What does digital transformation mean?
Let us start with the word “digital”. It might be easier if we explain what it doesn’t mean in this context. Digital does not refer to the creation of websites, e-commerce stores other than retweets or social posts or even the use of technology, so what does digital mean in this context. The term digital is a synonym for the change that is driven by the rapid adoption of technology in today’s world. This is putting the current organization under tremendous pressure in many respects which is driving them into a land of irrelevance, some seeing signs that others do not. Because of rapid technology adoption, how our customers engage with us is changing the operating system of how we create new sustainable competitive advantages and how we must change if we are to keep PS we are seeing two types of organizations that are doing digital and new kinds of digital innovators. Digital innovators are winning, they are disrupting every imaginable market capable of embracing this new technology.
The biggest mistake we are seeing is that many organizations are just digitizing the existing services and call it digital transformation, in fact, it is not so, so what is digital transformation?
Digital transformation strategic planning is the journey of organizational change. It starts with empowering our team with new methods to create a highly responsive strategy and a fearless culture of innovation. It is the right leadership that creates the high-performing innovative organizations which are delivered by marketers and technologists principally this is digital transformation.
Many traditional organizations are ambitiously embarking on their expedition of digital transformation.
Having change as a part of the goals of an organization is a good sign that they have realized that it is utterly necessary to keep up with the changing trends and satisfy the large scale of the market which is constantly adopting digital technologies being used as a part of their day to day life. And, traditionally, various companies have botched in their transformation journey or have gone through a very slow process for various reasons.
At this juncture are some popular anti-patterns commonly seen and how organizations can take effective steps that will help them continually change while keeping their lights on.
Leadership alignment in the organization
Often change goals are set by a visionary leader in C Suite and the rest of the leadership group and grassroots teams may be hesitant to go along with it. A number of leadership teams may lack an understanding of the perspective of digital technology and its adoption is fueling large product organizations that dominate our economy and market. Such misalignment and lack of knowledge greatly affects and slows down the change process. A good start is when your own organization leadership team is well-aligned on the change goals and values you want to fetch to your business. Create a convincing visionary story of how your organization can benefit from it and make sure your leadership team is well-aligned prior to heating up the engine to keep going.
Small attainable goals
A change that involves human society is hard and time-consuming. Our mind is so attached to the prejudices of the past and it takes a lot of energy to make the brain think differently. So you should be mentally prepared to spend all that effort and time to transform. Good use of learning with small steps and proper planning will help to get an idea of what change really means and how to go about it. Slow and steady wins the race so keep the knowledge in mind, repeat slowly and then keep going step by step. Aggressive spending or setting unfeasible goals is not the perfect way to accelerate this process. So gradual progress is valuable.
Expert independent transformation teams
Some teams tasked with changing goals may not be aware of the latest technologies or how to execute such huge changes. Even if they are erudite, they sometimes struggle to execute changes in a system that has been traditional for years. This leads to poor performance and ultimately another abortive transformation attempt. Before assigning the transformation goals you need to ensure the teams are digitally efficient, empowered and have all the necessary support to implement the changes required.
Hold up, learn and spotlight on growth
Sometimes organizations get so hung up on the money and time spent on a change experiment as to why it didn’t succeed. It is not always simple to put a concrete number on these types of transformation experiments. Instead, focus on learning and believe that it is a saving for the future. Learn why it didn’t work, measure how much you benefited from the experiment, and see how you can repeat the learning and make an effort again. Progressing slowly, you will see that instead of being surprised by failure, changes are beginning to appear.
Commune and share
Progress is faster and easier when the public is well educated about the value and supports the changes. Make sure that any learning from small change experiments are well shared within the organization and don’t hesitate to share failures as well. When people get connected with the experience, it makes them more engaged, ultimately driving the purchase for this kind of human profound transformation voyage.
Sketch next big moves ahead
Being an organization that has been successful in a transformation experiment, you may have begun to comprehend its cost and its side effects. Start planning how you can reduce some of the inherent side effects that come with change, and start building the groundwork for meeting those challenges when the time comes. For instance, if there are some old technologies that are becoming outdated as part of the transformation, set up a plan to manage the workforce required to adopt the new changes.