Digital transformation is vast and often misunderstood as a formal effort to renovate business vision, models and investment for a new digital economy. This isn’t a trend owned by a particular role, nor a discipline that belongs to single function alone. It is, however, a significant movement where a true business leaders venture into tomorrow’s markets, today. While the word “digital” is part of “digital transformation”, the essence of digital transformation comes down to people and how their digital behaviors differ from that of the traditional customers before them. It’s also more than that.
Digital transformation is most effective when it is tied to an end goal or series of milestones related to a future state. E.g. some organizations invest in digital transformation from a technology standpoint as a way to improve efficiencies and scale around a specific area of business like Customer experience, improve products and services, and increase the effectiveness of business operations others look at digital transformation as a series of channel investments to modernize and enhance customer and employee engagement. But it really means what your enterprise must do to adapt and thrive. Digital Transformation strategists drive social business evolution and digital transformation based on insight from peers and market leaders. Digital transformation is most effective when it is tied to an end goal or series of milestones related to a future state.
Digital transformation as a movement under a customer-centric lens: The realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer experience lifecycle.
Digital transformations are more likely to succeed when organization focus on critical dimensions of business process. The key to digital transformation is that ‘it’s not all about technology’. Its behavior whether it’s related to customers, employees, values or expectations. Digital transformation comes down to people and every people is a change agent and change agents must make the case to earn executive support , and that takes journey mapping to data “ what’s best for customer is best for use”.
Digital transformation represents the next stage of business development. It will improve how companies work—inside and out. But, without knowing how the customers or employees are evolving, digital transformation is just new technology operating under the guise of change. Customer and digital first approach help change agents to identify priorities and difference among customer to create a sense of urgency and a roadmap for business priorities to resolve and align companies to assess the real customer experience
Few Key Strategies for any Digital Transformation:
• Identify market evolution & pains
• Asses yourself where you are
• Develop road map to get where you need
• Focus on long term goal
• Focus on customer & data
• Get clear leadership buy in
• Design for innovation, optimization, agility and scale
• Set goals & KPI’s
• Build ecosystem
• Pause & Reboot.
4 Core Areas of Digital Transformation
• Direction
• Technology
• Experience
• Culture
The major challenges for ‘digital transformation’ are changing company culture, cooperation between functions and team, resources & lack of data to justify digital transformation. Culture is Key and Executive support is critical for digital transformation to start and success. Digital transformation carries expectations that its impact can be measured at both customer and business levels. Digital Transformation doesn’t mean Digital Investment only it means thinking ‘Digital’.
By: Anand Sinha, CIO & Director -IT India, OCS Group UK
