Transformations are hard, and digital ones are harder

Years of research on transformations have shown that the success rate for these efforts is consistently low: less than 30 percent succeed. 2 This year’s results suggest that digital transformations are even more difficult. Only 16 percent of respondents say their organizations’ digital transformations have successfully improved performance and also equipped them to sustain changes in the long term. An additional 7 percent say that performance improved but that those improvements were not sustained.

The 4 Key Areas in Digital Transformation, According to Microsoft

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, CEOs should focus on these areas in digital transformation:

  • Empowering employees. As change managers know, employee motivation and skills are critical for organizational transformations – including digital transformations – to succeed. 
  • Engaging customers. Customer engagement matters just as much as employee engagement, which means businesses must meet the evolving expectations of today’s customers. 
  • Optimize operations. IT infrastructure modernization is one of the best ways that digital transformation can help improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
  • Services and products. Innovation is one of the best ways to fuel success in the modern age, helping organizations improve their market position, capture more revenue, and stay relevant.

With the right strategy, approach, and execution, an organization can change the way it operates and delivers value to customers and stakeholders.

The 4 Main Areas of Digital Transformation, According to Association Success

According to an article on AssociationSuccess.org, leadership development and consulting firm, businesses should have 4 specific focal points when designing a digital transformation plan:

  • A strategic focus that aligns the digital transformation effort with the organization’s overall strategy and needs such as Big data analytics.
  • A customer focus that helps the organization create a customer experience that is consistent, unified, and modern.
  • A culture focus that ensures the workforce has the proper mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors to accommodate AI/ML transformations.
  • A data focus that ensures the company can use data and analytics to make informed decisions, enhance business processes, and more.

A digital transformation plan that emphasizes these areas will be well-rounded, helping organizations design strategies that improve internal operations, the customer experience, and the organization’s market position.

Start with a Vision

To transform the way you do business, you need to think bigger. Transformation initiatives need you to reinvent your business development strategies today for a better tomorrow. Determine your company’s core ideals and create a roadmap of what you want to achieve. Be it for embracing the latest technologies or tools to attract customers, or you need to stay ahead of your competitors or to gain ROI.

Think about why you need to implement digital transformation. Effective vision statements tell a story of how your business is beneficial and inspire your employees, customers, and stakeholders. Therefore, before embracing digital tools and technologies, clear the vision to generate business awareness and attract customers.

Re-define Your Core Processes

Digital transformation doesn’t work on paper. It is effective if you incorporate digitization and automation into your regular workflows. Create a business process as per the target audience to attract and engage customers. Your processes should focus on the requirements of stakeholders, customers, employees, and suppliers.

You need to ask yourself questions like- Do these innovations bring value to your business as well as customers? Are they easy to adopt or is your business experiencing challenges incorporating new technologies like Cloud, IoT, or any other? How can you grow a sales team’s effectiveness by implementing a digital solution like Salesforce CRM or AMPS?

Once you start asking these kinds of questions, your process will add value by redefining customer behavior.

Creating an Agile Roadmap

Innovation is constant. When it comes to transforming your business digital, an agile approach to planning is an absolute necessity. Rather than spending years developing a technology stack, businesses should look at smart scalable solutions for better development.

Developing an agile roadmap starts with bringing stakeholders together from all around to know their business requirements.