4 Reasons Why Digital Transformation Should Be Your Companies Top Priority

Digital transformation is becoming a bit of a buzzword, but it’s something at Start Building we truly believe is critical for every organization. Over the past few months, we’ve seen every business get forced into digital transformation. It’s likely one of the few positive things to come out of COVID-19. Restaurants quickly launched online ordering and text messaging communication. Retailers had to rely heavily on e-commerce and marketing automation (hopefully their data was good!).

Let’s backup for a second. What exactly is Digital Transformation?

“In business, a fundamental change, a metamorphosis, in how companies generate value for their owners and other stakeholders, achieved by applying digital technologies and ways of working to all aspects of the business.”

Here is a nice overview from the Boston Consulting Group.

So why is this important to the building materials industry? Because our industry is the second slowest to adopt digital innovation and technology. The building materials industry is one of the least digital industries in the world. That’s not good when consumer buying habits are quickly changing and consumers are becoming more reliant on digital technology.

My first experience in digital transformation was in 2010 when I launched online prescription refills and transfers for a chain of community pharmacies. Pharmacy is another industry that was historically slow to adopt digital technology, but that quickly changed over the past 10 years.

While leading digital marketing at TimberTech and AZEK, my focus was to offer digital solutions that streamlined our processes, created internal efficiencies and provided our customers with a better user experience. We did this by focusing on our lead generation and nurturing processes, automated marketing, and optimizing our database and salesforce relationship. This is also when I launched the first augmented reality solution in the building materials industry.

Digital transformation was important back then and it’s even more important today.

Let’s take a look at the top 4 reasons why Digital Transformation should be your companies top priority.

1. Consumer Buying Habits are Changing. This is a fact. Let’s look at some data specific to the building materials industry.

  • 82% consult their phones in store before making a purchase. 58% of consumers are comparing prices.

  • 88% of consumers research products online before visiting a store

  • “We know that 60% of all of our sales in store and online are influenced by a digital visit.” - Kevin Hoffman, Home Depot President of Online and CMO

It’s clear that consumers buying habits are changing, and the building materials industry needs to continue to adapt in order to provide the service and experience required to drive sales. It’s time for digital transformation at every level - the manufacturer, distributor, dealer and contractor level.

2. Digitalizing your processes creates efficiency and frees your employees to focus on important growth-minded work. This is one of the most important factors that often times gets overlooked. Digital transformation can rid your company of “busy work” so your employees can focus on important growth focused work. Guess what, this also makes employees happier and increased job satisfaction. So what does it look like?

Well, the simplest example is moving your buying programs, stocking dealer forms and contractor rebate forms online. Nobody has time to fax or scan and email documents. It’s also a complete waste of time for your employees to manually review and redo the work digitally. Majority of the time, all of these forms are then added to a spreadsheet or database, essentially duplicating the work. Investing in digital solutions upfront will automate the majority of this manual work.

Another way of doing this is creating internal workflows that allows for multi-level approvals rather than emailing multiple levels of leadership. Have all your files located online, and the workflow will navigate the approval process automatically. You can also get real-time data on where approvals are getting stuck or where they are in the process.

Internal efficiencies are major cost savings that sadly get overlooked. Invest in digital solutions and see your teams productivity skyrocket.

3. Digital transformation provides more real-time data allowing your company to be more agile. Data is king. Moving your solutions to a digital experience provides incredibly valuable data along the entire process. For example, visualization solutions is a great example of digital transformation. It’s honestly the easiest and most common solution. Different visualization solutions can be utilized at different points in the buying process. The data you gather will help define the value of the lead and next steps. Do they need to be nurtured with automated marketing or is it time to pass that “hot lead” to a sales rep or channel partner to close the deal? The data you gather will help define your lead generation and nurturing processes.

We’ve talked about internal efficiencies, and I guarantee the data will clearly show where productivity is increasing and where there is room for improvement.

Data drives decisions. What you do with that data is just as important. It needs to be studied and analyzed and looked at from every angle. Don’t look for the data to confirm your personal goals, because you’ll find a way to manipulate it. Step back, and truly look at the data from every angle. Let it tell you a story that you didn’t see or recognize. It’s like cargo shorts. Your own data says how convenient they are (so many pockets), but believe me, the data from others tells a much different and stronger story. When I wore cargo shorts, I was single. When I stopped, I got married. Coincidence? I think not.

4. Better user experiences. Consumers are hooked to their digital devices. They order food via apps, they buy almost anything from Amazon and receive it two days later, and they stream videos at the click of a button. Consumers expect simple and efficient experiences. That is what digital transformation provides them. Make it easier for them to communicate with a human and get answers. Make it easier for them to find a local dealer or get a quote. Make is easier for them to visualize their dream home. These solutions all make for a better user experience and better brand experience.

Don’t let perfection paralyze you. Start building, review the data and continue building. It’s a process that takes time, but you must start today.


Another key to successful digital transformation is that it must be a company wide initiative with buy-in and support from the executives. Digital transformation isn’t a 6-month or one year project - it’s ongoing and always evolving. It will require massive elements of change management. Understand that these innovations will change the way people do their job, and it’s critical to show them how that is a good thing. Beneficial for them and the company as a whole. New technologies will be introduced and training everyone is critical for success.

Digital transformation is a team effort. It should never be one person making the decisions. Each department and employee plays a critical role.

For a bonus resource, check out Bringing Digital Disruption to Building Materials.

If you need help thinking through your pain points and strategizing digital transformation solutions, let’s connect. I would love to also hear what has been working for you and where you see opportunities for greater digital transformation.