Welcome to my series on mastering Digital Transformation. With business change being inevitable and decades of technology now embedded in every organisation, digital transformation is going to be a perpetual reality. But, embarking on this journey can be daunting, especially when grappling with complex integrations, legacy systems, and the burden of technical debt.
In this series, I'll take you on a journey through the intricacies of digital transformation, providing insights, practical advice, and real-world examples to help you navigate change processes effectively.
Part 1: Understanding the business landscape you are trying to transform within
Part 2: Assessing the reality of your organisation and the need for change
In the first couple of installments, I’ll delve into the fundamentals, determining your end goal and getting honest about your starting place.
Part 3: Prioritising
Part 4: Building a Strategic Roadmap
In the middle of the series, I'll take you deeper into the digital transformation journey. I'll explore the art of prioritisation and show how to find key objectives and build a roadmap.
Part 5: Do, Learn, Adapt, Improve.
In the final installment, I want to focus on the practical delivery and long-term success of your digital transformation program. I’ll look at the importance of continuous monitoring, evaluation, and the ability to adapt.
So let's start at the beginning.
It’s obvious, but having efficient and well utilised policies, processes and digital tools is crucial. I’ve spoken before about the people and culture aspects of business change, and really I do think that is the harder aspect of digital transformation to do successfully.
That being said, many challenges arise when working on change in companies that have complex integrations, legacy systems, and technical debt. Often these are the reasons a business needs digital transformation to begin with, but can also be the hurdles to that change. That’s why it’s important to consider what the business needs before which tools to implement. And I don’t mean deep-dive requirements gathering for some shiny new software.
Understanding the Digital Transformation Landscape
If we understand Digital Transformation to mean ensuring that all technological and digital tools serve the business goals, then we certainly need to start with knowing what those goals are. Very often companies are trying to find efficiencies in their existing working practices, reducing the cost and hassle associated with having a patchwork of interconnected systems - or worse a collection of disconnected systems.
Businesses often want to deliver products or services faster and be more cost-effective. Or at least less wasteful. These are by no means the only reasons, which are as varied as there are reasons to be in business, but what is key is that any organisation is clear on what it is trying to achieve and why they think that digital transformation is the way to achieve it.
The popularity of digital transformation, along with other concepts like 'agile' and 'lean,' poses a risk. It can make people believe it's the perfect solution for any issue. Often, well-meaning companies see another's success and copy their software or team changes. However, this approach rarely works. Every company's business change, processes, culture, and tools must be unique to its sector and goals.
So start with the business strategy, software, websites & digital tools aside, what are the critical business objectives for your next 5-10 years? I say that time frame because no single application or technical solution will have a lifespan of that long, think beyond the tools now. Decide where you are going as a company, then we can figure out what it’s going to take to get you there, and what is holding you back.
As well as that it's important that the right things are being changed at the right time. Sometimes new leadership can come in, and in a well-intentioned attempt to make improvements (and their mark) and can introduce a new software application, team structure or process. Perhaps these things have been successful somewhere else, and the current way of doing things possibly feels unfamiliar. But new isn't always better simply by virtue of being new.
In the next part of this series, I will address evaluating the true state of play inside any organisation in order to evaluate what needs changing, not just celebrating change for it's own sake.
So if we treat transformation as a grand journey then the first 2 steps are:
Honestly baseline where you are as a business - your starting point
Understand the vision and goals for your company and how digital transformation will help you achieve them - the direction you are heading in
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and seeing you for part 2.
So start with the business strategy, software, websites & digital tools aside, what are the critical business objectives for your next 5-10 years? I say that time frame is important because no single application or technical solution will have a lifespan of that long, so think beyond the tools now. Decide where you are going as a company, then we can figure out what it’s going to take to get you there, and what is holding you back.
As well as that it's important that the right things are being changed at the right time. Sometimes new leadership can come in, and in a well-intentioned attempt to make improvements (and their mark) and can introduce a new software application, team structure or process. Perhaps these things have been successful somewhere else, and the current way of doing things possibly feels unfamiliar. But new isn't always better simply by virtue of being new.
In the next part of this series, I will address evaluating the true state of play inside any organisation in order to evaluate what needs changing, not just celebrating change for it's own sake.
So if we treat transformation as a grand journey then the first 2 steps are:
Honestly baseline where you are as a business - your starting point
Understand the vision and goals for your company and how digital transformation will help you achieve them - the direction you are heading in
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and seeing you for part 2.
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