Like jumping on any bandwagon, it’s a bumpy ride and many fall off along the way. When it’s done right, digital transformation can bring enormous value to an organisation, but you need to get these five things right before launching any digital change project.
1. Senior leadership support
If the CEO or the CIO don’t sell or support the project to the organisation, your business’s digital transformation could fail to be understood, struggle to be implemented and ultimately fail. As a leader, make sure you are invested in the project, kept abreast of the changes taking place and communicate those changes in a timely manner to the business. You need to champion the project for it to succeed.
2. Goals
It is essential that you align your business strategy, goals and objectives with any digital change project. This ties into the first point in being able to sell a change project. If you can’t explain how the digital transformation will help your business perform better and help staff to reach their goals, then you need to rethink what is actually required.
3. Culture
There are many ways in which a company’s culture creates roadblocks for change. Fear, mistrust and a clear lack of understanding within a company can cause issues in terms of implementation and uptake. Overcome these barriers by creating regular, clear communication pathways so that new information can be understood, ongoing training programmes and company cheerleaders for the project. Identifying key stakeholders and involving them, before the project starts, will make the difference between success and failure.
Another point about culture is that in many large organisations, the idea that you can “fail fast” doesn’t always fly. Failing fast (which comes from Silicon Valley tech start-ups and lean organisation thinking) can be difficult to achieve in teams where people’s day jobs don’t involve much need for innovation. You can make improvements through technology changes instead by a deeper understanding of individual working days. How can you make everyone’s lives easier at work?
4. Technology integration
Introducing technology changes in silos often end in disaster. Think about the integration of the technology you’re implementing, research issues around scale, requirements and future-proofing. Ensure that systems are developed for easy updates, upgrades, bolt-ons and usage.
5. Talent
If you’re struggling to find in-house champions and expertise for your digital transformation project, then bring in some fresh perspective, energy and drive from outside the organisation. Specialist change managers can help your digital transformation dreams become a reality.
At Siena Consulting, we work with our clients to help evolve their businesses and achieve transformation success.
If you’d like to continue the conversation with our digital transformation expert Rob Saunders, contact him here:
Robsaunders@wearesiena.com
linkedin.com/in/robnsaunders