Work on a new platform has been underway for months, yet discussions about how customers should use it don’t begin until just before its launch. Sales continues to sell services the old way, even though customers will soon have to handle more things online themselves. The website still tells the same story, even though the services behind it are changing significantly. Customers receive emails about new features, but don’t always understand why they should use them. Internally, the project team talks about adoption and migration. Above all, the customer wants to know: what’s changing for me?
We start by looking at what will actually change for the customer. Not at the technical specifications of the new system, but at the moments when someone will have to do, understand, or expect something differently.
From there, we help build the narrative around the change. What does a customer need to know beforehand? What does the sales team need to explain the new way of working? And how do we ensure that the website, content, and communications align with the services they support? This way, the digital transformation isn’t just implemented technically, but is also understandable to the people who will be using it.
For customers, there is no such thing as digital transformation. They simply notice that from now on, they have to request, purchase, use, or arrange things differently. If that change isn’t clearly explained, people will stick to the old way of doing things or will view the new service primarily as an extra hassle.
At the same time, digitization often changes the organization’s narrative. A company that relied on personal contact for years can suddenly handle much more digitally. A service that was previously provided primarily by employees becomes, in part, a platform. This raises questions about what customers can still expect from the organization and what role employees will continue to play in that context.
