Actualize Your Transformation to Better Serve Your Customers: Get Digital Transformation

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Actualize Your Transformation to Better Serve Your Customers: Get Digital Transformation Not too long ago, airline passengers juggled paper tickets and lengthy check-in lines. Today, the airport experience is largely digital and self-service—a shift that has transformed virtually every industry.

JetBlue recently announced the latest phase of its comprehensive digital transformation, featuring enhanced mobile and website experiences. In 2026, the airline launched a multi-year initiative to modernize operations and customer service, resulting in streamlined self-service kiosks and check-in desks.

While JetBlue and many other organizations recognize the importance of digital transformation for running a modern business, executing it successfully remains a challenge. In a Riverbed survey of 1,000 companies, only 50 reported smooth digital updates, while 95 percent encountered significant obstacles.

Such setbacks can damage brand reputation, erode customer loyalty, reduce revenue, and delay product launches.

What success looks like

Actualize Your Transformation to Better Serve Your Customers: Get Digital Transformation Digital transformation applies equally to large enterprises and smaller businesses. When executed well, it improves customer interactions and drives results that extend beyond cost savings.

Banking offers a clear example. Early mobile apps were clunky, with limited access to statements and no easy transaction search. Most banks simply delivered PDF versions of paper statements.

Today, banking apps have evolved dramatically. Capital One’s integration of Alexa and widespread adoption of Touch ID and Face ID now give customers instant, secure access to their accounts—addressing the need for quick task completion and real-time visibility into financial health.

What startups and SMBs should be doing

Digital transformation can seem overwhelming, yet it does not have to be. Leaders can follow these practical steps to guide their efforts successfully.

1. Focus on correctly identifying the problem before attempting to solve it

Actualize Your Transformation to Better Serve Your Customers: Get Digital Transformation Rushing to implement solutions without understanding root causes wastes resources. Hasbro demonstrated the value of data-driven insight by shifting social-media advertising for products like Play-Doh and Monopoly from children to their actual buyers—parents—while expanding reach through multiple channels and an ad-tech platform that targets impulse purchases.

2. Hypothesize potential solutions

Create concise “user stories” that describe desired outcomes, such as: “As a user, I want to be automatically signed out after 10 minutes of inactivity.” Test these stories with real customers to validate usefulness.

Consider a construction site or manufacturing plant where safety reports sit in bulky binders requiring carbon copies. Valuable time is lost creating and transferring paper documents, and critical information becomes hard to retrieve. User stories help pinpoint where digital tools can deliver the greatest impact.

Bechtel Corp., one of the world’s largest construction firms, now uses advanced industry software that generates nearly $100 million in projected savings per project through improved efficiency and margins.

3. Make adjustments when a proposed solution is not working

Actualize Your Transformation to Better Serve Your Customers: Get Digital Transformation Startups and SMBs should operate in “fail-fast” mode. When an approach underperforms, rapid iteration is essential. Customer feedback is invaluable: Walgreens, Target, and Domino’s continuously refine in-store digital experiences. Walgreens customers can pay via mobile, while Target shoppers use an evolving app to discover deals and streamline their visits.

Whether you engage an external innovation partner or build an internal team, create dedicated environments for prototyping and testing to ensure initiatives stay on track. Ultimately, digital transformation succeeds when it solves real problems and encourages ongoing user engagement.

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