Digital transformation requires a clear strategy, and successful change requires leadership.

What is digital transformation and what does it mean for digital projects?

Taking a holistic approach to digital transformation

Digital transformation describes the fundamental change in companies through the use of modern technologies—such as cloud solutions, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and automation. It is changing not only processes and working methods, but also business models and entire markets.

The goal is to work more efficiently, respond more quickly to change, and offer customers a compelling experience.

Balancing opportunities and challenges

As the potential grows, so do the challenges: a lack of digital skills, resistance within the organization, and technical hurdles when integrating new systems into established structures.

Digital projects must therefore do more than just provide technical solutions. They need a clear strategic direction, a focus on user needs, and a clear goal: sustainable value creation.

Technology is only part of the solution

If you want to successfully shape digital transformation, you need more than just modern tools. A well-thought-out strategy, efficient project management, and methodical implementation—reliable, structured, and flexible at the same time—are crucial.

ERP systems: Why they often fail in digital transformation

Digital projects often fail due to the same challenges: lack of strategic planning, unclear objectives, insufficient support from management, inadequate coordination between stakeholders, and a lack of internal expertise. These factors cause projects to lose relevance, exceed budgets, or ultimately fail to deliver the desired added value.

A classic example is the introduction of a new ERP system without sufficient analysis of existing processes and requirements. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for ERP Systems illustrates how complex and diverse these systems can be. We spoke to a customer who is now introducing their fourth ERP system because previous implementations failed due to a lack of coordination with business requirements and a lack of integration with existing systems.

In many cases, this leads to long delays, huge budget overruns, and a solution that does not meet user needs. Companies are then faced with the challenge of making adjustments after the fact, which causes additional costs and frustration.

Many companies jump straight into the solution without first defining clear goals. They focus on purely technological implementation without sufficiently considering the underlying business requirements, user needs, and long-term goals. The result: delays, budget overruns, and products that ultimately fail to deliver the expected added value, causing frustration for everyone involved.

An approach to digital excellence

This is precisely where it becomes clear that digital transformation does not begin with technology, but with a structured, methodical approach.

At Factorial, we combine sound business analysis, user-centered design, strategic software architecture, and agile development into a holistic approach. This ensures that digital projects are not only implemented efficiently, but also create sustainable value. Our software architects develop a scalable and future-proof technology strategy that can be flexibly adapted to new requirements and supports long-term business success.

Our approach is based on a clear methodology with defined phases:

1. Business Analysis — Targeted Requirements Analysis

A successful project begins with a clear definition of objectives before discussing solutions. Together with the relevant stakeholders, we determine the requirements and define measurable success factors. Smart KPIs serve as a basis for objectively evaluating the success of the project.

A common mistake in the early project phase is to discuss solutions before the actual objectives have been defined. We use proven methods such as cause-and-effect analysis to avoid this. We identify and structure existing challenges, analyze their causes, and examine factors such as responsibilities, involved systems, and current processes. It often becomes apparent that different problems can be traced back to a common cause.

This goal-oriented approach makes it possible to precisely define framework conditions, priorities, and success criteria. Based on this, we identify suitable solutions, including both technological and strategic options. Since there is rarely a single, universally best solution, we develop a well-founded recommendation with concrete solution variants that take into account time, budget, and potential impact. In this way, we ensure efficient and sustainable implementation.

Experts involved: Business analysis, software architecture, and user research

2. Requirements Engineering — Structured requirements management

Well-thought-out requirements management is the basis for every successful project. That is why we rely on a structured approach to capture requirements, prioritize them, and translate them into actionable solutions.

1. Planning – Based on the objectives from the business analysis and the selected solution variant, we integrate other decisive factors into the planning. These include external influencing factors such as legal requirements, standards, and regulatory requirements, but also parallel projects that could have an impact on the project. Enterprise architecture is also particularly important, as it defines the technical framework and ensures long-term scalability.
2. Survey – Our approach follows the principle of “from breadth to depth” – first capturing the big picture, then structuring it into meaningful details. In doing so, we analyze whether the user stories represent a process, contain multiple tasks, or involve different roles, resources, and types of information. If necessary, they are divided up to ensure clarity and feasibility.
3. Prioritization – In order to implement the most important requirements in a targeted manner, we evaluate them according to business value, risk, feasibility, and urgency. Requirements with the greatest customer benefit, regulatory requirements, or those with high economic or technical risk have the highest priority. We also give preference to requirements that are easy to implement for quick wins and take into account dependencies on other requirements. A cost-benefit analysis helps to manage investments in a targeted manner. This structured prioritization ensures that the most important and critical requirements are implemented first.
4. Organization, specification & modeling – Functional and non-functional requirements are clearly structured and documented. Functional requirements follow standardized schemas, whereby universal and specific requirements are precisely described and supplemented with acceptance criteria. Non-functional requirements (NFA) such as performance, security, or scalability are derived from the requirements, categorized, and recorded in tables. Modeling techniques and notations support documentation and facilitate implementation. This creates a clear and comprehensible basis for development.
5. Verification & Validation – Requirements are checked for correctness, completeness, and quality. Verification ensures that specifications and models comply with defined standards and are correctly documented. Validation checks whether all requirements create real added value, support business objectives, and meet stakeholder needs. By identifying and correcting errors, gaps, and ambiguities, we ensure a precise and reusable basis for implementation.

