Marketing, Sales & Services in the era of digital transformation

Digital transformation is based on innovative information and communication technologies as well as webbased business models that can increase performance in companies and organizations if they
are implemented correctly. It is essential for companies to evaluate the potentials of digitalization and use them for profit. Increasing efficiency and decreasing costs is not the sole objective, rather it is concerned with creating new and differentiating customer experiences or addressing customer needs that have yet to be satisfied. Marketing, sales and services are particularly challenged here. “Smart” customers are empowered to better formulate their own needs and configure their own solutions, make better comparisons of
competitive offers or receive lower prices for comparable services. Beyond that, marketing, sales and services must be observant so that necessary countermeasures can be taken should disruptive competi-
tors enter the market and exert competitive pressure. Based on current scientific studies and our first-hand experience from consulting projects, in this OPPORTUNITY we provide an overview of
the challenges of digital transformation in marketing, sales and services. At various maturity levels, we demonstrate how companies can achieve targeted competitive advantages based on twelve selected
success factors within the framework of digital transformation and we describe numerous best practice examples from diverse industries. Companies and customers can profit from digital transformation in
many ways – if they work to shape it actively.