One such remarkable tool is the Digital Transformation Maturity Assessment Tool at dxreadiness.com, created by our company Lumen Spei Ltd, and optimized by our CEO Krunoslav Ris, a seasoned expert in leading organizations through the digital transformation maze.

The Digital Transformation Tool is designed to measure an organization’s digital maturity across various critical dimensions. It does so by delving into six key areas, each represented by a set of questions aimed at uncovering the depth of your digital integration and readiness for the future. 

The journey begins with just a few clicks but leads to a profound understanding of where you stand in the digital readiness level and what steps are essential to lead you forward.

Digital Transformation Assessment Maturity Tool

Let’s dive into the eight steps that constitute the core of our tool:

1. General Information (4 questions): The assessment begins by gathering basic information about your organization. Though brief, this segment lays the groundwork for a personalized analysis.
2. Customer Experience and Relations (14 questions): Here, the tool explores how digital initiatives have been employed to enhance customer interactions and satisfaction. It’s about understanding the digital touchpoints that impact customer journeys.
3. Strategy (16 questions): This segment scrutinizes the alignment between your digital initiatives and organizational strategy. It delves into how well-prepared your strategy is to harness the digital wave.
4. Technology (15 questions): Technology is the linchpin of digital transformation. This step evaluates your technological infrastructure, its alignment with your goals, and its readiness to support future advancements.
5. Operations (15 questions): Here, the focus shifts to operational processes, assessing the integration of digital technologies in streamlining operations and fostering agility.
6. Culture (15 questions): A digital-friendly culture is crucial for transformation. This segment evaluates the organizational mindset and readiness to adapt to digital changes.
7. Data (15 questions): In the digital realm, data is king. This step evaluates your data management practices, analytics capabilities, and how data-driven insights are utilized for decision-making.
8. Compliance and Risk Management (15 questions): This segment assesses your compliance and risk management practices in a digital environment, ensuring that digital initiatives meet regulatory standards and are secure.

Upon completing this detailed assessment, the tool calculates your Digital Maturity Score, a numerical representation of your digital readiness. But it doesn’t just stop at providing a score; it offers tailored recommendations to bridge the gaps identified during the assessment.

These actionable insights are instrumental in fine-tuning your digital strategies, ensuring that every digital investment leads you closer to your organizational goals.

Recommended ➜ Read about drivers of digital transformation

Moreover, the tool provides an opportunity to schedule a one-on-one consultation with our company’s CEO himself. With 25+ years of experience in the tech industry, the insights that you will receive for free, are extremely valuable and exact guiding light in navigating the often blurry waters of digital transformation.

In addition, the assessment paves the way to both action and education plan – with the exclusive book titled “Digital Transformation Cheat Sheet: Book for Executives and Managers“. This book, available on Amazon, is a “shortcut” manual designed especially for C-level executives who are leading their organizations through the digital revolution. Like a crash course, but with information that is not at all basic and “googlable” ” it will provide you with all you need to know about digital transformation, including a roadmap for executives to create a digital-friendly culture, streamline operations, and ultimately achieve digital maturity of their businesses.

What is DxReadiness?

The Digital Maturity Assessment Tool is more than just a diagnostic instrument; it’s a partner in your digital transformation journey. It’s about having a clear mirror that reflects two things. 

• Where you stand as a company with an in-depth analysis of your digital readiness.
• The clear path toward achieving digital excellence. 

The insights you receive from this free tool are invaluable when writing your company’s digital narrative that both resonates with your organizational capabilities, culture, and market dynamics.

Embracing the Digital Transformation Tool is embracing a future of endless possibilities, growth, and a solid competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

The journey toward digital maturity is a strategic one. With guidance from Lumen Spei and the data-driven insights from the assessment tool, you are well on your way to becoming a digital powerhouse in your industry. At the end of the assessment, you can easily schedule a free consultation, and for those who are in a hurry and know they need one – we are giving you the link for a free consultation right away! 

Start your digital assessment now. 

The post The Power of Digital Maturity Assessment Tool first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Key Areas of Digital Transformation in the Food and Beverage Industry (with real-life examples)

1. Operations and Supply Chain

In the realm of operations and supply chains, digital transformation is revolutionizing the way businesses in the food and beverage industry operate. By utilizing technology for efficient inventory management, implementing automation and robotics in production processes, and optimizing logistics through data-driven solutions, companies can achieve greater efficiency and agility.

For example, McDonald’s has been implementing digital transformation in various ways. One of their examples is that they have integrated self-service kiosks and mobile ordering options in their restaurants to streamline the ordering process. Additionally, McDonald’s has made investments in automation and robotics for tasks like beverage dispensing. These initiatives contribute to their digital transformation journey and enhance their operations and supply chain.

By integrating an AI platform with menus and inventory systems, companies like McDonald’s can promote or withdraw items based on stock levels, optimizing demand and preventing shortages. This real-time data-driven approach minimizes waste and ensures an optimized supply chain. Furthermore, it empowers personalized recommendations, leverages global distribution centers, and effectively manages stock levels, especially for new or seasonal items.

For more insights into McDonald’s digital transformation initiatives in operations and supply chain, you can refer to these articles by Grubbrr, Wavetec, and Future Supply Chain.

2. Customer Experience and Engagement

Enhancing customer experiences and engagement is a crucial aspect of digital transformation in the food and beverage industry. By leveraging technology, businesses can provide personalized and convenient experiences that resonate with their customers.

For example, Starbucks, a leader in digital transformation, has implemented various initiatives to enhance the customer experience. Through their mobile app, customers can order and pay ahead, collect rewards, and personalize their beverage choices. Starbucks’ digital investments have resulted in increased customer engagement and loyalty.

To learn more about Starbucks’ digital transformation journey and how they have elevated customer experiences, you can refer to these sources:

• “Starbucks’ Mobile Apps: How They Drive Customer Engagement” by Indigo9 Digital
• “Starbucks: Winning on Rewards, Loyalty, and Data” by Harvard Digital

According to the mentioned Harvard Digital article, Starbucks’ Reward Loyalty Program boasts an impressive 16 million active members (as of March 2019) and has contributed 40% of the company’s total sales. The mobile app enables seamless payments, order-ahead functionality, and personalized offers based on user data. Customers can earn stars (rewards) that translate into free drinks, food, and merchandise. Starbucks’ investment in digital technologies has transformed its relationship with customers and generated substantial value.

Through the Starbucks app, customers enjoy the ease of payment, the convenience of ordering ahead, and a range of rewards and benefits. The app integrates with other platforms like Spotify, enhancing the overall coffeehouse experience. Starbucks keeps its members informed about new releases and offers special member events. This comprehensive digital strategy has elevated customer experiences, driving loyalty and satisfaction.

By studying Starbucks’ digital transformation initiatives, businesses in the food and beverage industry can gain valuable insights into enhancing customer experiences and engagement in their own operations.

Recommended ➜ Read about how Web 3.0 technologies impact digital transformation

3. Data Analytics and Insights

Data analytics plays a pivotal role in digital transformation, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their operations. In the food and beverage industry, companies can leverage data analytics to gain insights into customer preferences, forecast demand, and streamline processes.

1. Noteworthy Example: Coca-Cola’s Utilization of Predictive Analytics

Coca-Cola, a leading player in the food and beverage industry, demonstrates the power of digital transformation through its use of predictive analytics. By accurately forecasting demand, Coca-Cola optimizes production and inventory management. This data-driven approach helps streamline operations, minimize waste, and ensures that Coca-Cola products are readily available to meet consumer needs. Forbes provides valuable insights into how Coca-Cola utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to drive success, while Harvard Digital also offers an in-depth analysis of Coca-Cola’s data analytics-driven innovation.

2. Noteworthy example: Starbucks’ Perfect Blend of Data Analytics

Building upon the previous example of Starbucks, another notable instance of its digital transformation efforts can be seen in how they have leveraged data analytics to create a seamless customer experience. Their digital transformation journey, as highlighted in Harvard Digital’s article, “The Perfect Blend: Starbucks and Data Analytics“, showcases how Starbucks uses data analytics to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. By analyzing customer data, Starbucks tailors their offerings, develops personalized marketing campaigns, and optimizes its operations to meet customer expectations. This data-driven approach has contributed to Starbucks’ success and continued growth in the industry.

By studying these real-life examples of Coca-Cola and Starbucks, businesses can gain inspiration and insights into the strategic implementation of data analytics for informed decision-making, enhanced customer experiences, and operational optimization.

Recommended ➜ Read about the role of big data in digital transformation

4. Food Safety and Traceability

Ensuring food safety and traceability is a critical concern for the food and beverage industry, and digital transformation can help address these challenges. By implementing technologies such as blockchain, companies can establish transparent supply chains and enhance traceability.

1. Noteworthy Example: Walmart’s Implementation of Blockchain for Food Traceability

Walmart, a prominent player in the food and beverage industry, sets a remarkable example by utilizing blockchain technology to enhance food traceability. With a blockchain-based system in place, Walmart ensures transparency and accountability throughout the supply chain, allowing for efficient tracking of products from farm to store shelves. This innovative solution helps improve food safety, quality control, and consumer trust. The utilization of blockchain technology in the food industry has the potential to revolutionize food safety practices and enhance the overall integrity of the supply chain.

