Digital Transformation at Discount Tire

Introduction

Discount Tire is one of the largest and independent automotive tire retail companies in the world with over 1000 stores worldwide but has its headquarters in the U.S. The company is actively responding to digital transformation. Digital transformation is a concept of transformational organizational change. One of the greatest Greek philosophers, Heraclitus once said that change is the only thing that is constant in life. In every aspect of life, change is frequent and common. Some of the factors that drive the organization to adopt change strategies include but are not limited to; new initiatives, state industry, and government regulation having a competitive edge, technological improvements, legislative or judicial ruling and environmental constraints. Regardless of the ease or complexity that comes with change, it still intimidates due to the scale of challenges that might possibly come with the transformation (Beech & MacIntosh, 2012). Dealing with change is a challenging task for most organizations. There must be the implementation of effective strategies to cope with a change process. This paper seeks to explore the coping criteria to the digital transformational changes already introduced to Discount Tire and the effects they have on both management, stakeholders and the organization at large.

Impact of Digital Transformation on Car Manufacturing

The extent to which digital transformational change influences car manufacturing according to Forbes is only compared to the convenience with which consumers require maintenance services. A customer in the digital world requires a digital car diagnostic, that a system in place informs the owner when tires need replacing using advanced self-diagnostic features. For Discount Tire to remain competitive in the market, it has to conduct an expensive market research to deduce the digital transformation that consumers require to be equipped in their wheels (Newman, 2017). Digital transformation is not only disrupting the technology required modern wheels and tires but also in the area of point of the sale services. Market experts maintain that the Discount tire has been at the forefront of offering what the clients need, good tires and wheel. However, now the clients dictate in addition to what they want, how they need to pay for goods or services. Since customer service is of great importance, the company realized it needs to meet fully the needs of the wider population using mobile to browse for products and conveniently pay for the products using the same phones. As such, the company wishes to provide a mobile payment system that is secure and convenient as part of the digital transformation. The company has to maintain the privacy of its customers whilst it is moving to the digital system. The main point of disruption is conducting research and hiring a team to build an easy to use yet secure platform to avoid critics with the current wave of data breach cases.

Strategies to Cope with Digital Transformation

Discount Tire applies simple strategies to rise above the disruptive forces of digital transformation such as focusing on the value to the customer and offering what the customer requires at their convenience. Market experts recommend that one of the best strategies to cope with and implement digital transformation is through a company’s understanding of its digital potential and the effective incorporation of the needs and wants of its customers (Chaffey, 2007). The company needs to be cognizant of the need for cloud computing since they procured the services of Red Hart and also have an understanding of the importance of having a digital payments system. Lastly, the company needs to be aware of the dynamic needs of the customers that have now expanded from automated tire and wheel diagnostics to the self-inflating service. Consequently, there is a pressing need for more extensive and comprehensive research and the timely issuance of effective customer feedback as these are some of the ways through which Discount Tire has kept ahead of the competition despite the ever-changing market demands and technology advancements. The company has an understanding of its clients’ product preference, their wants and needs and these have reflected in the huge sales and high-profit margins the company has experienced in most years of its operation. It is for the reason that the company still maintains its clients’ loyalty despite the struggle to cope and maintain pace with the multi-faceted aspects of digital transformation.

Role of Stakeholders in Digital Transformation

In most companies, the stakeholders tend to control changes when they believe the management team strategies would not benefit the company or in most cases, their interest (Kanter, 2003). Discount Tire enjoys one of the best relationships and understanding with their stakeholders. In its recent digital transformation and assuming more agility in production and business operations, the company has involved stakeholders in every stage of such processes. The developers often convene a stakeholder meeting, which includes several executives, managers, and key stakeholders that help with the enhancement of total transparency and visibility towards a shared business idea or a context of development (Leffingwell, 2010). Ultimately, the company view of digital transformation, especially those regarding agility is one based on trust, and developers come with ideas which can be easily implemented. At the end of the day, the business models and the systems implemented have always proved their worth to the stakeholders, hence general stakeholders are more accepting of the digital transformation of the company.

Improved Collaboration and Communication through Digital Transformation

The digital transformation of the company over the years has brought many of the departments together towards a common goal. The employees at discount tire have an integrated system, bringing together employees from IT, Finance, Inventory, the point of sale and Customer service, all integrated across all the sales channels. It achieves better collaboration as an indirect positive consequence of digital transformation. Processes move with speed because of the agile systems and methodologies applied in the retail department. The interdepartmental communication within the company is also enhanced by the utilization of digital technology and the company website. It is the company’s “One Discount Tire” driven by the digital change within the departments and the entire organizations by extension that ensures better anticipation of clients’ needs by employees’ achievement of uniformity and standard procedure across all departments handling clients.

Preparedness for Digital Transformation

The evidence within the company structures indicates a fair level of preparedness for digital transformation and a shift towards a more agile model of business. The company determines the trends within the market and weighs them against the customer needs to come up with digital innovations that benefit both the customers and the employees. The fact that there was minimal resistance from the stakeholders of various changes in the way of doing business indicates a high level of preparedness and readiness to the process. Their belief in the value of a customer and satisfactory services informed every digital move by the company. Ultimately, agility and cloud system was one of the best transformational change to implement. Agility brought trust, collaboration and improved customer experience, and the fact that the company is still a leader in tire and wheel retailing in the U.S and globally depict the effectiveness of their strategies. However, the system integration into one hub to aid in the achievement of their goal of a single Discount Tire has stalled.

Importance of Agility Training Programs

Even though the company handled its change process through digital transformation fairy, it requires more agility training programs that incorporate decision making rather than a traditional demonstration of the concepts. Reactive conditions, especially when the customer interest needs to be identified with haste, needs serious reform so as to be applied as an agility performance criterion. The company needs to take into consideration the fact that agility skill is executed or modified in a reactive condition. Economists today believe that learning by action is the best way to implement a strategy (Wheeler & Sayers, 2010). That is why it is prudent to implement a digital strategy through prototyping, in addition to test-retest criteria, or determining the customer needs against market trends. By prototyping, the company has ready feedback from customers on the aspects that might work and those that need immediate modification. In place of just digitizing the point of sale system and other supporting operations, the discount tire should digitize their core operation, the tire manufacturing. It is a cost-effective move that would make a business possess more agile features.

Conclusion

In conclusion, companies ought to prepare for change, put down measures to deal with the changes in the most effective way with minimal adverse effects during the day-to-day operations. For smooth implementation of the changes in the industry, the company needs to involve all the parties taking part in the change process, especially the customers.

References

Beech, N., & MacIntosh, R. (2012). Managing change: Enquiry and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chaffey, D. (2007). E-business and E-commerce Management: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Pearson Education.

Kanter, R. M. (2003). Challenge of organizational change: How companies experience it and leaders guide it. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Leffingwell, D. (2010). Agile software requirements: lean requirements practices for teams, programs, and the enterprise. Boston: Addison-Wesley Professional.

Newman, D. (2017). Top 6 Digital Transformation Trends In The Automotive Industry. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2017/07/25/top-6-digital-transformation-trends-in-automotive/#59e9160654e1

Wheeler, K. W., & Sayers, M. G. (2010). Modification of agility running technique in reaction to a defender in rugby union. Journal of sports science & medicine, 9(3), 445.