Simplify First, Digitalize Second
Most companies digitize their old mistakes.
A paper-based process is rebuilt digitally, one to one. Same loops. Same approvals. Just with PDF instead of paper.
That is not digitalization. That is a format change.
The Most Expensive Misconception in Transformation
The numbers are sobering: roughly 70 per cent of all digitalization projects miss their targets. An estimated 3.4 trillion dollars will flow into digital transformations worldwide by 2026 — and the bulk of it evaporates. Not because the technology fails, but because the wrong things get digitalized.
The fundamental error: companies confuse digitalization with IT modernisation. New tools are rolled out — ERP systems, CRM platforms, cloud infrastructure — and the job is considered done. But an inefficient analogue process does not become efficient through digitalization. It merely becomes an inefficient digital process.
What I Keep Seeing Across Europe
Certain patterns appear across industries:
- Service contracts running to 120 pages, digitally signed in full — even though nobody has checked whether half the clauses are still relevant
- Approval chains spanning multiple departments, where each tier adds its own sign-off step — not because it is necessary, but because it has always been that way
- Documents circulating endlessly, with nobody knowing where the process stands or who needs to act next
- Decisions that stall, because responsibility has been spread across too many shoulders
And then someone says: "We have a signing solution now."
No. What you have is a digital stamp on an analogue process.
The Question Nobody Asks
Real digitalization does not begin with the question "How do we digitalize this?"
It begins with: "Do we still need this process at all?"
That sounds radical, but it is at heart a lean principle that manufacturing has applied for decades: streamline the process first, then automate. Research confirms that lean and digitalization amplify each other — but only in that order. Digitalizing a chaotic process accelerates the chaos.
The three steps that work:
- Simplify: Eliminate unnecessary loops, redundant approvals and superfluous documents
- Standardise: Define clear, repeatable workflows
- Digitalize: Only now deploy the right tools
Reverse this sequence and you buy complexity, not efficiency.
What Stops Us from Simplifying First
The honest answer: simplification means change. And change affects tasks, processes, roles and hierarchies.
One fewer approval step means someone loses a control function. A leaner contract means the legal department has to let go. An automated workflow means a manual task disappears.
The fear behind this is understandable — but often unfounded. Because digitalization is not about cutting headcount. It is about deploying scarce and valuable human resources for more qualified work. The team member who spends 30 minutes per contract on printing, scanning and manual OCR corrections could spend that same time conducting three candidate interviews.
Digitalization should free people from paper — not make them redundant. It should give them the ability to do their work from anywhere, at any time, instead of being tied to office hours and printers.
The Often Overlooked Question: Which Signature Level Do I Actually Need?
A frequently neglected aspect of process simplification is choosing the right signature level. Not every document requires the highest tier. Blanket use of a qualified electronic signature (QES) for everything creates unnecessary complexity and cost.
The decisive factors:
Legal Requirements
Certain transactions require written form — in Switzerland, for example, non-compete clauses in employment law or specific guarantees. Only a QES meets the legal threshold here. For employment contracts without a written form requirement, a simple or advanced signature is generally sufficient.
Under the EU's eIDAS regulation, the same principle applies: a QES is the only electronic signature legally equivalent to a handwritten one. For transactions that do not mandate written form, an SES or AES is perfectly valid.
Internal vs. External Parties
Internal approvals — holiday requests, expense receipts, meeting sign-offs — do not need a qualified signature. For external partners, authorities or banks, higher requirements may apply.
Recipient and Counterparty
Authorities and banks often require a QES. Private contracting parties accept an AES in many cases. For everyday business correspondence, an SES is frequently sufficient.
Financial Exposure
The greater the financial risk of a transaction, the higher the signature level should be. A delivery note does not need the same security as a property purchase agreement.
Choosing the right signature level for the right purpose — that is already an act of simplification.
Digitalization Is Not an IT Project
Digitalization is not an IT project. It is a question of collaboration.
The greatest challenge of transformation does not lie in technology. The tools have been available for years — electronic signatures, digital seals, validation services, eID, AI-powered processing. The challenge lies in the willingness of people and organisations to question how they work.
That means:
- Leaders who have the courage to eliminate processes rather than digitalize them
- Teams that take ownership rather than waiting for approvals
- Organisations that foster collaboration across departmental boundaries rather than thinking in silos
The Right Question to Close With
The question is not whether your business will become more digital. It will, inevitably.
The question is: are you digitalizing the right things? Or are you merely accelerating what you have always done?
Anyone who asks this question honestly saves more than software licences. They save time, frustration and the most valuable resource of all: their people's attention.