By examining Walmart’s adoption of blockchain technology, companies in the food and beverage industry can gain insights into how digital transformation can strengthen food safety practices and traceability, ultimately benefiting both businesses and consumers.

Technological Advances Driving Digital Transformation

Technological advances such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, and big data analytics are driving digital transformation in the (food and beverage) industry.

These technologies enable businesses to gather real-time data, automate processes, and derive meaningful insights to drive innovation and efficiency. The integration of these technologies empowers enterprises to optimize operations, personalize customer experiences, and uncover new opportunities.

The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Food and Beverage Industry

Digital transformation has a profound impact on the food and beverage industry, with various benefits for businesses. By embracing digital strategies, companies can achieve improved operational efficiency, cost savings, enhanced customer experiences, increased agility, and the ability to adapt to market changes.

These transformative efforts allow businesses to stay competitive, meet customer expectations, and drive growth in a dynamic industry.

Recommended ➜ Read about the impact of digital transformation on business growth

Common Challenges and Considerations in Digital Transformation

While digital transformation offers significant opportunities, it also comes with challenges and considerations.

Data security and privacy concerns, integration of legacy systems with new digital solutions, workforce upskilling, and change management are some common challenges faced by businesses in the food and beverage industry. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensure a successful digital transformation journey.

Recommended ➜ Read about the challenges of digital transformation.

Embracing the Digital Shift in F&B Industry

In conclusion, digital transformation is reshaping the food and beverage industry, empowering businesses to remain competitive and meet customers’ evolving needs.

Through optimizing operations and supply chains, enhancing customer experiences, leveraging data analytics, and ensuring food safety through traceability, businesses can unlock tremendous growth and innovation potential.

Is Your F&B Business Ready for Digital Transformation?

The food and beverage industry is currently experiencing a profound digital transformation, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and engage with customers. By embracing digital strategies and adopting emerging technologies such as inventory management systems, automation, data analytics, and traceability solutions, businesses can position themselves for long-term success in this rapidly evolving landscape.

At Lumen Spei, we understand the significance of staying ahead in this dynamic industry. As a leading digital transformation agency, our dedicated team of experts is ready to guide your (food) business on its digital journey, implementing innovative solutions tailored to your specific needs.

We believe that by embracing this transformative journey, your business can achieve sustainable growth and thrive in today’s competitive market.

Ready to embark on your digital transformation journey? Reach out to us and discover how we can support your food business in embracing the industry’s future.

Let’s drive your digital transformation and business to new heights!

The post Exploring Digital Transformation in Food & Beverage Industry first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Customer Expectations Continue Growing

Compared to only a decade ago, today’s customers are much more empowered than they used to be. They are becoming increasingly savvy and expect a truly personalized experience from businesses and organizations. More importantly, this personalized experience needs to be consistent across all used communication channels, from the website and social media to direct messaging tools.

Today, customers prefer to spend their money with brands that understand the importance of a personalized shopping experience and will get frustrated when their identity and action have been loo when switched to another communication channel.

The reason behind these growing expectations lies in companies that dared to be the first to create customer-centric platforms, such as Amazon, Uber, and Netflix. Every time a customer interacts with one brand more engagingly, their expectations will immediately grow and be applied to other businesses as well.

 A more radical view of these digital transformation drivers names today’s customers “digital predators”. Because they have the power now, customers can change the markets as we know them by leveraging the power of technology to raise customer expectations to an even higher level. For companies, this means that digital transformation must be a high priority if they wish to avoid becoming “digital prey”. 

Speed is Crucial

One of the customer expectations that need to be improved is speed. Companies must prioritize becoming faster in interacting, serving, delivering, and re-engaging their customers because the digital race can only be won by the fast ones, not the big ones as used to be the case before.

The biggest obstacle to velocity is the current mindset the companies have. Digital transformation is not linear, and providing solutions with a linear perspective will not bring the desired results. To be faster across all phases of the customer journey, businesses have to change their linear approach. Once they have determined their perspective or the way to respond to an opportunity, things will change again, and they will need to restart the process. The major challenge is learning to move rapidly toward the future without stopping when any digital disruptors appear.

Recommended ➜ Read about the challenges of digital transformation.

Strong Focus on Customer Insight

The ability to respond rapidly to all customer expectations will always start with a firm focus on customer insight. Those companies that are considered successful are inventing and designing to demonstrate how deeply they understand their customers and their needs. To develop this intuition, they will spend an immense amount of energy on studying and understanding the relevant aspects of the lives of their customers rather than the basic information they get from superficial surveys.

Customer insight needs implementation at several levels, from understanding the entire customer base to understanding the relevant needs of each customer to ensure they get a personalized experience when interacting with your company. However, achieving that level of insight takes a lot of work. Companies need to develop customer intuition, gather anecdotes, and leverage data to continue being aware of their customers’ preferences.

Everything Revolves Around AI

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the fastest emerging priorities. Siri and Alexa, the pioneers of the conversational interface based on AI, set an example for other companies to follow when implementing a solid AI strategy to respond to the demands of their customers. Yet, the meaning and the potential of AI still need to be clarified to many.

What value AI provides and how it could be applied will significantly depend on the industry and the nature of the business itself. Regardless of how a company decides to use AI to introduce improved customer experience, the successful implementation must be sensing, comprehensive, guided, actioned, and with great analytical features. There are already numerous Ai interaction models that serve as an inspiration to those considering implementing this technology.

Recommended ➜ Read about useful digital transformation tools.

Digital Transformation Equals Business Transformation

Those who see digital transformation as the fundamental shift in how a company delivers values and drives revenues are tomorrow’s industry leaders. Most digital transformations need the business perspective when evolving because the true digital value proposition goes beyond the digital. To succeed, it needs to reinvent numerous aspects of the business, including core technology systems, business models, and vital operating processes. 

Digital transformation comes with consequences; sometimes, the positive ones will outshine the ones requiring additional effort. For instance, when Hilton created a mobile app that allows their customers to unlock doors on their own, besides facing a software development challenge, the company had to change dozens of thousands of locks at their properties and retrain the team on the repair and maintenance of the new locks.

Get in the driver’s seat of your digital transformation with Lumen Spei

Lumen Spei is here to help companies navigate the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation by providing expert guidance and support throughout the journey. Whether it’s understanding the needs of customers, implementing new technology, or rethinking business models, we are here to help you succeed. Reach out if you want to talk about your digital transformation goals!

The post Disrupt or be Disrupted: Drivers of Digital Transformation first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Diverse businesses and sectors are experiencing the emergence of new business models that are changing old value chains and dissolving sectoral silos. Additionally, we have seen how unanticipated rivals—startups and even businesses from unrelated industries—have been disrupted by fundamentally altering how they were doing things.

What is stopping the legal industry from digitally transforming?

The legal industry has experienced the same thing. Legal professionals can now lead the way in enabling more secure, practical, accessible, and client-centric legal services based on digital transformation solutions thanks to disruptive technology. Additionally, firms are reinventing themselves by turning data into valuable assets.

Lawyers must understand how technology affects various industries and consider how law, business, and technology are intertwined to compete in this new environment.

Lawyers can devote more time and effort to client service and higher-value work thanks to the effectiveness and support of new technology and operating systems.

However, individuals with a history of success following “what has always been done” find it particularly challenging to understand the concept of actual disruption. That is true for most large firms and organizations in the legal industry, where there is a conflict between lawyers who want to protect the “profession” and consumers’ requirements and an industry that wants to provide those needs.

Recommended ➜ Read about the impact of digital transformation on business growth

Digital transformation in legal firms

Law firms pride themselves on putting clients first. Most firms’ employees, including the managing partners, client-facing attorneys, and numerous support workers, have functioned outside the technological realm. Besides email, customer databases, and online document signing, the legal profession must be more active in embracing digital transformation.

What does digital transformation look like in legal industry firms?

The process of implementing technology across the entire organization to increase efficiency, decrease errors, expand capabilities, deepen insights, and strengthen customer relationships is known as digital transformation.

In furthering corporate digital transformation, which has as its end goal value creation and improved consumer experiences, legal has a vital but underappreciated role. Like technology, the legal function now influences every aspect of business and is no longer vertical.

Automation is a must-have!

