Digital Transformation has evolved into an overused buzzword. The original meaning has been diluted where every technology initiative is branded as Digital Transformation. Having the focus on the technology brings the wrong lens to these projects. Digital Transformation is about business and it starts and ends with business as the focus. Well, maybe more accurately, it starts with the customer and ends with the business.
Digital Transformation is about mining a business to find new opportunities. It’s about a mindset of continuous improvement, embracing disruption, and leaving no room for competitors to impose on your business. The attitude is if we don’t bring the disruption to our industry, someone else will.
The practical question is “how does a business accomplish this”? Every business or organisation works on a set of implicit assumptions that become embedded in the culture. This culture is often the largest obstacle to change. Quite often it takes a fresh set of eyes or a careful openness to surfacing these assumptions and questioning them. Assumptions like “our customers call us when they need parts.” Really? Why? Could you phone them? Why the phone? Who did they call before they called you?
Not every Transformation needs to be a moon shot. Incremental improvements are fair game; what differentiates a Digital Transformation project from other types of initiatives is that Transformation takes on the culture and embedded assumptions.
The most successful Digital Transformation efforts are completed by cross-functional teams. It turns out that an organisation’s structure is often a barrier holding a business back. Asking a cross-functional team to take off their departmental jersey and consider the whole company can unlock new potential.
Digital Transformation should revolve around the customer. Consider each customer interaction and its full life-cycle. Simply putting a process online is not Digital Transformation. Digital sure, but not transformation unless something in the underlying business process changes to add value to that interaction. There have been successful Transformation projects that address the employee as the customer and optimise internal processes, but the external facing elements tend to have larger benefits.
For a business, particularly small or medium-sized business, to engage in Digital Transformation can be difficult due to lack of experience. Organisations can become accomplished at this, but some initial coaching and guidance will set them off on the right foot.
Organisations like Jupiter Group can provide the professional consulting expertise to facilitate this process. Our process uses initial facilitated discovery workshops to brainstorm opportunities. Those ideas are then evaluated and refined to determine which should be pursued. Using an experienced set of eyes and hands pays dividends in accelerating the process and ensuring success for any Transformation project. Speak with our team today about your Digital Transformation.
