customer experience metrics include:
- Customer effort. The amount of effort a customer needs to put in to complete a task, usually measured by surveys.
- Customer satisfaction. How happy a customer is with their service or a specific component of your product.
- How likely your customers are to recommend your product or service to someone in their circle.
You can also use customer engagement and conversion metrics to see if your audience is connecting with your marketing materials and digital presence. These metrics might include website traffic sources, subscriptions & signups, or the number of demos scheduled.
5. Percentage of AI-Enabled Business
Artificial intelligence (powered by Einstein) plays a critical role in shaping the future of sustainable business growth. As you go about your digital transformation journey, it’s important to keep an eye on how much of your business is enabled with AI. Summit will partner with you every step of the way to employ the artificial intelligence tools in your Salesforce toolbox.
Measuring the percentage of your business that uses AI can help you track where your journey is on your digital transformation journey. However, keep in mind that 100% of your business doesn’t need to use AI to be successful — in fact, it might not make sense at all in some areas.
6. Reliability & Availability
A reliable digital presence is crucial for building a strong brand reputation. If your online presence is constantly unavailable, you might need to make improvements to your digital transformation plan — especially if you’re providing a platform or software as a service. Just look at the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster disaster to see what we mean.
The same is true for the equipment and software your team uses. If your internal solutions are constantly failing, it can hurt productivity and make it difficult to appropriately support your customers. If you are carrying a lot of technical debt then it is the perfect time to take on a digital transformation and move to Salesforce’s cloud-based SaaS technology.
Popular reliability and availability metrics include:
- Uptime. The time a piece of equipment or software is functioning.
- Mean time to failure. The amount of time an asset operates before it fails.
- Mean time to resolve. The amount of time it takes to resolve a failure.
- Mean time before failure. The time between failures.
7. Cost-Benefit Analysis
A cost-benefit analysis is typically used before making decisions to determine which are worth the investment. With a cost-benefit analysis, you can compare the costs and rewards of different situations to determine which is most likely to pay off in the long run for your business.
Summit will help you do a pre-project analysis of your current systems, current and future needs, and if necessary break a potential Salesforce digital transformation into sprints or phases that make sense for your business.
Doing a cost-benefit analysis for different components of your digital transformation can help you determine what you should focus on first. For example, if a particular direction will give you a quick ROI, it might make sense to invest in that process early to reap the benefits faster.
8. Revenue from Digital Technology
If you’re introducing new digital technology like Salesforce, you want to know how much revenue those specific components are bringing into your business. This metric is similar to return on digital investments, but instead, it specifically looks at revenue in relation to new technologies introduced. This might include tools from the Salesforce AppExchange, Salesforce partner tools like Conga or Jitterbit or Clicksend, or custom Salesforce implementations designed specifically for your business by a Salesforce partner like Summit.
This KPI is often used when implementing a new digital purchasing method, such as e-commerce sales or a new online store. It could also be used for recurring or subscription payments for software or a platform.
9. Percentage of Cloud Deployments
Moving to the cloud is one of the most popular digital transformations companies are undergoing today. As we become an increasingly digital environment, we’re becoming more dependent on the cloud to securely store data while still making it easy to access no matter where we are.
Measuring cloud deployments can help you see how well your cloud data storage is working and if employees are able to access the information they need.
10. Active Usage Metrics
Active usage metrics tell you how users are engaging with your technology. Popular active usage metrics include:
- Daily active users. The number of users who log on to your platform or software every day.
- Conversion rates. The percentage of users who start and complete a certain activity or action.
- Abandon rates. The percentage of tasks or activities that are started, but not finished.
Active usage metrics let you know if there are day-to-day issues with your platform or product. If abandon rates are high, there might be an issue with your process that needs to be remedied. On the other hand, if conversion rates are high, this could be a sign that your digital transformation journey is on the right track.
Summit LLC’s long track record of delivering success is due to a carefully thought-out and predictably executed delivery methodology, developed and continuously refined based on client feedback and a commitment to lessons learned from each project. We measure our success on the same criteria we encourage you to measure your digital transformation KPIs.