Several types of legal automation can be implemented by any firm looking to improve its efficiency:

1. Electronic signature of contracts. A digital agreement has become commonplace thanks to the development of secure, globally recognized electronic signatures, much of which may be automated.
2. Contract automation. Lean legal teams usually implement contract automation workflows over scaling expensive workforce for low-complexity legal agreements.
3. Contract review. When faced with thousands of unstructured Word or PDF contracts, legal teams frequently use AI contract review companies to determine what is in their contracts. In the near term, this does fix a problem, but in the long run, it would be better to stop producing unstructured PDFs. 
4. Automated billing management. One of the main goals for many in-house legal teams is to keep spending on outside counsel under control. Numerous recent companies have provided automated solutions to assist in cost monitoring and reduction.
5. Automated workflows. To make standard procedures scalable, no-code automation builders assist legal teams and law firms in fusing numerous manual processes. That could resemble the receipt and triage of new inquiries, which aids in giving legal problems the appropriate priority.
6. Automated risk and compliance management. There are several ways to assess and manage a company’s risk and compliance exposure, especially in highly regulated sectors like fintech.
7. Knowledge management. Although knowledge management (KM), used by in-house legal teams and law firms, is a reasonably mature product area, workflow automation’s influence has grown, making it faster and more effective for information to reach the right people at the right time.
8. Obligation management. For both large and growing organizations, post-signature contract administration, mainly dealing with contract renewal, can be a severe problem. This procedure can be automated to save time and lower danger.

Technology, in particular, can significantly improve productivity and efficacy for lawyers. Workflow automation and digital procedures have significant advantages in the legal industry. These tools, for instance, can speed up the process of filing paperwork, monitoring case status, and automating lawyer-client contact. Automated systems can also assist lawyers in understanding case data and making better conclusions. 

Recommended ➜ Read about how Web 3.0 technologies impact digital transformation

Automation benefits in the legal industry

This technology increases a legal team’s capacity and the caliber of their service by allowing them to concentrate on challenging issues and face-to-face interactions with clients. Automation can also refer to software robots or bots that perform essential tasks much more quickly than employees would. Bots may execute numerous tasks, like sending and receiving emails, filling out forms or scanning documents, logging into programs, creating reports, and much more. They are the ideal remedy for businesses where staff members waste time on monotonous tasks.

Data management and processing are complicated subjects, especially when laws like the GDPR are involved. Professional secrecy is another obligation for legal professionals.

Customer experience management

Since the Covid-19 epidemic began in early 2020, a lot has changed, and a lot will never be the same after it is over. Customer experience management for law firms is one of the things that have altered for good. One of the benefits is the capacity to provide clients with real, ongoing, and palpable empathy through outstanding digital experiences. When they have experienced it, there is no turning back.

We are seeing the fourth industrial revolution, which experts have long recognized. If your company is keeping up, it will eventually stay caught up. Keeping up with the times may be the subject of a book, not just a quick post, but a few critical components that need immediate attention and vastly enhance the client experience.

• Using a digital-first strategy,
• Putting in place a website that is responsive to mobile devices,
• Obtaining thorough client information to provide customized service,
• Using AI technology wisely and strategically.

The ability to provide virtual feedback has evolved over the past 18 months and has become a vital component of this process. Recent studies show that timely, user-friendly virtual feedback methods are more valued than in-person alternatives by both present and potential customers. Therefore, businesses that offer these services attract this clientele. Those businesses that are most effective at converting leads are familiar with the notion of customer journey mapping.

A modernized grasp of customer experience mapping is just the tip of the iceberg. Reflecting modern ways in the client research tools decreases the time and money typically spent on stale techniques. Customer experience management must now be a lean, focused division of your business, just like your legal services, and it cannot be bloated or wandering.

Customer experience management is something other than what law firms are educated in. Your lack of experience becomes a bigger liability since the success of law firms depends more and more on customer-centered business strategies.

An expert legal consultant can assist businesses in changing their strategy and make sure that they focus their time and resources on offering the highest quality legal services.

Recommended ➜ Read about the role of big data in digital transformation

Artificial Intelligence

Technology can provide lawyers access to information beyond what they can learn from endless documents. Solutions are available that “read” papers using natural language processing, finding errors, contradictions, and even emotions or forgeries.

The software can sift through data to look for patterns that could provide significant knowledge and insights. Advanced, AI-driven software can also assist lawyers in developing a case or restructuring a contract in ways otherwise wouldn’t be able to do or in much less time.

Artificial intelligence advancements are opening up fresh opportunities that will increase technology’s usefulness in the legal industry and possibly lower the cost of getting legal assistance. Now that artificial intelligence has been developed expressly for the legal sector, it can accomplish activities that previously required human intelligence.

It offers the possibility of a sector transformation, which could alter the lawyer’s function.

The application of artificial intelligence by lawyers and within the legal sector is only now starting to take off. Artificial intelligence adoption, especially by in-house lawyers, will drive a transformation in law practice during the next few years.

What effects will this artificial intelligence have on the legal industry?

Comparatively to how email revolutionized conducting business daily, AI will spread like wildfire and become every lawyer’s necessary assistant. Those who resist the change and do not adopt it will fall behind. Those who succeed will eventually discover that they have more time for the two activities of thinking and giving advice, for which there never seems to be enough time.

The simple explanation for the steep rise in AI spending is as follows: Humans may focus on tasks that bring value, those that computers really cannot do or do effectively, by dismissing them from regular tasks that computers can perform, resulting in significant productivity gains and cost savings. 

AI enables the search for concepts, such as contract review and analysis for due diligence, to detect changes in email communication tone. These include searching for code words used to conceal the true nature of the conversation and even mapping out where the computer comprehends what needs to be drawn and prepares the adequate document.

Benefits of digital transformation in the legal industry

Law firms today confront many business issues, such as increasing competition, client demands for higher value, pressure to increase profitability, slowing revenue growth, and cybersecurity risks that could damage their and their client’s reputation.

Many legal firms and in-house counsel believe that digital technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) hold the key to innovation, better utilizing new market opportunities, boosting business productivity, and lowering risk.

There is no requirement for user-owned hardware with cloud computing. It is replaced by a cloud service that requires a monthly subscription but offers cost savings and better protection for the company and its customers. Additionally, it facilitates seamless file exchange and collaboration between attorneys working on the same issue, eliminating the need to send endless reams of paper back and forth between offices.

If you need help implementing advanced tech into your legal firm, let us know! Reach out to us via email or schedule a call with us!

The post How Can Legal industry be Digitally Transformed? first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Reach out to us and we’ll help you choose and implement various digital transformation tools your business needs!

Essential tools to support digital transformation

Organizations must equip themselves with efficient and innovative digital tools. Those organizations that are successfully transforming their businesses have proven how modern platforms and numerous communication and organizational tools are becoming indispensable parts of digital transformation and business success. A variety of tools can help improve a digital workplace if they are not considered as only expenses. Using the right tools is a long-term investment to stay ahead of competitors and enhance the organization’s sustainability.

The next-gen tools to improve digital transformation in 2023

Technology transforms how employees collaborate, communicate with customers, complete tasks, and manage operational processes. It’s also allowing organizations to meet the evolving needs of their customers.

Using the right tools saves you time and increases your team’s engagement at work. Here are 11 tools you need to use in 2023 to make that happen.

Digital adoption platforms (DAPs)

We intentionally start the list with digital adoption platforms. Digital adoption is the biggest challenge in digital transformation.

One-third of all ERP implementation projects fail.

Without a good adoption strategy, you can expect similar success rates for adoption in other areas than CRM, such as ERP, project management, or collaboration tools. Companies should take more time to train their employees on the new technology. Digital adoption platforms solve this problem.

A digital adoption platform allows your L&D and digital leaders to create custom-made app guidance, such as walkthroughs, smart tips, task lists, and tutorials to help users navigate the app. DAPs are particularly effective at onboarding employees, customers, and users.

Best of all, DAPs let you monitor how users interact with tools and see which features users typically struggle with. With DAP, you can track user behavior within applications and the usage history of specific help content.

Organizations can create product tours, provide contextual tips for each user type, control the visibility of help widgets, and more. Instead of explaining workflows over and over or helping with troubleshooting, embed Whatfix’s self-help widget into your apps – so employees or users can search for answers to their questions and find support documents when needed.

To help you with digital transformation across the board, Whatfix integrates with CRM systems, HCM platforms, knowledge base software, collaboration platforms, and other tools used by your teams.

Besides Whatfix, there are a few more tools you’ll want to pay attention to, like Appcues and Userlane!

For example, Appcues fully integrates into your product, making its guidance native. This enables customers to have a consistent experience throughout your product. And Userlane can help you with in-app communication so you can send messages directly to users to provide support, get more feedback, or promote something new in your app!

Only 8% of companies worldwide achieve their intended business outcomes with their digital transformation investments.

Recommended ➜ Read about the impact of digital transformation on business growth

Digital Workplace Suites

76% of organizations have already moved to a hybrid workplace model. Likely, your company has as well. If so, you need a digital workplace tool. 

Digital workplace suites provide digitized alternatives to face-to-face office environments for distributed teams. Not only do they take on the role of physical offices, but they also go beyond what a traditional workplace can provide. Tools like the eXo Platform enable effective cross-company communication, provide a high level of data security, allow effortless knowledge management, and offer innovative employee rewards programs.

The breakroom has gone even further. The Metaverse platform provides an immersive digital workplace experience. Instead of offering 2D collaboration tools, the platform enables fully customizable 3D workspaces.

Recommended ➜ Read about the process of starting a DAO

Team communication and collaboration tools

Team collaboration and communication platforms are more than just messaging apps – they’re digital workplaces where most business processes occur.

