Читать книгу Building a Digital Future - Lipi Sarkar - Страница 29

The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence—it is to act with yesterday's logic.

—Peter Drucker

Closely observing the technological evolution, along with the business activities, offerings, and public announcements coming from FTSE companies, the term “digital transformation” seems to be used in each and every public corporate statement and highlighted as a core goal in corporate strategies. But what is this hype and why such a fuzz and why now?

Digital transformation was born as a result of the rapid evolution of the global economy, the imperative demand of consumers to receive better-quality services, the large and ever-increasing competition, and the evolution of buyers/consumers into “smart users” across all channels. Now, it’s easy to put that into perspective since both you as a reader and I as a writer have played an ultimate role in the birth of digital transformation, which was shaped by our daily activities and interactions with businesses, for whom we set higher and higher expectations and standards. The reality is that organizations have not taken long to understand the urgent need for change and to become digitalized, but the big question that has been nagging CEOs and managing directors across the globe is “Where do we start?” on top of “Where should we focus first?” During these brainstorming sessions, their worries have been reinforced by examples of failed digital transformation projects.

A digital transformation is dual; on the one hand, it refers to how you offer your services or products on the market and, on the other hand, how you strengthen the internal processes of the company, which has a direct impact on the organizational structure. People, process, technology, and consumers are driving a cultural shift and a digital-first mindset. There are a number of cases where digital transformation projects have not had the expected results and, in fact, evidence from surveys shows that an extremely high percentage fail, ranging from 66% to 84% of digital transformation projects.¹ This makes the situation even more complicated, as in cases of failed projects, both senior executives and lower levels in the hierarchy tend to oppose further investment in their time and efforts into similar projects and falsely reinforce the fear of change. However, if inspirational leaders and digital change advocates learned something from such failed projects, it is that putting things into action without creating a robust background in both corporate cultures and the operating models will always lead to exactly the same result.

From my experience as a digital management consultant, organizations need to start by creating a digital strategy and a roadmap to start small, focusing primarily on the efficacy of productivity on their existing business model and operation and then finally moving on to innovation as a model for continuous improvement. We also need to look carefully into some of the core barriers that can become fatal to a digital transformation strategy if not resolved before starting any initiative.

 Consumer engagement. While consumer or clients sit at the heart of digital transformation, it is the utmost priority to engage with consumers first to understand areas that can accelerate or improve the consumer experience

 Cost efficiencies. We have all heard the phrase, “This software costs a fortune; we cannot afford it.” Indeed, the cost of implementation, maintenance, and licensing may become a big investment and the real ROI will most likely show up after user adoption. Hence there is a greater need to identify the business areas that can be made efficient that will eventually drive the growth of business, ensuring a cost-efficient investment.

 Resistance to change. Humans by nature subconsciously resist change, especially when changes are initiated or forced by the external environment. Therefore, before initiating any transformation strategies or plans, business leaders should proactively draft initial risk assessments, regularly measure and track engagement and commitment from the very early stages of any project, communicate their expectations openly and honestly, but, most importantly, identify opportunities to motivate employees to become part of the planning process.

 Old practices in a new environment. It is understandable that a digital transformation strategy is not solely the implementation of new systems but also the change in internal processes due to the ability to automate long and exhausting manual processes. Introducing the latest and most sophisticated technology without evaluating the old and setting new processes will certainly limit the potential of the whole endeavor.

 The right product or the vendor. For this subject, there should be an option to make a choice. There are many examples where organizations chose the vendor over the product due to strategic relationships or hidden agendas, which unsurprisingly led to failed projects and broken relationships. Choosing the right product that suits the business and users should be a careful and transparent process, where possible guided by almost agnostic professionals who don't affiliate with vendors but lead the selection process through their experience and base their conclusions on results. In terms of the vendor, the main aim is to choose the right technology partner rather than the implementer who will engage and eavesdrop on the needs of the organization and encourage them to achieve more.