If your priority in 2025 is digital transformation, you can’t just point at whatever shiny new solution comes along and say: “That looks good. Let’s do that!”
That’s not being agile or flexible — that’s being reactive. And being reactive is how you end up with a messy and disjointed technology stack that can’t deliver ROI.
Frankly, it’s how you get left behind.
Instead, you need to be digitally deliberate. That means having a plan, commitment from leadership, a data-centric tech philosophy and clear short- and long-term goals that make it easy to measure success.
Reactive distributors risk:
- Falling behind competitors that use digital tools to meaningfully improve customer experience.
- Canceling out the improved efficiency of an upgraded platform with the inefficiencies that come with mismatched tools.
- Having trouble properly leveraging data to make better decisions.
- Missing opportunities to implement tools or processes that align with their company’s unique strengths.
Even if they luck into the right combination of solutions, reactive distributors probably won’t get the most out of them. Without true digital leadership, your chosen solutions will feel more like sudden impositions, and the end-users – your employees – will find it harder to buy in.
By contrast, digitally deliberate distributors proactively lay a path and anticipate how to incorporate emerging technology into that roadmap, as well as how to integrate solutions with each other. That means having:
- A plan. You treat technology like any other part of the business: as a driving force that requires careful consideration from all stakeholders. By thoughtfully and collaboratively engaging those stakeholders, you’ve landed on an approach to using technology to move the business forward.
- Commitment from leadership. Digital transformation isn’t at the bottom of everyone’s to-do list — it’s a top priority for all your leaders. Whatever technology you choose will touch every department, so they each must understand and buy into the plan. It’s up to leadership to make that happen.
- Data as the foundation. You use the massive amounts of data you generate daily to inform your decisions, set your priorities, and define your goals.
- A balance of short- and long-term goals. You’re unafraid to navigate the tension between your quarterly earnings report and your long-term investments, which lets you break free from typical constraints to focus on both the present and the future. You get quick wins with smaller tech projects that fit into your more extensive, long-term plans – while also making your numbers and commitments to shareholders.
- A productive approach to customization. You recognize that not every tech solution will be a perfect fit for your company right out of the box. You also know that some of your challenges may not even have a clear solution available yet. To counter this, your team pursues the development of custom but integrated tools to address the problems unique to your niche.
That’s all easier said than done, of course. You can’t just flip a switch to instantly transition from reactive to deliberate. You must start with the foundation and build from there.
First, look at your data and assess your current systems. Develop a comprehensive diagram of your existing tools and platforms to see how they work together and identify any gaps in efficiency or effectiveness.
Next, build a unified vision for digital transformation. With your current setup laid out, it should be easier for leaders across the company to determine their priorities. Help them see where those priorities align and work to resolve any conflicts until you’ve got a vision everyone can agree on.
As you lay out your timeline, establish a mindset of continuous improvement. Digital transformation is a series of initiatives, but those initiatives should overlap so that it always feels like progress is being made. If you wait for one initiative to end before starting the next, you risk losing momentum.
And as you start up each initiative, be sure to look for and engage the right technology partners. Reactive distributors don’t have a real strategy and end up leaning on external software providers to show them the way. If you’re not careful, those providers could lead you to the wrong solution for your company’s needs.
The right partners will take a collaborative approach and use their technical expertise to help you develop solutions that fit your company. And they won’t just deliver a product and leave you to it –they’ll follow through to ensure that it achieves the goals you’re aiming for.
Being digitally deliberate is not about taking a single action that will lead to success. It’s even more than just an ongoing process. It’s a state of mind. You have to change how you think about technology, form a plan around that new mindset, and then consistently act on it. If you do, you can achieve outsized outcomes and continuous growth. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck playing catch-up – and may never close the ground between you and the competition.
Nick Pericle is the Vice President of Technology Strategy & Solutions at ProfitOptics. Whether Nick is enthusiastically sketching out visions on a whiteboard or intently orchestrating project execution, he's driven by his insatiable passion for innovative tech solutions. Nick is best known for architecting bespoke solutions and spearheading large-scale digital transformation projects, which not only save organizations tens of thousands of efficiency hours but also add millions to their bottom line. With a profound understanding of sectors like distribution, manufacturing, and healthcare, combined with extensive experience across diverse tech stacks and ERP platforms, there's scarcely a challenge he hasn't personally rolled up his sleeves on. Outside the tech realm, Nick is a devoted husband, father of three, and an avid outdoorsman, always eager for the next adventure.