Your business can be fully distributed, hybrid, or on-premise; either way, an online collaboration tool is critical. Even if your employees work from one room, it’s counterproductive to distract the whole team when they want to ask a question or discuss a project.

However, small, hybrid, and on-site companies need to approach the digitization of internal communications differently. While remote companies rely entirely on their online collaboration tools, companies that follow a hybrid working model need to find a way to keep everyone updated on ongoing discussions both offline and online.

Simple communication tools like Slack suit companies of all sizes and types. These tools are usually chosen by fully remote or hybrid teams and complemented by a dedicated project management platform. Within the platforms, companies can set up separate channels for different teams and projects, share files, create custom bots, etc.

There are also more complex tools, such as Microsoft Teams, which hybrid teams prefer. The alternative to whiteboards where hybrid teams can collaborate in real-time best option will be Miro.

Out of many tools available, one must be noticed – cloud-based suites. These collaborative suites allow employees to access data and resources anywhere at all times. For organizations seeking to make the most of their digital workplace, collaborative suites are crucial to successful adaptation.

Best online collaboration tools that we are using in Lumen Spei ltd. daily to boost our productivity:

1. Asana
   The web and mobile “work management” platform is designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work.
2. Clocky
   The most popular free-time tracker for teams
3. Slack
   Slack is an instant messaging program designed by Slack Technologies and owned by Salesforce.
4. Calendly
   Modern scheduling platform that makes “finding time” a breeze. When connecting is easy, your teams can get more done.
5. Google Workspace
   Collection of cloud computing, productivity, collaboration tools, software, and products developed and marketed by Google.
6. Microsoft Teams (part of Office 365)
   Online Meeting Platform
7. Zoom
   Online Meeting Platform
8. Figma
   The collaborative interface design tool.
9. Intranet tools

The intranet tools are next-level collaboration tools. These platforms connect your applications to an intranet portal and permit you to access your documents through a dashboard. It’s a custom channel for internal use.

Many say intranet software portals are outdated; they’ve been the only way to consolidate businesses’ devices and channels. You can build a robust and employee-centric intranet by using an intranet tool in combination with a communication platform like Sharepoint, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.

Workplace by Meta, Honey, and LumApps, are good examples of intranet tools for emerging teams and businesses. 

For example, here is why LumApps is a good choice!

• Newscenter with company, news, updates, and PR activities
• Leadership Corner – the communication tool for a C-level;
• An HR portal that displays information, FAQs, job boards, surveys, and more.

Recommended ➜ Read about how Web 3.0 technologies impact digital transformation

Cloud CRMs

Introducing a cloud CRM solution is an inevitable part of the digital transformation process. Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms help companies do just that:

• Generate and store leads
• Plan sales funnels
• Shorten sales cycles
• Manage customer interactions
• Align marketing and sales teams
• Cross-selling and upselling customers
• Increase customer retention, etc.

In most cases, the features of enterprise CRM systems are broader than just one CRM. With tools like HubSpot, you can access all the features necessary for marketing, sales, and support teams through a single interface. Even CMS software is integrated into the toolkit

HubSpot CRM is great for businesses that want to use the free version and large companies willing to invest heavily in building a custom solution with the HubSpot API. But as a small business or startup in its early stages, you’re better off opting for a less complex solution like SugarCRM or SuperOffice.

For large enterprises, there are more powerful CRM platforms you should consider. Platforms like Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, and Freshworks CRM are all excellent solutions for large enterprises. Like HubSpot, enterprise CRM software can act as an ecosystem of tools that provides a foundation for an entire company’s marketing, sales, and customer support teams.

Although 90% of companies with more than 15 employees use CRM tools, CRM adoption among end users still needs to grow. The problem is rooted in the complexity of the solutions and the lack of product-specific training.

Recommended ➜ Read about the role of big data in digital transformation

HCM platforms

Companies must invest in HCM software to empower the HR department’s digital transformation process. HCM stands for human capital management. It involves streamlining and improving the following processes:

• Workforce planning, onboarding, training, recruiting and hiring, 
• administration, analytics, reporting, etc.
• Workday, Zenefits, and BambooHR are the most popular HCM platforms in HR.

These platforms help organize all the data throughout an employee’s lifecycle – from hiring to leaving. Onboarding, payroll, and benefits can be managed directly through a single interface.

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is the only way to avoid data loss and access the resources you need whenever you or your team members need them.

You must require all your employees to upload everything they are working on to the cloud. With this, it’s possible to complete the digital transformation.

There are free and paid tools that offer cloud storage services:

• It will be the best case if you have an option for Companies private cloud.
• Google Drive – starting at $8 per user per month (free plan available);
• Dropbox – starting at $12.50 per user per month (free plan available);
• Sync – starting at $5 per user per month (free plan available);
• IDrive – from $69.50 per year (free plan available)

Digital accounting tools

Digitizing finance and accounting is a challenging but essential step for any business in 2023. If you still need to do so, it’s time to select, implement and, most importantly, adopt a digital accounting tool.

Many digital accounting tools could meet the specific needs of your accountants. When selecting such a tool, consult with your finance department. What tasks do they solve every day? What do they struggle with? How is payroll currently handled?

Small businesses and freelancers looking for a user-friendly interface and simple features use Freshbooks, a user-friendly accounting software. On the other hand, fast-growing companies that need a scalable solution often opt for QuickBooks Online and Xero. These tools provide an overview of your accounting, automate invoicing and reporting, manage payments and invoices, and more.

Recommended ➜ Read about the data silos and their impact on your business

Drive adoption of all your next-generation digital apps with Lumen Spei ltd.

As we mentioned, digital adoption platforms are at the heart of all digital transformation efforts. DAPs help facilitate change, drive the adoption of new digital tools, and provide on-demand performance support for ongoing training and support for employees, customers, and users.

While it’s true that all of these platforms offer great intelligent solutions for businesses – with a proper adoption and end-user support strategy, your employees and customers can move on. They will feel overwhelmed and frustrated with the new processes, which will impact productivity and performance and result in customer churn.

Support your digital transformation efforts with the Lumen Spei team. to provide contextual software guidance to your internal users. Drop us a call or reach out to us over email and let’s talk about your digital transformation!

The post Digital Transformation Tools in 2023 first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Digital pricing sets prices for products and services using real-time digital tools and techniques. Using algorithms and automatization, prices are selected based on the current market conditions.

Definition of digital pricing

Digital pricing is a process in which companies use digital tools and techniques to reshape their pricing strategies. This can range from building new pricing models to enforcing automated pricing systems. The ultimate goal of digital pricing is to improve business performance through more efficient and adequate pricing.

Digitizing pricing can offer numerous benefits, including increased accuracy, transparency, and speed. In addition, digital tools can help companies better understand customer needs and behaviors and enable more customized pricing.

Companies should consider digital pricing as it can help them tailor their pricing strategy to their specific goals and needs. Some digital pricing tips that all companies should consider are:

• Use data analytics to inform your decisions: Gather data about your customers, products, and market conditions to make more informed pricing decisions.
• Be transparent: ensure your prices are straightforward and easy to understand, so customers know what they are paying for.
• Try different digital pricing strategies and find what works best for your business. Review your pricing regularly and adjust as needed.

If you need help implementing digital pricing into your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! We have worked on numerous highly-complex projects and we never shy away from an exciting challenge!

Recommended ➜ Read about using Web 3.0 technologies for digital transformation!

How technology is changing the pricing process

Technology with A.I. is adjusting the way companies price their products and services. In the past, companies relied on manual processes for pricing. However, thanks to digital technologies, companies can automate pricing by leveraging data analytics and pricing models integrated with sales tools such as CRM and price quote generation (CPQ) software.

This allows companies to approach pricing more strategically and better understand the impact of pricing on the bottom line.

Digitizing existing pricing processes

Today, digital technology is rapidly changing how businesses operate, and pricing processes are no exception. Many companies use digital solutions to streamline their pricing processes and increase efficiency.

Digital pricing solutions offer many advantages over traditional methods. They can help reduce costs, speed up decision-making and improve accuracy. In addition, digital solutions provide greater flexibility and transparency, which can boost customer confidence.

Choosing the right digital pricing solution for your business requires understanding your needs and goals. Here are some factors you should consider:

• Cost: How much are clients willing to spend on a pricing solution?
• Ease of use: How easy to understand is the solution to use and implement?
• Features: What features are essential to clients and their businesses?
• Flexibility: How flexible does the solution need to be to meet your changing needs?
• Support: What level of support does the merchant provide?

Recommended ➜ Read about the most important challenges of digital transformation!

Digital pricing models

Companies can choose from several digital pricing models, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

The most common digital pricing models are:

1. tiered
2. pay-per-use
3. subscription
4. freemium:

Tiered pricing is standard among SaaS companies. Different features are offered at different prices depending on the level of service desired. Additional features are unlocked when the user pays more

With usage-based pricing, customers are charged for each digital product or service they use.

With digital subscriptions, customers pay a monthly or annual fee to access a digital product or service.

