“The only wrong move when it comes to Digital transformation is not to make any move at all”. The modern digital era has pushed companies to stay relevant and competitive by undergoing a digital transformation.

So, what is digital transformation? Is it just about including digital marketing to the company’s overall strategy? No, It is actually a journey for the entire company, which includes all key stakeholders to enter a new phase of doing business.

What is digital transformation of organizations?

Let’s look at what it takes for the business to undergo a successful digital transformation:

1. Strategy

A well-defined vision marks the successful start of the transformation. Important considerations of the business outcomes, goals and an effective strategic management of how to get there along with the prime focus on customer experience are the need of the hour.

• Strategize and Plan – It is not just about blindly adopting new technologies. Companies should strive to adopt new technologies in order to target improvements in innovation, decision-making, and ultimately transform how business works.
• Drive Change Management – There is an important need for all the key stakeholders of the business to cope with the change and equip themselves at all levels.
• Execute and Improve – The job is not over once implementation is done. Rather, companies should seek to continually improve in response to the ever-changing world and business requirements

2. Culture

What about the management and people challenge? Now, this is very important when attempting a digital transformation, isn’t it? It is critical for organizations to build a cultural mindset that embraces change and a new way of doing business

• Risk-Friendly – Organizations have to encourage risk-taking, innovation and develop collaborative work environments. Failure is the stepping-stone to success and the culture of the organization should be open to risk-taking even if it meets with failure. After all, the cost of inaction is more than cost of action
• Cross-Functional Teams vs. Silos – Gone are those days of step-by-step hierarchy. Digital capabilities demand agile teams that are cross-functional and steadfast to truly implement a change throughout the organization.

3. Technology Capabilities and Process

Go beyond point-solution technologies for big data, mobile, data analytics and social, instead leverage on these technologies to transform the business. Technological capabilities should be used to:

• Automate – Add value to your operations and supply chain management to shorten the time to market and reduce manual work
• Adopt customer-centric approach – Use the right mix of technologies for a service-oriented architecture that works rapidly to deliver the right solutions to the end customer

Digital transformation is like a marathon with an unrelenting pace, so it only makes sense for the organization to take a ‘radically whole’ approach.

More Information:

10 Benefits of Leadership Courses

What is the Concept of Strategic Management?

The Ideal Strategic Management Model: Decoded

What is Strategic management and why you need it?

Executive Development Program In Transformational Leadership from XLRI JAMSHEDPUR