How companies can implement digitalization particularly quickly and efficiently using prototyping.

When digitalization is discussed in companies, those in charge often immediately associate it with costly investments, elaborate tech gadgets, or even entirely new business models. In reality, however, it's much more about optimizing established business processes or time-consuming recurring tasks using digital technologies. Long before considering the aforementioned factors or similarly extensive unique selling propositions, the focus is on digitally transforming typical analog business processes, data, communication, etc., in the most efficient way possible.

Proceeding correctly, quickly, and efficiently is undoubtedly of paramount importance today. Digital processes of all kinds are increasingly shaping more and more areas of both private and professional life. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly expected by (potential) customers and business partners to be able to handle certain tasks promptly online (via smartphone or tablet). Furthermore, a well-coordinated digital transformation naturally represents a significant boost in internal efficiency for companies.

This article explains how rapid prototyping can help you digitize quickly and economically – regardless of the scale.

What exactly does rapid prototyping mean?

Rapid prototyping, also called software prototyping, app prototyping or simply prototyping, basically follows the approach of providing a real prototype as quickly as possible, which allows for sufficient testing under real conditions and for highly user-oriented further development.

Thanks to the trial-and-error method, these models are fully functional and extremely error-free at the final launch. However, they can even fulfill their purpose beforehand, as they already perform their assigned tasks during the implementation phase.

The major advantages of rapid prototyping, or of digitization solutions implemented using this method, lie in the incomparably fast availability of the respective product and in its particularly good prerequisites for practical further development/optimization.

Businesses are virtually never short of ideas and optimization requests. And it is precisely these concerns from actual users of the company, as well as customers and partners, that are significantly incorporated into rapid prototyping. Put simply, the goal is to identify, through the users, where adjustments make sense, what might need to be completely rethought, or what works particularly well. Together, a solution is developed that perfectly fulfills its purpose.

The basic principle of rapid prototyping is: the more you integrate your colleagues or employees into such a project, the greater the potential for success of the resulting product and the faster you will arrive at an optimal solution.

How does prototyping work in practice?

In practice, rapid prototyping is usually divided into four phases, which are not only applicable to projects aiming for digital transformation.

1. Determine optimization needs

In the primary phase, you will form an interdisciplinary team of motivated and open-minded colleagues or employees. Within this group, you will identify the processes that are particularly worth optimizing. These are usually simple, but perhaps time-consuming, processes that have little or no contact with digital solutions. The goal is to gather ideas and highlight how these processes can be improved, which relevant requirements could be better met digitally, and where the specific challenges lie.

2. Create prototypes

In the second phase, the prototype is implemented. The key findings from the first phase are precisely translated into the digital realm. The developers of your solution should map the individual elements and corresponding processes in the prototype exactly as you require. The result should be a functional product for trying out, testing, and adapting.

3. Testing and further development

You are now putting your digitization solution into test mode. Here, you validate your prototype and continuously gather feedback on its functionality at all levels. This gives you a good overview of where urgent adjustments are needed, what is particularly well-received, and where further potential might lie. Throughout this process, you should always proceed with a user-focused, value-added approach: The goal is to optimize for minimal user effort and as few manual processing steps as possible.

4. Launch of the digitization solution

Once the testing phase is complete and the most important adjustments identified during it have been implemented, your digitalization solution is launched. This can be a complete rollout or a phased market introduction – the important thing is to always keep the results obtained during the testing phase, which have demonstrably contributed to optimizing your processes, readily available for further adjustments. To ensure this, you should thoroughly document feedback from colleagues or employees and any data recorded directly from the solution. This information forms the foundation for the efficient continuation of your project. You will build upon this foundation in subsequent adjustment steps.