With digital freemium pricing, customers can access a digital product or service for free but must pay for additional features or content.

A typical online fashion retailer has an assortment of seven million items, while the big multi-category providers like Amazon have many more. Moreover, the most successful online retailers change their prices on individual items every 15 minutes. How is that possible?

Suppose you’re trying to figure out how many employees have to work tirelessly in their offices to analyze price elasticity trends and how they affect individual prices. In that case, you’re barking up the wrong tree. 

Dynamic pricing is fully automated, with computers calculating and processing vast amounts of data about competitors’ prices, sales promotion figures, potential customers’ search trends, product reviews on Internet forums, and even comments on Twitter and Facebook. Depending on the company’s strategic goals, be it maximizing market share or profit, an algorithm calculates the optimal price on demand, sometimes updating every minute.

Dynamic pricing is critical in improving both consumer price perception and retailer profitability. Dynamic pricing, introduced by Amazon and others in 2005, is saving online retailers’ profit margins as online shoppers have become savvy bargain hunters.

Price comparison websites and review communities have enabled unprecedented transparency, and aggressive new retailers often blow up existing pricing structures with low introductory offers. Dynamic pricing can quickly generate a 3 to 8 percent return on sales and represents a tremendous competitive advantage.

Retailers counter with two different versions of dynamic pricing: one version optimizes prices for an entire assortment, which then applies to all customers. This is ideal for products that are easy to compare, such as branded items. The second version calculates an individual price for each customer. This works better when direct comparisons, such as for insurance products or travel.

Recommended ➜ Read about how big data reveals digital transformation opportunities!

Algorithms find the best prices

Fortunately for retailers, the best price is sometimes cheaper than competitors’. As local retail experiences also show, customers form opinions about whether a store offers good value for money or is expensive Digitization is disrupting the traditional ground rules of retail pricing based on relatively few prices for specific products.

In supermarkets, for example, prices on frequently purchased items such as milk, butter, and laundry detergent are usually marked up, so retailers select these products for their aggressive special offers.

And it’s no different online. It comes down to knowing the products that customers base their opinions on value for money. The best example, once again, is Amazon: The e-commerce giant defines essential value items in each category that it consistently offers at lower prices than its major competitors. For example, in ink cartridges for printers, Amazon knows that most shoppers look first at the price of a double pack of black ink.

In 2016, Amazon undercut its two strongest competitors by more than 20 percent on this product. However, Amazon was slightly below its competitors on the single pack of black ink, which is also frequently purchased. However, these low prices are more than made up for by the prices of colored ink: yellow, blue, and red ink are between 33 percent and 57 percent more expensive than Amazon’s competitors.

The great thing about digital pricing is that the company is constantly learning.

Computer programs track customer and competitor reactions to a new price in real time: are sales developing as planned? How many prospects did not buy? Where do the new customers come from price comparison sites, competitors’ websites – or did they come to our website specifically?

All findings are immediately incorporated into the pricing model, which is constantly updated and adjusted.

Companies that optimize their prices according to this formula even do away with the old 80/20 rule, of which 20 percent of products account for 80 percent of sales and profits.

Let us take the example of Amazon with its cell phones: About 80 percent of its revenue comes from selling devices, which account for about 20 percent of the business in that category. Accessories such as chargers, connector cables, headphones, and smartphone cases account for the remaining 80 percent. Although they account for only 20 percent of sales, they contribute 50 percent of profits.

These are typical long-tail products. They remain in the range for years, even if the corresponding cell phone has long since been superseded by newer models but is still used. Stocking such an extensive range of accessories in stationary retail is not profitable because the storage space is too expensive.

Online retailers, however, with their vast and inexpensive warehouses, can healthily increase their profit margins with just these items.

All major online retailers have now introduced dynamic pricing systems, and the idea is also catching on in brick-and-mortar retail. For example, U.S. retail chains Sears and Home Depot can directly change their in-store prices at the touch of a button after installing electronic price tags in some departments of their stores.

Once electronic pricing becomes widespread, opportunities for dynamic pricing will also open up for multichannel retailers that started in the physical space. After all, today’s customers expect a consistent offering across all channels, including prices.

Recommended ➜ Read about data silos and their impact on your business results!

Customized pricing

Customized pricing goes one step further.

Here, the retailer tries to classify individual customers by analyzing, for example, which device they use to access the website. If an expensive iPad is used, the system will immediately display a higher price than for another customer using a cheaper product with an Android operating system. A more reasonable offer is also displayed to customers who were redirected to the vendor’s website from a price comparison site.

For a long time, systems had remembered whether someone had visited the website before and was interested in an offer. If the customer looks at the same item on the website again, the system forces a decision by promising a discount for immediate purchase or offering free additional services.

When customers see through these pricing strategies, they often need to be more enthusiastic, which is why many travel companies have given up on differentiating customers by the devices they use. Too many customers have expressed frustration at being shown a higher price after glancing at their expensive iPhone than they were later shown at home on their old PC. However, price differentiation by route to the website is still very much in place among the leading players in the travel industry.

The concept of customized pricing is of interest to companies in many industries. Insurers are working on better pricing individual risks, while energy companies are looking to incorporate personal consumption habits into their offerings. And it’s not just in retail that dynamic pricing is catching on; companies are also experimenting with the concept, for example, in the chemical and steel industries.

Steel trader Baosteel’s online marketplace Ouyeel has created price transparency not previously seen in the industry. And BASF now trades on the Chinese trading platform Alibaba, selling chemicals to thousands of primarily mid-sized customers in Asia.

Five modules of dynamic pricing

Dynamic pricing is critical in improving both consumer price perception and retailer profitability. A robust dynamic pricing solution should consist of five modules, all working in parallel to generate price recommendations for each SKU in the assortment:

1. The Long-Tail module helps retailers set the introductory price for new or long-tail items through intelligent product matching. The module determines which data-rich products are comparable to new things (with no history) or long-tail items (with limited historical data).
2. The Elasticity module uses Big Data analytics and time-series methods to calculate how a product’s price affects demand, taking into account various factors.
3. The Key Value Items (KVIs) module estimates how each product affects consumers’ price perceptions using actual market data rather than consumer surveys. This allows the module to identify which items consumers perceive as KVIs automatically.
4. The competitive module recommends price adjustments based on competitors’ prices updated in real-time.
5. The omnichannel module coordinates prices between the retailer’s offline and online channels.

Although a best-in-class solution includes all five modules, companies can often start with just the KVI and Competitive Response modules. These help companies respond quickly to competitive changes on key items while adding the other modules.

Companies that want to lay the groundwork for a functioning dynamic pricing system know that it can be done – and that the effort is worth it. Some e-commerce retailers have increased their margins by two to three percentage points – in an industry where margins are tight. This can make the difference between an industry leader and a follower.

And with results like that, concepts catch on quickly. Over the next few years, dynamic pricing will likely become a core business competency. The next wave will affect the B2B sector, where pricing still needs to be transparent in many industries. This new openness could send shock waves. Just think of the current practices in industries such as steel or chemicals. In the B2C sector, the trend is increasingly toward customized offers, including tailored prices.

The big question is whether customers will rebel. Just because something is technically feasible does not mean it will be accepted, as the example from the travel industry shows, where companies have had to abandon price differentiation depending on whether a customer uses an expensive Apple product or a cheap no-name device PC.

But there are other ways of setting prices that will pose an exciting challenge for creative companies.

If you have need to build a dynamic digital pricing system, please drop us an email at info@lumenspei.com our reach out to us via our contact form! 🙂

The post What is a Real Time Quotation and Dynamic Pricing first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Company profile

In this case study, we will look at a lighting company that has a substantial impact in the Croatian market as a distributor for major brands. Doing business for more than 25 years, mostly on the local market but raising numbers in export to foreign EU countries. Currently, there are 15 employees within two branches in bigger cities. The average income in the last three years was over 3.000.000 €.

The company doesn’t have a strict structure apart from the CEO/owner as the main responsible person. Most employees are faculty educated with long experience in the logistics field of business.

Challenge and digitalization status

For business purposes, the company has five cars and three delivery vehicles. Client/partner visits are handled monthly to gain sales and trust. Other orders are realized by delivery services towards mainly other business subjects (some small revenue comes from private persons).

The firm has been moderately digitized for the past ten years. Along with relatively newer computer equipment/server infrastructure, it owns an up-to-date website. Recent interventions in terms of digitization went in the direction of unified e-mail addresses (shared address book) and tracking of received and sent e-mails (common e-mail boxes). Every employee has a company mobile phone and laptop, which can be taken on a business trip or to the home office.

Since the basis for digitalization is set, the owner decided to make the next digital transformation a mini step. Mentioned vehicles were in the focus where expenses weren’t tracked or analyzed regularly.

Every vehicle cost/expense was defined as follows: vehicle purchase, all maintenance (regular, unplanned, preventive), fuel, cleaning services, checking, or monitoring the pressure in the vehicle tires as well as windshield washer fluid refill, fire extinguisher maintenance, radio/service subscriptions, all potential crashes and vehicle damages. Noting all those facts would provide better insight into company assets and efficiency assessment. The situation before digitalization is noted in the table below. 

