Digital Transformation Barriers: Understanding (and Solving) 3 Common Challenges

As a trusted network partner and connectivity provider, we talk a lot about all the advantages and positive results that come from investing in your network — after all, the right transformation can do wonders for any organization. Still, we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that, like many things, network digital transformation doesn’t always happen without pitfalls, challenges or barriers to success.

Still, we believe in putting the power into the hands of our customers — and we know it’s our job to equip businesses of all shapes and sizes with the insights they need to master their network domain. So, we’re going to flip the script and approach digital transformation from a problem-first perspective, exploring everything you need to know about overcoming common challenges.

Challenge 1: Complexity of Management (and Access to Capable Talent)

With added capability often comes more complexity — it’s a somewhat unavoidable correlation, but it is one that the world of technology has been looking to reverse as demands get bigger and more sophisticated. Still, as organizations build new cutting-edge capabilities into their networks or expand them to new business locations, the footprints expand, the applications and platforms in use become more plentiful and complexity can become a barrier. 

Piggybacking onto this sophistication issue is the challenge of finding and retaining top-tier talent that is well-versed in new connectivity solutions and business technologies. Sure, there are many tools and solutions out there that can revolutionize your business and maximize profits — but if no one knows how to use them properly, it can all result in a backslide of confusion and mismanagement. For instance, surveys of edtech organizations reveal that 59% of employers report not having enough skilled employees has a major or moderate impact on their businesses. Without bridging digital transformation initiatives with simplicity and ease of use, business results undoubtedly suffer.

Challenge 2: Growing Cost Pressures

Everyone has heard that to make money you have to spend money — and in the vast majority of digital transformation cases that sentiment is true. Still, everyone also knows that budget is where everything begins. Overspending money you don’t have is never good for business, but everyone wants to get the most value and transformative IT power for the money they do spend. So, how can organizations know that the money they’re investing will be worthwhile? How do they know where to put their dollars for the most operational impact? Are there solutions out there that are worth splashing out for?

Of course, organizations in underserved areas double down on these questions and budget worries. After all, every business needs to meet the same aggressive customer standards — but some don’t have as much capital to accomplish those results. Cost-effectiveness becomes the name of the game, and investing smartly can be what makes or breaks the future of any organization. Investment in the wrong place can mean that networks never move past issues of lag or congestion, and a failure to select the right connectivity solutions can keep customer service strategies lacking. These concerns are enough to keep any IT decision makers frozen in indecision.

Challenge 3: Lack of Insight

This one is simple, extremely common — and very understandable. The fact is that not everyone out there is (or can be) a network expert. Even though every business depends on their underlying connectivity to drive success in a mobile, online world, we all have core competencies — and it’s rare that an organization can double as an expert connectivity engineer. So, what that leaves many with is a gap in knowledge that can make any digital transformation confusing, unapproachable or just downright ineffective.

Many organizations don’t even know what options are available to them, don’t know how to translate their demands into the right solutions — or just don’t even know where to start to begin equipping their network with capabilities that support business goals. In digital transformation, knowledge is power. Nowadays, that means that having the right source of information is powerful too.

Finding Solutions and Building the Future

Of course, every unique organization may find that they encounter unique challenges in their digital transformation journey, but the good news is that nearly every problem has a solution. For instance, some network tools — like SD-WAN — are built to help teams simplify and easily manage their network operations and footprints even as they grow.

However, the very best thing that any organization can do to establish built-in security against roadblocks is to have a trusted partner on hand. With the right network expert on your side, you can build custom solutions that work for your team, your needs, your goals — and, most importantly, your budget. Furthermore, you’ll no longer need to worry about not having proper insight, access to knowledge or on-hand talent — with a collaborative partner, that’s all taken care of.

At Glo Fiber Business, we take great pride in our reputation as that trusted partner, and we offer a host of solutions that can help any organization optimize and overcome any challenge — whether that’s speed, resilience, efficiency, mobility, accessibility, security, reliability or anything else. When you implement our solutions, we’re here to help train your teams and deliver on-site support. Not to mention, with local teams, we’re always close by when you need us. So, next time your digital transformation worries keep you up at night, remember who you can call.

To learn more about making your network investment worth it, check out our other recent blog.