“Companies don’t have to simply stand by and watch until newcomers from the Internet economy take away swathes of their business. Even established businesses can take advantage of digital transformation,” writes Editor Dominik Feldges in Zurich’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper. In the article, Philipp Depiereux, Founder and Managing Director of etventure, explains exactly how this can be done.

Although digital transformation was still seen as something of a niche topic a few years ago, it is now ubiquitous. It wasn’t just the heavily-affected music and publishing industries who were made to realize how quickly their own business models could be threatened by startups and large technology corporations such as Google, Apple and Facebook. “There are now hardly any sectors where companies are not unsettled and scared of new competition,” Philipp Depiereux is quoted as saying in the NZZ.

etventure is benefitting “from the large numbers of people seeking advice,” writes Feldges. “Founded only five years ago, etventure’s staff team more than doubled in size in 2015 alone and it now has 170 employees.” A major reason for the high levels of demand from corporate clients is that, when it comes to digitization, the usual approach taken by companies is ineffective. It is not sufficient to simply modify individual elements of a product or process. Another reason is that companies want to develop their products and services to perfection before they introduce them to the market. Digitization is about questioning the status quo and searching for radical approaches to solving problems.

So what makes for a successful transformation? Philipp Depiereux explains that, rather than implementing changes directly and on a large scale, it is better to develop new business ideas in a protected space – a digital unit. These ideas should then be rapidly tested with a small number of customers. This is because “open heart surgery is always risky.” This approach also pays off with regard to the internal change process. The founder of etventure explains that it is significantly easier to push through reforms in companies if the reforms have already proven themselves to be successful – on a small scale. Another major factor that determines the success of digital transformation is the level of support from the company’s management team. This is because digitization sometimes changes the company’s entire strategy. This change will only be effective if the management team is giving the process its full backing.

So ultimately, etventure’s success is not only due to digital know-how but also to executional expertise. etventure has gained entrepreneurial experience from developing startups and forming new businesses for companies, which are already enjoying market success. Compared to traditional consultancies, this experience allows etventure to offer its services with authenticity.

In Germany, the article (in German) will appear in tomorrow’s international edition of the NZZ. The online version is also available and can be read here.