Digital Transformation in 2020: In-Depth Guide for Executives
Digital
Transformation
in
2020:
In-Depth
Guide
for
Executives
Due to the rise of personal computers in the 1980s, companies began to go through digital transformations to improve their product or services and reduce costs.
However, a survey result made by Global McKinsey says that only less than 30 percent of digital transformation processes have success stories.
Nonetheless, digital transformation is the key to a company’s success. It can be achieved through design thinking, company-wide alignment, and adoption of the leading edge technologies.
What Digital Transformation Means
Digital Transformation is merely integrating digital technologies into all aspects of a business to meet the market and change business requirements.
It aims to increase the effectiveness of business operations and also customer relations. For these goals to be achievable, there is a need for organizations to update their systems, organizations, processes, and culture.
Why does it matter now?
Due to the increase in competition, digital transformation is a powerful tool to leverage on for companies that wish to stay relevant. However, an estimation of about 70% of digital transformation projects fail.
Surveys done by different business reviews highlights that less than 30% of companies are not dependent on digital operations or products.
One of the significant reasons slow adapters fail in technological innovations is the advances in digitization. These advances include; the internet, mobile computing, personal computing, social media, and so on.
An example can be the retail apocalypse triggered by the rise of e-commerce. So many companies were forced out of business due to their failure to adapt to e-commerce as retailers. Thus to thrive in such businesses, there is a need for a strategy for digital transformation.
Steps to Digital Transformation
- Identify Digital Transformation Objectives
The first step is to determine an organization’s level of digitization. By doing so, it helps you to align the current state and the long term goals of that organization.
Every organization has different needs, and that calls for a different set of transitional targets, as it is a crucial step to an organizational synergy.
- Build a digital transformation strategy
Earlier on, we emphasized the need for a strategy for digital transformation, as it the only way businesses and organizations can thrive which you can learn from Aventis.edu.sg
We recommend that you set clear objectives and build a feasible game plan. It might involve selecting areas for improvements and finding ways to start integrating digital systems from those areas.
Also, it’s ideal that any organization’s objectives should be a step-by-step process as the business may end up failing if the actions we’re taken with haste.
- Decide on the necessary technologies enablers
It is vital to decide on the best technology enablers for a successful digital transformation. These enablers include; Analytics, VR, AL, and loT.
An excellent way to decide on these enablers is for organizations to do research to determine the most suitable enabler for their organization.
- Establish Competent technology leadership
Without good leadership support, change projects end up being unsuccessful. Having a CIO supported by the leadership team and has a business impact of digital transformation as a KPI will be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful transformation.
- Train the staff and integrate a digital culture among the organization
Your staff will adapt quickly to change with the culture and education you provide to them.
Without these cultural changes, it is likely that the company will miss the next technology revolution and will require another significant transformation effort to catch up. With that in mind, what kind of cultural attributes does an organization need for a successful digital transformation?
Below are the three significant cultural change for a company to achieve digital transformation:
- Employees are encouraged to learn to solve problems.
- An organization is better connected and responsive across departments so that employees can return quickly to changing customer’s needs.
- Employees should be willing to take risks, and if a risky action causes a breakdown, they should learn from that failure.