How to build a
digital strategy
Most businesses don’t struggle with knowing they need to improve their use of technology, they struggle knowing how.
This page gives you a simple, structured way to get started. In three steps, you’ll define what you want to achieve, focus on what matters most, and turn that into a clear starting plan, something you can act on internally or take into a conversation with a software partner.
Step 1 - Define your goals
Before you look at problems or processes, it's worth stepping back. What do you actually want your business to look like in the next year?
Ask yourself:
- Do you want to grow into new markets or serve existing customers better?
- Do you need to reduce operational risk or improve resilience?
- Are you trying to run more efficiently with the same team?
Your digital strategy should serve those goals - not exist for its own sake.
Not sure which area matters most right now? The Digital Maturity Assessment is a free, quick tool that benchmarks your business across six key areas of digital maturity - helping you identify where the biggest gaps and opportunities are.
Step 2 - Shape your focus
You might have come out of Step 1 with several goals. That's fine - but trying to build a strategy around all of them at once won't work. Pick the one that is most critical to your business right now.
Ask yourself
- Which goal has the biggest impact on the business if left unaddressed?
- Which is most urgent - something actively costing you now, or a risk that's growing?
- Which is the most achievable starting point given your current resources?
Talk to your team, look at your data, and look outward - at your competitors, your sector and the risks on the horizon. The areas where you struggle to answer those questions might be where the biggest gaps are.
Step 3 - Build your starting point
At this stage you're not building a full strategy. You're creating a clear, usable starting point - something you can act on internally, share with your team, or take into a conversation with a technology partner.
Pull it together into five points:
- Your priority area
- The problem you're trying to solve
- The impact it's having on the business
- Your goal
- Your first step
Once you have those five points, write it up into a simple 'plan-on-a-page' - or feed what you've captured into an AI tool to help you shape it into something ready to share.
See it in practice
These examples show how the same simple structure can be applied to real operational challenges. Notice how specific each one is - that specificity is what makes a plan useful.
You can use this same structure for your own plan:
PRIORITY ➪ PROBLEM ➪ IMPACT ➪ GOAL ➪ FIRST STEP
Example 1 - Reducign costs and improve efficiency
PRIORITY AREA: Process visibility and profitability
PROBLEMWe have limited visibility of what costs are being incurred across the business and where. Processes and workflows are inconsistent across departments, making it difficult to identify where we're losing time or margin. | IMPACTWe can't confidently track profitability at a granular level or make quick decisions about where to improve. Inefficiencies are spread across the business but there's no clear picture of where the biggest losses are occurring. |
GOALImplement consistent, connected processes across the business so we can monitor costs, workflows and performance in real time — and identify where we can improve margins within the next two quarters. | FIRST STEPMap current workflows across the three departments with the highest cost exposure and identify where manual processes or data gaps are making it hardest to track what's happening. |
Example 2 - Meeting rising customer expectations
PRIORITY AREA: Order visibility and response times
PROBLEMCustomer expectations have shifted significantly. Buyers who previously accepted 4–5 day delivery windows now expect next-day dispatch and same-day responses to queries. We have no efficient way to track orders in real time or respond quickly enough. | IMPACTThe team is spending increasing time managing complaints and chasing updates rather than serving customers. Slow fulfilment and late responses are damaging key account relationships and making it harder to compete. |
GOALImprove dispatch speed and reduce order query response times so we can reliably meet next-day delivery expectations and cut inbound customer chases by at least 50% within six months. | FIRST STEPAudit the current order management process from placement to dispatch and identify where visibility breaks down and delays most commonly occur. |
Example 3 - Production visibility and traceability
PRIORITY AREA: Production flow monitoring and ingredient traceability
PROBLEMWe're operating in a high-volume, low-margin environment where traceability is non-negotiable. Our current systems can't monitor the production flow end-to-end or provide real-time reporting when issues arise. | IMPACTWe can't perform real-time follow-ups on materials consumption or trace ingredients quickly enough to meet compliance requirements. Decisions are being made too slowly in an environment where speed and accuracy directly affect margins. |
GOALAchieve full end-to-end visibility of the production flow and ingredient traceability within four months, so compliance requirements can be met without manual cross-referencing and teams can act faster when problems occur. | FIRST STEPIdentify which stages of the production process have no digital record and assess what data is currently being captured manually that could be consolidated into a single system. |
Based on where you are today, what would you like to move forward with next?
Build my plan
Turn your thinking into a structured ERP specification
Turn what you’ve already started into a clear, structured ERP specification. The ERP Planner helps you shape your requirements into something you can use to evaluate real systems and move forward.
Find my gaps
Understand where to focus first
Before you build a plan, it helps to know where you stand. Our free Digital Maturity Assessment highlights your biggest gaps and opportunities, giving you a clear starting point for what to prioritise next.
Talk it through
Get guidance on what to do next
If you’d rather sense-check things first, a conversation can help. Our experts work with businesses like yours every day - helping you make sense of your priorities and decide on the right next step.