Digital Transformation Strategies for Building Materials

04:43 - Focus on fewer goals for better results

07:30 - Embrace innovation and partnerships to drive growth

11:19 - Stay informed, adaptable, and engaged with industry trends

Matt Nichols is the founder and owner of Digiwise, an advisory and consulting agency inside the digital transformation arena. Matt started his career in the home improvement industry. Then for 20 years he worked in corporate America, most recently at Owens Corning, first in sales, and then leading digital transformation and operations. Matt and Digiwise have become leading experts in how to help organizations think through the digital transformation strategy and how to secure budgets and funding. 

Matt talks about first building the digital framework and then going through the long-range planning cycle that everyone always dreads. He says that you have to pitch against other priorities inside the organization in order to sell the strategies to digitally transform the organization. Zach points out that understanding what’s important and making sure that actually happens are two different things. Mark describes the three pillars Digiwise uses to think about digital transformation. 

Zach goes through a list of all the expectations that manufacturer’s customers are looking for in online presence. He asks Matt to talk about what people are not thinking about that they should be. Mark’s answer is that because there is so much being thrown at you, companies tend to bite off more than they can chew. 

"So what I would recommend, and what I push with my clients is don't spread yourself too thin. You're better to be good at two or three things, and do those really well, and get them done and then move on to the next items in the transformation agenda rather than try to tackle five or seven things and do them mediocre.”- Matt Nichols

Matt describes the process that they went through at Owens Corning when implementing a product information system. He said that they looked back at all of their investments and asked, “What are the ones we can’t fail at?” His recommendation is to pull it back to those investments that will unlock future growth and really speed the acceleration of your other digital investments in the future. He also suggests allowing some freedom by carving out a percentage of your business plan to work with innovative companies to give yourself a competitive edge. 

"You just walked through this process of people trying to continue to push the organization or transform. It’s not a thing you ever truly arrive at. Who do you think does it well?”-Zach Williams

"You want to look within your arena or industry. Well, that’s one segment. And then we always looked at, ‘who do we want to benchmark against?’”-Matt Nichols

Zach asks about what companies should be thinking about tactically and strategically when approaching Q4 and into 2025. Matt says step one is that you have your foundation set. Making sure your product information management and other systems are in place is vital to being relevant in the next five to ten years. He tells listeners to “rip the band aid off” so you don’t make things harder in the future. Then, he says, if you have the freedom to expand, find a specific problem inside your organization to build the use case around. His final point is to be watching and listening to what’s changing in the industry. He advises to know what things you won’t bend on and then design a strategy that allows you to pivot on your secondary investments if necessary. 

"Keep your ear to the ground. Don’t have blinders on. Get out there, get to the trade shows, get to the industry events and really talk with others around what are you hearing? What’s going on?”-Matt Nichols

Have more questions for Matt Nichols and digital innovation? Check him out at Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-nichols-digitaltransformation/

SBMM is co-hosted by Venveo’s Founder, Zach Williams and Venveo’s CEO, Beth PopNikolov.