2022 Digital Transformation Trends: The Keys to the Most Successful Transformations

For example, almost every business—including professional services firms—has needed to embrace the trend toward remote teams, location-independent operations and an increasingly digital marketplace.

As a result of these factors, our research shows that 80% of firms understand that a digital transformation is necessary. However, we also find that only 12% of firms have undergone the process. Part of the reason professional services firms have not undergone the process is that they lack clarity on some fundamental questions surrounding digital transformation.

The most common questions professional services firms ask are:

• What is the ROI of digital transformation?
• What are the keys to successful transformation?
• What skills and knowledge are essential for digital transformation?

To answer these and other questions surrounding the benefits and challenges of digital transformation, Hinge conducted the Digital Transformation Imperative study. The study surveyed thousands of business leaders from six professional services sectors.

Not only do the results of this study make a compelling case for digital transformation in the times of COVID-19 and beyond, but they also reveal why and how firms choose to digitally transform—and the key strategies and practices that ensure success. The following is a brief overview of what the study found.

The ROI of digital transformation

Most of the surveyed business leaders agreed that digital transformation brought clear ROIs in terms of revenue, profitability, operational efficiency, brand awareness and client satisfaction. The most frequently referenced ROI for digital transformation was operational efficiency with 76.4% of respondents noting improvements. Meanwhile, 70% said that client satisfaction improved, and 61% said that profitability increased.

Another exciting discovery was the rarity of any negative effects of digital transformation. The study found that 0% of respondents experienced decreases in profitability, brand awareness and client satisfaction. As for other areas of performance, only 4.2% of respondents saw a decrease in operational efficiency, and only 2% saw a decrease in annual revenue.

The high chance of success, with minimal downside potential, should be encouraging to any firm that is considering a digital transformation—especially because very few business leaders experienced negative results from the process.

The keys to successful digital transformation

The fact that most firms in the study experienced positive results from their digital transformations does not mean that favorable results are guaranteed—so we dug deeper to find the most significant challenges that get in the way of a successful transformation and how to overcome them.

The most common challenge (noted by 45.3% of firms) was a lack of in-house digital transformation skills—and the Great Resignation is only intensifying these challenges. According to survey participants, the best way to overcome a lack of in-house skills is to work with third-party consultants. In fact, the Digital Transformation Imperative study found that firms working with third-party digital transformation consultants were eight times more likely to achieve a favorable digital transformation result.

As for the most important qualities to look for in a third-party consultant, 47.7% of respondents said that the “ability to get it right the first time” was a key quality they looked for. Meanwhile, 29.5% of respondents valued “quality of user experience” and 11.4% valued the “overall cost of the project.”

Essential skills for digital transformation

The need for digital transformation is likely to intensify in the coming years, so firms may want to stock their IT teams with the right skills when they come available. The study revealed that the most important digital transformation skills were:

• Ideation skills: The ability to creatively generate ideas and solutions through “brainstorming” sessions that involve sketching, prototyping, and “worst possible idea” creation, and other creative sessions—including group discussions and collaborations with stakeholders and decision-makers.
• Back-end integration skills: The ability to integrate the front end with the tech infrastructure that stores and manages a firm’s information and other organizational data.
• Systems infrastructure and integration skills: An in-depth understanding of both the hardware and software components of IT infrastructure—including cloud-based components—that support operations, storage, data processing and data analysis.

Firms may want to consider hiring IT employees with knowledge in the above skills—because this experience is likely to become essential in the years ahead. If hiring proves too challenging in a tight labor market, finding the right third-party experts is your best bet.

Final thoughts on 2022 digital transformation trends

After reading this article, you should have a good idea of the most pressing digital transformation trends to expect in 2022 and the years ahead. You should also have some actionable, research-proven strategies for navigating them—particularly when it comes to boosting your chances of digital transformation success by working with a third-party consultant and hiring the right skills for the years ahead.