Share
Facebook Facebook icon Twitter Twitter icon LinkedIn LinkedIn icon Email
Digital KPIs

Innovation

The measurement of digital transformation performance 

Published 15 March 2023 in Innovation • 5 min read

Michael Wade and Massimo Marcolivio propose four categories of KPIs to measure and track digital transformation.

 

The lack of consistent and reliable ways to measure digital performance has long hampered organizations in their quest to successfully transform. It’s hard to know how far you’ve come if you aren’t tracking your progress, or if you’re using inappropriate measures.

According to the Innovation Index by Dell Technologies, when it comes to digital and IT, only 26% of decision makers base their actions on measurements and data.

We’ve spent many years collecting and organizing the most common and effective digital transformation KPIs, and have updated our list for 2023. These KPIs are divided into four categories: Digital for operational efficiency, digital for workforce engagement, digital for customer engagement, and digital for new sources of value creation.

The KPIs are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: KPI's Measurements of Digital Business Transformation

Digital for Operational Efficiency

Digital technologies are often used to save costs, improve efficiencies, and enhance operational performance. Measures within this category are often linked to enhanced speed, reduced costs, fewer defects, more output, and better service availability. For example, forklift supplier Linde built a smart factory based on hybrid cloud, edge solutions, and robotic automation and obtained a 27% increase in manufacturing output along with 30% faster detection of process errors.

While efficiency has traditionally been associated with performance metrics such as these, more recently they have been complemented by new criteria linked to sustainability. For example, Linde’s smart factory reduced carbon emissions by 28%. Additionally, the company decreased energy consumption due to intelligent automation of the forklifts’ movements and more efficient IT assets.

Digital for Workforce Engagement

Digital solutions can improve workforce engagement in multiple ways, many of which can be measured. These KPIs can link to time saved, workforce safety, task performance, and collaboration effectiveness. Canadian financial services firm Scotiabank gamified many of its training and talent development programs, resulting in an 89% participation rate and response accuracy of 79%. Digital tools can also be used to enhance diversity and inclusion.

LDBT 110 x 600

Lausanne campus

Leading Digital Business Transformation

Leveraging digital innovations to transform your business.

Explore the program

For instance, workforce service provider Randstad adopted AI-powered talent engagement solutions that combined email outreach with webchat and found that 63% of the conversations resulted in uncovering new job seekers. The same kind of solutions allowed consumer goods firm Unilever to achieve a 16% increase in the diversity of new hires.

Digital for Customer Engagement

A third category of KPIs is linked to customer engagement. There are a number of ways that digital tools can augment customer interactions, such as collecting and analyzing customer journeys and operationalizing the voice of the customer. Beverage giant AB InBev founded BEES, an e-commerce and SaaS company, to solve issues of poor service for small and medium-sized retailers. The BEES solution collected over three billion data points per month from web and mobile applications, logistics and inventory software, and routing tools to build customer profiles and personalize the end-to-end customer journey. The platform can send personalized reminders and automatic recommendations to better target promotions and reduce churn. BEES allowed AB InBev to increase monthly customer engagement by 48%, processing over 1.8 million orders per week and achieving $7.7 billion gross merchandise value.

The New York Times bucked the downward trend in the traditional media sector by growing digital subscriptions to 41% of total revenues by the end of 2022

Digital for New Sources of Value Creation

Digital tools can also be used to find new sources of revenue and profit. KPIs in this category include revenue from digital products, services, channels, and ecosystems along with growth in digital vs analogue services. For example, the New York Times bucked the downward trend in the traditional media sector by growing digital subscriptions to 41% of total revenues by the end of 2022. The company helped to grow these subscriptions by bundling content with games, online lifestyle events, and product reviews. Along with recently acquired sports news website The Athletic, the New York Times reached its goal of 10 million subscriptions ahead of schedule.

Avoid Measurement Silos

These digital transformation KPIs can be extremely useful to monitor the progress of your digital transformation. Yet, a common mistake is to over-rely on one or two KPIs. Our experience suggests that, for a medium-to-large scale transformation, multiple KPIs should be tracked across different categories. A digital transformation may, for instance, include elements of new value creation as well as cost control and efficiency improvements. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to closely engage with customers, employees, and other relevant stakeholders. Hitting many of these KPIs requires a level of cross-silo coordination that is consistent with most digital transformation successes.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is difficult – and without a good sense of where you are in the journey, it can often lead to failure. A portfolio of relevant KPIs that are specifically attuned to the needs of digital transformation can go a long way towards providing the guardrails required to increase the chances of successful outcomes.

Authors

Massimo Marcolivio

Massimo Marcolivio

Massimo is B2B Marketing Manager at Dell Technologies in Switzerland. His 10 years with the company has helped him to develop his expertise in the business aspect of digital transformation.

Michael Wade - IMD Professor

Michael R. Wade

Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD

Michael R Wade holds the Tonomus Professorship in Digital Business Transformation and is Director of IMD’s Global Center for Digital Business Transformation. He directs a number of open programs such as Leading Digital Business Transformation, Digital Transformation for Boards, Leading Digital Execution, and the Digital Transformation Sprint. He has written ten books, hundreds of articles, and hosts a popular management podcast. In 2021, he was inducted into the Swiss Digital Shapers Hall of Fame.

Lausanne campus

Leading Digital Business Transformation

 

Leveraging digital innovations to transform your business.

 

Explore the program

Learn Brain Circuits

Join us for daily exercises focusing on issues from team building to developing an actionable sustainability plan to personal development. Go on - they only take five minutes.
 
Read more 

Explore Leadership

What makes a great leader? Do you need charisma? How do you inspire your team? Our experts offer actionable insights through first-person narratives, behind-the-scenes interviews and The Help Desk.
 
Read more

Join Membership

Log in here to join in the conversation with the I by IMD community. Your subscription grants you access to the quarterly magazine plus daily articles, videos, podcasts and learning exercises.
 
Sign up
X

Log in or register to enjoy the full experience

Explore first person business intelligence from top minds curated for a global executive audience