Approval – Finally, coordination with the relevant stakeholders takes place. Only after their approval are the next steps initiated in a targeted manner.

This systematic approach ensures that clear goals are defined, realistic expectations are set, and sustainable solutions are developed. In this way, we lay the foundation for successful project implementation.

Experts involved: Requirements engineering & product owners and subject matter experts

3. User Experience & User Interface

User centricity begins with genuine understanding

A good user experience is not created through design, but through understanding. Who uses the product? What do these people really need? Where do frustration, friction, or wasted time arise, and for what reasons?

The answers are not provided by intuition, but by structured analysis. Interviews with stakeholders, usage data, behavior patterns, and the evaluation of existing systems and digital touchpoints provide well-founded insights. Where possible, direct feedback from users is incorporated to replace assumptions with well-founded findings. A targeted look at the market environment complements this process and creates clarity in positioning.

From analysis to interaction

These insights are translated into a clear information structure and a comprehensible usage concept. The goal is a digital experience that feels logical, consistent, and natural, without the user having to make a conscious effort.

User experience is not a creative impulse, but a systematic process. Methods such as Lean UX and rapid design cycles help to obtain feedback early on and simulate real-life usage situations. This results in solutions that are geared towards actual needs.

Design with impact

Visual design brings these concepts into a form that provides orientation, strengthens brand identity, and makes digital content accessible. The result is a user interface that is both functional and aesthetically appealing. Recognizability, clarity, and scalability are ensured through structured design systems.

Accessibility, performance, and visibility right from the start

Good design must be able to do more than just look good. That’s why key technical requirements are taken into account right from the start. These include fast loading times, search engine friendliness, and digital accessibility.

The recommendations of the international initiative for accessible web content serve as a binding basis for this. This ensures that digital offerings can be used by as many people as possible, regardless of their individual circumstances. Access is not an additional feature, but an integral part of the overall solution.

Prototypes provide clarity

Interactive prototypes make ideas tangible, illustrate processes, and create transparency. This enables informed decisions to be made at an early stage. They help to identify weaknesses in user guidance, incorporate feedback, and minimize risks.

Through consistent testing and gradual improvement, a digital product is created that is technically robust and convincing in its use—clear, efficient, and sustainable.

Experts involved: Customer Experience Team

4. Development — Seamless implementation through agile development

The technical implementation of the defined requirements takes place in an agile development process, in which frontend and backend development work closely together. While the front end ensures an intuitive, high-performance, and accessible user interface, the back end forms a scalable, secure, and powerful infrastructure that controls all business logic and data processing—naturally in compliance with GDPR/DSGVO to meet the highest data protection and security standards. In addition, we support companies in designing their websites to be BITV-compliant. Proof of this can be found on Factorial’s own website, which has successfully passed the BITV test, demonstrating the team’s expertise in developing accessible and legally compliant digital solutions.

Through continuous coordination with UX/UI design and requirements engineering, we ensure that technical solutions are precisely tailored to user needs and business requirements. Iterative development cycles, regular testing, and rapid adjustments enable flexible, efficient implementation and ensure optimal performance of the digital solution.

Experts involved: Frontend and backend development

5. Quality Assurance

Through structured testing processes, we ensure that the developed solution meets the highest quality standards. We test functionality, performance, and security in various scenarios to identify potential vulnerabilities at an early stage. Automated and manual tests ensure comprehensive verification and guarantee that all requirements are met. Continuous feedback and iterative optimization enable constant improvement, ensuring that the digital solution remains not only stable and powerful, but also future-proof.

6. Project management & product owner – Efficient control for project success

Structured project management ensures smooth implementation and optimal use of resources. The product owner plays a central role in this process: they represent the interests of stakeholders, prioritize requirements, and ensure that development is always focused on delivering the greatest business value. Through agile methods, transparent communication, and iterative planning, we ensure a high degree of flexibility, rapid decision-making, and efficient implementation – always with the goal of creating a user-centered and commercially successful product.

What will change for our customers?

Our structured approach gives our customers greater transparency, planning reliability, and efficiency in their digital projects. Unlike conventional approaches, where unclear requirements and inflexible processes often lead to problems, we rely on agile, interdisciplinary collaboration. This enables faster adaptation to changes and targeted implementation of business requirements.

The added value for our customers

• Clearly defined requirements: No room for misunderstandings
• Higher success rate: Avoidance of typical sources of error
• More efficient implementation: Structured processes and agile methods
• Optimal user experience: User-centered interfaces and intuitive interaction
• Better planning: Transparency throughout the entire project

With our methodical approach, we ensure that digital projects are not only implemented, but also achieve lasting success. Factorial brings strategy, design, and development together to create digital solutions that offer real added value.