Recommended ➜ Read about digital transformation challenges!

Solution – approach and realization

As one of the most popular ways in the digitalization approach, the owner of this company decided to contract a software company. It won’t be appointed to produce a solution but to help better understand the long-term development of this new, refreshed process. The owner and his team presented and described problems that were the base for technical documentation for this project. According to the suggested plan, there were phases prepared with defined outcomes. The whole digitalization process was estimated to be finished within eight months.

After preparing detailed technical specifications, the software company tried to offer a faster solution by researching similar commercial and open-source solutions. It is concluded that only software applications can cover the company’s specific needs. Some applications were too broad and others too narrow in functionality terms, so it was decided to go with custom development. Such an approach is more expensive since development is devoted only to one client, but it solves all predicted challenges for a specific company. Web and mobile applications are expected outcomes of the IT project.

For the technical platform Laravel environment was accepted due to its wide usage, standardized code libraries, and the ability for the owner not to be dependent on only one vendor (software company). The agreement pointed out that provided code after the solution is implemented will be in possession of the client where the owner can decide to change software company if needed.

MySQL database was chosen for data storage, which was seen as an optimal and easy-to-scale solution for this project. Cordova framework was chosen for the mobile application that had considerable savings (in time and cost) compared to native development (separate for Android and IOS operating systems).

This specific case was straightforward to explain and understand for developers. Both sides (client and software company) were involved during the design and development phases, especially in coordinating user experience, which needed to be as simple as possible.

After the first development iteration (within six months) and the first alpha version build, a couple of company employees were selected to do an extensive test. Feedback confirmed that current progress is satisfying and that process is moving in the right direction.

 Additional two months of work were invested to provide the first stable beta version. The testing period started when developers were involved and physically participated with the client in real-life scenarios suggesting an optimal approach to note-taking in the application.

This case assumed the involvement of almost all employees in the testing period, so education was relatively simple. This approach also minimized resistance to change since all employees knew what was happening, why such an application was created, and what benefits it would provide.

After a successful testing time frame (two weeks), it evolved to production usage, meaning that all company members started to use an application, getting used to it and taking notes of what could be improved. The last mentioned thing is essential since it provides an opportunity for the whole staff to actively offer solutions to their everyday challenges. Company management decided to award the best improvement ideas every month, which became an extra trigger for employee engagement. 

Application benefits that company management planned were achieved. Usage within six months provided savings (vehicle service prediction and repairing analysis showing vehicle unprofitability), leading to almost half of the project investment return. During a couple of months of active application usage, all employees accepted it and, together with the company management, are planning further development. An update covering working machinery, trucks, and other construction machinery is prepared with partner companies. Covering support for motorbikes or e-bikes is also considered. The extra point recognized as needed during implementation is an option to connect with ERP systems.

It would provide an option to automatize cost invoices towards the accountant process (ex., If the employee pays for the gas, by simple invoice scanning, it will become available as a dealer invoice in the accounting module – no matter if an employee or the company pays the cost).

Recommended ➜ Read about how digital transformation impacts business growth!

This case showed a situation where no current commercial product is suitable for company digitalization. Almost like in real life, if you are tailoring a suite just for you, it will fit the best. Similarly, if you are building a custom application for your firm, it will have an optimum set of needed options. However, such an approach is time- and money-consuming, and it is easy to underestimate it in every resource you may have.

On the other hand, experience showed that by doing so, companies that can afford it are better prepared for further digitalization and full digital transformation steps. By incremental development of digital activities within different departments, it is easier to adopt a new way of business. It is also essential to emphasize employee awareness and preparedness for digital renewal. Company management often tries to do so using shortcuts or as a must.

Many resources in such an approach are wasted when trying to minimize resistance. With a clear vision of digital transformation propagated within all company members, it could succeed or last forever.

Reach out to us, and let’s build a great project together!

Authors of the text: Milan Puvača, Krunoslav Ris

A chapter from the Book: Digital Transformation Handbook (K. Ris 2023.)

The post How a Logistics Company Digitally Transformed Their Business – Case Study first appeared on Lumen Spei.

DAOs are not working as traditional organizations. They perform on a unique model that may sound far-fetched, but many DAOs currently operate and are making profits. Groups of people with similar interests tend to start a DAO so their organization can operate without a hierarchical authority figure.

This, in turn, allows DAO members to work with complete transparency. We recognize DAOs as the future form of running organizations of all sizes – no emotions, just math-based, logical decisions.

If you want to start your own DAO, Lumen Spei Web 3.0 experts will gladly help! Reach out to us, and let’s start planning your new DAO!

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to launch and run a DAO.

Step 1: Define goals and create a mission statement

As with any business, first, you need to draft a mission statement. This is the most crucial step in the process since this is where will be established how the DAO runs and the main goals. It’s like a business plan in traditional startup companies.

Be very specific

Make sure the goals are realistic and achievable. Define what the organization plans to do and break it down into steps. The mission statement should briefly describe the journey from point A to point B, so everyone involved knows what they need to do.

Step 2: Incorporate smart contracts into your framework

A DAO runs on code rather than rules set by people. That said, developers need to create smart contracts to determine how the organization functions. These contracts should be unbreakable, so there can be no room for human error or corruption. The code should also be open source so anyone can view it, audit it, and suggest improvements.

Part of this step is also setting up a token system. This will give users voting rights within the organization according to how many tokens they own. These tokens will also be used to reward participants who contribute positively to the organization. Essentially, they work as an incentive for people to do good deeds for the DAO rather than bad ones.

Recommended ➜ Read about Web 3.0 gaming!

Step 3: Set up a treasury

Now that there’s a system in place to determine how decisions are made and participants are rewarded, it’s time to set up a DAO treasury. The treasury should hold all of the funds raised by the organization, such as membership fees, investments, and grants. Members can then use this money to finance projects that align with the goals as decided by the smart contracts.

Step 4: Launching your new DAO

Once everything is set up, it’s time to launch your new DAO! Invite members, promote your organization, and reach out for funding opportunities—whatever it takes to get things off the ground (or, instead, onto the blockchain). And just like that, you’re ready to start reaping the benefits of decentralization! ]]>

Step 5: Determination of ownership

A DAO’s distribution of ownership rights is how you permit partners to vote on decisions and represent access. There are two ways to distribute ownership rights: NFTs and fungible tokens (ERC-20 tokens). Both have benefits and weaknesses that vary depending on the type of DAO and how it works. Some DAOs use NFTs as governance tokens, while others use ERC-20s.

Recommended ➜ Read about Web 3.0 and Digital Transformation!

The most popular types of DAO

Not all DAOs are created equal. Different types of DAO serve different purposes and come with different benefits. 

As you are reading this, new types of DAO are being developed at this very moment. To simplify this matter, we’ll go through the 9 most popular types of DAO we currently know. 

Here are the 9 main types of DAOs: 

• Collector DAO
• Venture DAO
• Protocol DAO
• Philanthropy DAO
• Social DAO
• Media DAO
• Grant DAO
• SubDAO
• Gaming DAO

So, let’s review these types of DAOs and discuss their most common uses and benefits! 

DAO #1: Collector DAO

Collector DAOs attract collectors aiming to invest together in blue-chip NFT art and digital collectibles. And there has been some success with Collector DAOs recently! 

In essence, the main purpose of a Collector DAO is to gather members willing to pool funds so that the community can more easily buy expensive digital art. 

Of course, each member owns a share, which represents that member’s personal investment. 

Some of the noteworthy Collector DAOs we can point out are FlamingoDAO and NEON DAO, so check them out if you are interested in investing in digital art! Or contact Lumen Spei to start your own Collector DAO! 

DAO #2: Venture DAO

Venture DAO, also called Investor DAO, functions similarly to a Collector DAO. The purpose of a Venture DAO is to pool funds from all members (investors) and use that money to invest in Web 3.0 startups and protocols and even make off-chain investments. 

It’s similar to an investment fund, but the difference here is that privacy, security, and decision-making function on a completely new set of rules. 

DAO members participate in the decision-making process, eradicating the common issue of top management making subjective decisions that may not be the best. 

When investors from a Venture DAO say they’re in this together, they mean that. No single person can make a decision. 

If Venture DAOs seem much more interesting to you than Collector DAOs, check out BitDAO and DAOventures. They are the 2 most popular (and biggest) Venture DAOs at the moment.

DAO #3: Protocol DAO

In short, Protocol DAOs are created to govern a decentralized protocol. Examples would be borrow/lending applications, DEXs, or other types of dApps. 

We’ll mention the three most noteworthy Protocol DAOs in detail: MakerDAO, Uniswap, and Yearn Finance.

How does MarkerDAO function? 

MakerDAO is one of the first DeFi applications built on the Ethereum blockchain. The unique purpose of MakerDAO is to enable users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies with customized lending rates and repayable amounts – by leveraging smart contracts.

Any change to the Maker Protocol is voted through MKR governance tokens. 

