Digital transformation is not an IT project — it is a fundamental reorientation of your business model. Especially for SMEs in the DACH region, digitalization offers enormous opportunities: tapping into new markets, automating processes, and better understanding customers. But where do you start? This guide shows you the way.
What does digital transformation truly mean?
The term digital transformation is used inflationarily — often reduced to “we need an app” or “we need to go to the cloud.” But true digital transformation goes deeper: it changes how a company creates, delivers, and captures value.
Specifically, it encompasses three levels:
- Digital Optimization: Making existing processes more efficient (e.g., ERP system, digital accounting)
- Digital Extension: Enriching existing products and services digitally (e.g., IoT sensors, customer portal)
- Digital Business Model Innovation: Developing completely new value creation models (e.g., platform business models, as-a-service models)
Most SMEs are still stuck at Level 1. However, the real competitive advantages arise at Levels 2 and 3 — where the business model itself is transformed.
Why SMEs must act now
The numbers speak for themselves: according to studies, over 80% of executives consider digital transformation vital for survival — yet only a fraction has a clear strategy. For Austrian and German SMEs, there are three urgent reasons to act:
1. Changed Customer Expectations
Today, your B2B customers expect the same digital experience as in the private sector: self-service portals, real-time information, seamless communication. Those who fail to deliver this will lose out to digitally savvy competitors. Customer experience increasingly determines business success.
2. New Competitors from the Digital Sector
Start-ups and platform companies are entering traditional industries — often with radically different business models and significantly lower cost structures. Those who do not regularly question their Business Model Canvas risk disruption.
3. Skilled Labor Shortage and Efficiency
Digital processes and automation are no longer an option, but a necessity. Companies that automate repetitive tasks can deploy their skilled workers for value-adding activities — a decisive advantage in the war for talent.
The 5 Phases of Digital Transformation
Successful transformation projects follow a structured approach. Based on our consulting experience with SMEs, we have identified five phases:
Phase 1: Assess Digital Maturity
Before you transform, you need to know where you stand. Evaluate your digital maturity across the dimensions of strategy, culture, technology, processes, and customer interaction. An honest SWOT analysis helps with this.
Phase 2: Develop Vision and Strategy
Define where you want to be in 3-5 years. Use OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) to make your transformation goals measurable. Important: The digital strategy must be supported by management — it is not an IT task.
Phase 3: Identify and Implement Quick Wins
Don’t start with the biggest project, but with quickly visible successes. Automate a manual process, introduce a CRM, or digitize your B2B Marketing. Quick wins create momentum and trust within the team.
Phase 4: Innovate Business Model
Now it gets strategic: Use Design Thinking and the Business Model Canvas to develop new digital business models. Can you turn products into services? Can you monetize data? Is there platform potential in your market?
Phase 5: Scale and Anchor Culture
Successful pilot projects are scaled, an agile work culture is established, and continuous learning is institutionalized. Transformation never ends — it becomes a core competence of your company.
Success Factors: What Makes the Difference
After years of consulting with SMEs and mid-sized companies, clear success factors emerge:
- Leadership Commitment: Management must exemplify the transformation, not just delegate it
- Customer Centricity: Always start with customer needs, not technology. Jobs-to-be-Done is a proven framework for this
- Iterative Approach: Start small, learn fast, scale what works. The Lean Startup principle also applies to established companies
- Engage Employees: Invest in digital competencies and change management. Transformation rarely fails due to technology — it fails due to people
- Measurable Progress: Define clear KPIs and regularly check whether your measures are effective
Common Pitfalls in Digital Transformation
- Technology Before Strategy: Buying a tool first and then figuring out what it’s for — this is the most common mistake. Always define the business requirement first
- Silo Thinking: Digital transformation affects the entire company, not just the IT department
- Too Broad Scope: Better to start with a focused MVP than to plan a large project that never gets finished
- Missing Data Strategy: Data is the foundation of any digital transformation. Without clean, structured data, no automation or AI application will work
- Only Optimize Instead of Innovate: Digitizing processes is good — but transforming the business model is better
Digital Transformation with Professional Support
Digital transformation is complex — but you don’t have to master it alone. Point of New supports SMEs and mid-sized companies in the DACH region with strategic digitalization:
- Innovation Consulting: Strategic guidance for your transformation
- Design Thinking Workshops: Creative solutions for digital challenges
- Business Model Canvas Workshops: Rethink your business model
- Business Model Coaching: 1:1 support for executives
Schedule your free initial consultation now and learn how we can make your digital transformation a success.
Conclusion
Digital transformation in SMEs is not a sprint, but a marathon. The key lies not in the latest technology, but in a clear strategy, a customer-centric mindset, and the willingness to constantly question one’s own business model. Companies that take the first step today secure a decisive advantage for tomorrow.
