A Recommended Approach for a Digital Transformation Effort

By John Chan

A successful organizational digital transformation effort will necessitate numerous changes in an organization’s operating model. When beginning a digital transformation effort, many organizations will take a piecemeal approach.  They will simply making changes to just one business division or a product line as an experiment to fine tune its tactics for digital innovation and its digital capabilities. While this approach is a good start, a continuous effort at digital experimentation will be crucial for the success of an organizational digital transformation initiative.

In many digital transformation initiatives, an organization will conduct digital trials on an existing business model. However, in many cases, maintaining an existing business model without a profound digital change will not lead to sustainable results for a digital transformation effort. Rather a sustainable digital transformation effort will require a reshaping of many organizational business practices and processes.

Here is a recommended approach for a digital transformation effort:

1. Create a well-defined digital vision.

Organization management should create a mutually agreed upon digital vision for the organizational staff.

2. Set up a high priority digital culture in the organization.

All staff should focus towards collaborating as a means of becoming digitally agile. Staff digital agility can be achieved via training with digital seminars, digital education curriculums and via external partnerships. Staff goals, performance strategies and merits should be reviewed and modified if necessary by management.

3. Chart the organization’s customer journey map from the customer’s perspective.

At the start, focus on the outcomes that the organization’s customers will desire. Identify the customer experience framework that the organization has generated to serve its clients. Afterward, associate this framework to the business competences that are needed to assist the clients to reach their desired outcomes. Organizational management should identify the staff, methodologies, technologies, data and external partners that will support each customer’s particular journey map, thereby linking business capability mapping to customer journey mapping.

4. Construct a cross-functional customer-centric organizational model.

There are some organizations that are currently creating cross-functional staff groups to propel digital transformational – related changes.

5. Technology Management Participation.

The technology management staff should participate in performing crucial tasks towards facilitating the digital transformation effort for the organization.  Furthermore, the CIO should advocate a business technology program which will invest wherever appropriately in the technology, systems and processes for marketing, serving and retaining the organization’s clients.

6. Secure Customer Information.

Ensure that the customer’s significant information is kept private whenever appropriate with compliance to any governmental regulations.

7. Create Models to Demonstrate Benefits To Management

Experiment in creating actual digital transformation models which will demonstrate the potential benefits of the digital transformation effort for the organization’s staff.  The organization’s technical staff can additionally create a ‘test and learn’ capability on an external cloud platform.

Digital transformation is not an isolated part of a business.  It is the way business is conducted today and in the future.  A digital strategy needs to become part of your overall business strategy.  By following the above recommendations you will have greater success in reshaping your organizational business practices and processes so that your digital strategy will be come an integrated part of your business strategy.

In my next blog post, I will discuss how digital ecosystems will affect the global economy.

Related Video: ‘Engaged Customer’ Strategy – Thriving in the Digital Deluge

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ISM offers Digital Transformation Strategy Consulting.  To learn more click here services, call (301) 656-8448, or e-mail us at sales@ismguide.com

• John Chan is the ISM Software Lab Director, is responsible for software testing and defining the evaluation criteria for The Guide to Mobile and Social CRM and the CRM software offered on ISM’s Reviews Online service.