Digital transformation as a future for organizations

One of the most difficult questions is how organizations approach digital transformation. For many its trial and error, for others it is more strategic, but what are the important areas to consider on the journey? By breaking it down into the four main areas or “pillars” is one way of approaching the journey.When approaching digital transformation, one of the most important things to consider is the customer or stakeholders digital experience. It is vitally important to start with the needs of your stakeholders, identify the top needs and work inwards. See the experience from your stakeholders view and strive to create a consistent, connected experience that will assist to achieve their goal. You must understand the customer journey, behaviors, and expectations before investing in technology. The most important is to create that connection to satisfy the expectation, but digitally. In today's fast paced world, convenience is key. How do your organization help your stakeholders to get things done? Or improve their productivity? Delivering an overall digital experience is key. Enable your customer to interact irrespective of the type of technology and from anywhere. Internal to the organization all round mobility is key. The mobility of a workforce that can provide the necessary support and service to your customers is what delivers the full digital benefit. Enable employees to interact with the business and customers seamlessly. Every interaction your employees have with your company is critical. Do your employees have access to technology and tools helping them do their jobs? Is your culture making your workplace a great place to work and interact? Web enabled connections between systems, devices and even people can transform the business. Many integrations fail to achieve the result as they don’t create something better, hence the importance is to enhance the digital experience, transform the business model and achieve better or new operational processes. Businesses should avoid complexity by adding more layers to existing tools and systems. Where we find existing technology systems, it's important to find the balance between the old and the new and have a plan to migrate without adding unnecessary complexity in the process.  By starting with the end goal and work backwards business can ensure the inclusion of the technology, people, and processes to deliver the required value. Organizations need the agility and partners to deliver digital at a pace required to keep up with the digital world. A top-down approach is needed to support digital and innovation in the organization to enable the organization to build a digital business. An agile digital capability is needed to satisfy customer demands and deliver at digital speed. The organizational leaders should be pro-active and aware of what is on the horizon, so that they can lead the conversation on digital.

Courtesy photo from Linkedin Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Change is inevitable. A close relationship with staff is extremely important, communicate your expectations and develop a strategy to encourage change. You might be faced with some push-back but if your employees are part of the decisions and program it will assist with the transition. Consider a strategy of involving your early adopters from the beginning, the rest will follow. Provide the tools and environment to embrace and succeed. Innovation requires the opportunity for open communication, collaboration, and the flexibility to create. Digital transformation and innovation are tightly linked in many aspects.  By enabling people to embrace the digital and innovation and co-create their own processes enables them to tap into something new and exciting that empowers teamwork and digital innovation.

Herman, Swanepoel, Chief Information and Innovation Officer

 Alumni of the Global MBA in Digital Business