MKR holders are also buyers of last resort for DAI loans, with DAI being a stablecoin created by MakerDAO. If the value of ETH in their treasury, the Maker Vaults, doesn’t cover the amount of DAI in circulation, more MKR is created and sold in a debt auction to raise the needed funds. 

How does Uniswap function? 

Uniswap is one of the most popular automated liquidity protocols. It’s powered by a constant product formula and implemented in a system of non-upgradeable smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

Uniswap eliminates the need for intermediaries and fights back against censorship and centralization. 

UNI, Uniswap’s governance token, was launched so the community could have voting rights regarding Uniswap’s development and operations. UNI token holders are deeply immersed into the protocol itself – they control Uniswap governance, UNI community treasury funds, the protocol fee switch, and much more. 

And if they want to change Uniswap or introduce a new feature, at least 25,000 UNI yes-votes need to back the decision. 

How does Yearn Finance function? 

Like MakerDAO and Uniswap, Yearn Finance is powered by governance tokens and delegates funding to DAO Vaults. The YFI holder can provide funds to a DAO approved for acceptance in the vault environment. 

Filling an important gap within traditional HR and payroll systems, founder Andre Cronje built Coordinape so that their allocation is managed automatically by computers while also rewarding contributors with cryptocurrency – all without any need for human intervention!

DAO #4: Philanthropy DAO

Philanthropy DAOs purpose is to help instill social responsibility by gathering members around a shared purpose and impacting the Web 3.0 community. 

Usually, the aims of Philanthropy DAOs are meaningful and positive. For example, Big Green DAO is tied to Big Green, a national food justice charity that teaches people how to grow their food and improve their mental health through doing that, all while making a positive climate impact. 

DAO #5: Social DAO

Social DAOs are also called Creator DAOs. They are focused on the community aspect, and their purpose is to bring together people with similar interests, mostly creatives like builders, creatives, and artists. 

To enter a Social DAO, you will most likely need to have a certain amount of tokens, own a specific NFT, or get a personal invitation from one of the current members. 

There are no clear criteria for defining a Social DAO, but the recent definitions mention Social DAOs as “digitally native tribes” and places to “meet people with similar interests”.

Some examples of Social DAOs are FWB, Seed Club, and FiatLuxDAO. If you are interested in starting your own Social DAO, contact us, and let’s make it happen!

DAO #6: Media DAO

Alternatively to the traditional top-down approach where content is largely influenced by advertising companies and large corporations, Media DAOs allow content to be fully driven by the community. 

To describe Media DAOs, we can imagine them as social media networks, but without corporations governing the profits, meaning that individuals in that Media DAO are earning a piece of the DAOs profit.

Some of the notable examples of a Media DAO are BanklessDAO and Decrypt. 

If you want to grow your Web 3.0 community and unite them through a unique reward system, think about starting your own Media DAO! 

DAO #7: Grant DAO

Grant DAOs are designed to become a force for good in the Web 3.0 community. They aim to facilitate nonprofit donations and strategically deploy capital assets throughout the Web 3.0 space. 

Grant DAOs are usually an extension of a larger Web 3.0 project or a separate entity in the Web 3.0 landscape. 

An example of a Grant DAO that functions as a separate entity is MetaCartel. This particular Grant DAO provides project funding and operational support for early-stage dApps. 

MetaCartel states its mission is to accelerate the creation and growth of Web 3.0, and they award grants from $1,000 to $10,000 for dApps built on Ethereum, new consumer-facing use-case experiments, and creation of new DAOs, and much more. 

With DAOs like MetaCartel, we can confidently say that the future of Web 3.0 looks bright. 

DAO #8: SubDAO

A SubDAO is a relatively new kind of DAOs, acting as a division comprised of DAO members that are organized to manage specific functions of a DAO. 

So, one DAO can have multiple SubDAOs, which act as different departments of a DAO.

Functions such as operations, partnerships, marketing, and treasury can each be managed by their own SubDAOs. This facilitates decision-making and execution, as proposals don’t need to be passed by the entire DAO, only the SubDAO.

A prime example of successful SubDAO implementation is the Balancer Protocol. As their membership grew exponentially, they proposed creating SubDAOs. Now, with their SubDAOs fully functioning, they are much more efficient and can improve faster. 

DAO #9: Gaming DAO

Last but not least are the Gaming DAOs. We’ve discussed them in-depth in our overview of Web 3.0 gaming, so don’t miss out on our featured article! 

In short, Gaming DAOs gather Web 3.0 gamers in a single community. On top of that, there are 3 types of Gaming DAOs. 

Firstly, there are gaming guilds that function similarly to investment clubs. All the gamers (members) share the funds that the gaming guild accumulates through tokenized payments and purchase in-game assets collectively. 

Secondly, incubators and accelerators are the next forms of Gaming DAOs. Generally speaking, they serve as valuable resources for Web 3.0 gaming enthusiasts looking to make their mark in the Web 3.0 gaming industry. They support new Web 3.0 gaming projects both financially and operationally. 

The third type of Gaming DAOs is the Developer DAO. They offer a unique model for both game developers and gamers. Developers can directly engage with players, which gives developers more control over their project, and gamers get more involvement in the process of developing games they love. 

Lumen Spei will help you start your DAO

We hope the Lumen Spei cookbook has prepared a better vision of how to start a DAO. Since it is a newer organizational model compared to other business models, many questions still arise with DAO. As the years go by, it will be exciting to see how popular DAOs become and how they will contribute to structuring the business landscape.

Starting a DAO may seem daunting at first, but if you follow our recipe, you’ll be well on your way to success! And remember, unlike traditional businesses, DAOs offer transparency, openness, and decentralization—three characteristics that are sure to shake up industries across the board in the years to come.

If you need any help with building your DAO, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

The post How to Start a DAO Organization: Step-by-Step first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Blockchain is a distributed database that allows for secure, transparent transactions. It is perfect for handling the large amount of data associated with sports tournaments. In addition, it can be used to create smart contracts that automate payments and other processes.

Qatar has NOT decided to use blockchain throughout the World Cup. The main reason was that the moment that Qatar won the election for the championship, blockchain technology was in the early stage of development. Also, it’s good to know that crypto is illegal in Qatar – for now.

Blockchain and Qatar

But I am sure the next world championship (Atlanta, United States) will use blockchain with greater intensity than today’s NFT or token involvement. It will include tracking player performance, managing ticket sales, and broadcasting online matches. The future World Cup will ensure everything runs smoothly and securely using blockchain.

The Qatar 2022™ World Cup is one of the most high-tech and innovative tournaments in history. This is excellent news for football fans worldwide, as it means they will have a new way to purchase tickets, merchandise, and food and drinks within the stadium by paying with their chosen crypto.

Also, in May 2022, it was announced that US blockchain company Algorand is taking up the sponsor role. And as FIFA states, they are forming technical cooperation with Algorand. They will help FIFA define its cryptocurrency strategy, including football-related NFTs and developing a blockchain-based wallet.

Blockchain in sports has incredibly huge potential. And even though crypto is illegal in Qatar, Algorand will make big steps with FIFA in defining new standards in football technology.

Crypto and Championships

As an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Crypto.com will be the event’s exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor, for the project was introduced QATAR 2022 TOKEN (FWC). This means fans worldwide can use FWC to purchase match tickets, merchandise, and more.

But that’s not all – FWC will also be used to reward fans for their loyalty and support. For example, fans who attend matches or participate in online polls could earn FWC tokens as rewards. This would incentivize people to get involved in the World Cup and help create a global community of football supporters.

It was only a matter of time until the worlds of blockchain and sports collided. And when they did, it was an exciting new frontier for fans and investors.

Fan tokens were created and distributed amongst fans through a Fan Token Offering (FTO) (similar to the concept of an ICO). Unlike an Initial Public Offering (IPO), fan tokens do not represent ownership in the equity of shares in any sporting club – but the venture was still highly profitable.

For example, FC Barcelona ($BAR) generated US$1.3 million less than two hours after selling on the Chiliz Exchange. $BAR fan tokens were sold in 106 different countries.

The success of these fan tokens had many people wondering if other professional sports teams would follow suit. The answer turned out to be a resounding yes, as more and more teams began launching their FTOs. In fact, by the end of 2020, over 60% of all major league sports franchises had issued their fan tokens.

This new era of sports fandom brought a new way to collect and trade memorabilia. Fans could now own a piece of their favorite team – not just figuratively, but literally. And as the value of these fan tokens continued to rise, so did the excitement around them.

Smart contracts and athletes

When digital contracts became popular, athletes were some of the first to take advantage of them. They could now control their likeness and be paid automatically when it was used in an ad or game. This allowed them to make money even when they weren’t playing.

One particular athlete, Magic Johnson, decided to take things a step further. He issued a limited number of digital collectibles of his best plays. Fans could buy these tokens and share in his success. They could also invest in his funding journey and reap returns when he hits the big time.

With Crypto.com as an Official Sponsor, we can be sure that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will play a significant role in the running of the event.

Blockchain in sports – Use cases

As blockchain technology has started to find its ground in the sports industry, new revenue streams have opened up. From fan tokens and digital collectibles to fan loyalty and engagement platforms. This allows for a younger, digital-first fanbase to grow. In time, this leads to increased revenue which is something that sports clubs and companies in the sports industry don’t want to miss out.

Here are some of the most popular use cases of blockchain in sports.

Use case #1: Fan tokens

The reason behind the exploding popularity of fan tokens is their ability to create more revenue streams and increase engagement between fans and sports clubs. Usually, clubs and sports companies enable users to buy tokens with fiat currencies.

This will still be a crypto transaction, but in the background, those fiat currencies need to be converted into cryptocurrencies and then exchanged for merchandise, collectibles, or real-life experience like meeting a certain player.

Top-level football clubs like FC Barcelona and Manchester City have already succeeded with fan tokens. FC Barcelona sold their first round of fan tokens in less than 2 hours – and it was worth $1.3 million.

Digital ecosystems are becoming increasingly important to sports clubs. Using blockchain in sports, they can reach an unimaginable number of fans and grow their international fanbases.

Use case #2: Digital collectibles

Digital collectibles are usually unique or created in limited quantities. Every digital collectible is, in fact, an NFT. Their uniqueness can not be disputed, as every NFT can be verified by immutable blockchain technology.

Implementing blockchain in sports has endless potential. For example, fans will be able to buy unique limited-edition player cards and earn incentives for collecting entire collections. Such digital collectibles are already gaining popularity in the US, especially in the Major Baseball League. They have enabled fans to purchase digital collectibles, regardless of their location, at varying prices. This attracted numerous new fans, especially younger ones who are prone to using digital technology.

Use case #3: Loyalty and engagement platforms

By using loyalty and engagement platforms, sports clubs can harness the power of blockchain to create a sense of community and belonging among their fandom. They can reward their fans for interacting with their websites, creating content related to their club, sharing official posts, and much more.

These rewards are often in the form of fan tokens which fans can, in turn, use to buy merchandise, digital collectibles, and more.

Even though this is a great way to increase the ROI for their sponsors, the main benefit is increased engagement and an increased number of loyal club fans. Building an exclusive fan community is no small task, but doing it on a blockchain is something we couldn’t have imagined several years ago. Now, this is a standard.

Use case #4: Blockchain ticketing systems

Blockchain in sports has been used even in ticketing systems, which is no surprise. Using blockchain to transfer ticket ownership, store tickets, and purchase them has proven to be much safer than traditional methods. There is now no need for any intermediary or a centralized system.

And another benefit of blockchain ticketing systems is that – no one can falsely claim they purchased a ticket. With blockchain, the possibility of counterfeit tickets is zero. And if a sports event is delayed or postponed, rescheduling and reusing the tickets will be much simpler for both organizers and fans.

Lumen Spei will help you create new revenue streams with blockchain

Our team is experienced in building complex systems, especially creating innovative blockchain solutions. We can help your team create the exact solution your users need.

If you want to help your sports club generate more revenue and create a strong connection with your fans, we’ll happily do our best to see you succeed.

Blockchain in the sports industry is only in its infancy stage, and we have a long way to go until we see mass adoption. But taking into account the successful examples of clubs like FC Barcelona, we can say that blockchain is more than welcome in the sports industry.

If you have needs or ideas for your blockchain/crypto/NFT project, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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Blockchain and digital disruptors are quickly changing the landscape of many industries.

How to take advantage of new blockchain technology?

Here are a few ways you can take advantage of these new technologies in your industry: 

1. Use blockchain to create a more secure and efficient supply chain. 
2. Use digital disruptors to create new and innovative products and services. 
3. Use blockchain to streamline processes and reduce costs. 
4. Use digital disruptors to reach new markets and customers.

To stay ahead of the curve, businesses need to understand how digital disruptors and blockchain can be used to their advantage. Digital disruptors are companies or technologies that challenge traditional business models by creating new marketplaces or using innovative technology.

Blockchain is a distributed database that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof transactions. By understanding how these two forces can be used together, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and tap into new markets.

A digital disruptor is an entity that creates new business models, technologies, and processes that significantly change the value proposition in an industry. As industries have become more digitized, the rate of change has accelerated, making it difficult for incumbents to keep up. However, there are ways for incumbents to take advantage of digital disruptors.

However, digital transformation is not without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges of digital transformation is ensuring that all employees are on board with the change. Another challenge is finding the right technology partners to help you execute your vision.

Can blockchain be a solution?

The application of blockchain technology is often associated with the finance sector, but its potential use cases are much broader. Can blockchain help in digital transformation?

The answer may lie in understanding what digital transformation is. At its core, digital transformation uses technology to radically improve enterprises’ performance or reach. For example, a company might use digital transformation to automate manual processes, resulting in increased efficiency and cost savings. Or it might use digital transformation to develop new revenue streams by reaching new markets with innovative products or services.

For blockchain to help in digital transformation, it would need to provide a solution that is not currently possible or offers a significant improvement over existing solutions. Blockchain has been used successfully for payments, supply chain management, and identity verification.

Read about the role of digital transformation in business growth and learn how to overcome new digital obstacles.

Blockchain in Digital Transformation

Assuming you would like tips on how to use blockchain in a digital transformation, you need to answer yourself questions below:

1. Define your business goals. What do you hope to achieve by implementing a digital transformation? How will blockchain help you achieve these goals?
2. Why do you want to use blockchain? Can a “classic” solution be sufficient?
3. Assess your current infrastructure. Can your existing infrastructure support a digital transformation? If not, what changes need to be made?
4. Choose the right platform. Not all blockchain platforms are created equal. Do your research to find the one that best meets your needs.
5. Implement a pilot program. Once you’ve chosen a platform, implement a pilot program to test it out. This will help you work out any kinks before rolling it out on a larger scale.
6. Train your employees.

In layman’s terms, a blockchain is a ledger that can’t be revised or deleted. Users can update the ledger or append additional information, but the historical information is never deleted. Instead, it is stored in blocks across many computers on a network.

So, how do you choose the right blockchain platform for your business?

Here are a few things to consider:

1. What problem are you trying to solve?
2. What type of transactions do you need to support?
3. Do you need a public or private blockchain?
4. What level of security do you need?
5. What kind of scalability do you need?
6. How much control do you want over the platform?
7. What budget do you have for development and maintenance?
8. What expertise do you have in-house for developing a blockchain platform?

How companies use blockchain to disrupt their industries

Even though Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, is today’s most popular blockchain application, blockchain can be applied in many industries, and it can serve many uses. For example, in the banking industry, blockchain was introduced to lower the cost and time to complete global transactions, both for businesses and consumers.

Blockchain networks are currently being utilized in industries including banking, luxury goods, supply chain, and healthcare.

There are 5 different applications of blockchain technology you can take advantage of.

#1 Smart contracts

Blockchain allows a contract to be coded without risk of interception or fraud.

For example, once all parties agree on contract terms in an app for a car rental, they are granted access to the product through a smart lock.

You can use smart contracts to make safe and secure contracts with your users and to provide them with a service without any risk of interception.

#2 Blockchain and the supply chain

If you have ever had a package delayed, you know the pain we are talking about here. And solving these supply chain issues is no small task.

Before a customer receives the order, multiple parties must deliver. If only one link in the entire supply chain fails, the company that the customer purchased from faces trouble.

To solve this, blockchain technology provides a permanent digital record, accessible to anyone in the network. This allows for full transparency and lets us see where exactly the problem occurred and how to facilitate the process.

#3 Electronic voting/polling

This application of blockchain technology is straightforward as it gets.

No outside influence or corruption – stakeholders can safely weigh in, regardless of the poll.

#4 Storage

When talking about storage and blockchain, we can say that using excess space on user hard drives through blockchain is much more secure and plentiful compared to cloud storage.

Even though cloud storage is, by no means, a bad choice, we live in times where there is always a better alternative to everything.

Learn more about data, storage, and data silos to find out how exactly they impact your business results.

#5 Efficient payments

Imagine instant payments, full insight into all transactions – and it’s all permanently recorded.

Through the power of blockchain technology, we can ensure that employee, vendor, or any other type of payment is processed instantly, tracked electronically, and permanently recorded.

How to disrupt your industry with blockchain?

In conclusion, when choosing the right blockchain platform for your business, it is essential to consider its use case, performance, scalability, and security. With so many options available, it can be challenging to decide. However, by keeping these factors in mind, you can narrow down the field and find the best blockchain platform for your business needs.

Maybe you don’t need blockchain at all for your day-to-day business cases. So why then invest in a new technology that is expensive to implement? Before doing any development investment, assess your business with the questions above. Carefully choose what will be your digital transformation strategy in years to come.

If you need help choosing a solution for your digital transformation process, don’t hesitate to contact the Lumen Spei team at info@lumenspei.com.

P.S. Don’t miss our step-by-step guide to digital transformation! Get your game plan ready, and let’s tell a great story together!

The post How to Take Advantage of Digital Disruptors and Blockchain in Your Industry first appeared on Lumen Spei.