3 Strategies for Effective Digital Transformation

By Apac CIO Outlook | Thursday, December 05, 2019

Fremont, CA: The word 'digital transformation' is widely used and has become another buzzword in the IT industry. Gartner says that 79 percent of corporate strategists believe it is "reinventing their business." And, as it is following a huge amount of change in the global economy, these days, you'd be pushed to find an organization that doesn't have some kind of digital transformation roadmap. Digital transformation may mean different to different businesses, and before undertaking it, one has to take into consideration its purpose and limitations.

Businesses can begin to refine the approach they are taking when it comes to digital transformation and discover what specifically the term means for themselves. But before taking such an approach, a business must re-think its old approach, experiment more, and become more agile to respond to customers and rivals. Given here are 3 points to refine the strategy for digital transformation.

Recognize the Business Environment

Businesses need to identify external pressures and challenges of their markets, processes, regulatory environment, competition, and supplier and customer ecosystems. It must be thoroughly researched as where to invest and how digital transformation plans are applied in relevant businesses and industries. This highlights the need to focus on digital transformation more largely than tech procurement. A company might have a shiny latest customer-facing process, but if it relies on an associate who can't carry out digital transactions, it will never achieve its promise.

Put KPIs in Place

Key Performance Index or KPIs offer IT leaders the opportunity to set a common understanding of digital transformation within the business and maintain an ongoing dialogue. The temptation is to develop the existing IT-focused metrics gradually, but with an objective as broad as business transformation, there is a good case for starting again. There are countless digital transformation KPI lists available on the internet, but this is another thing that should be avoided. A company's KPI must be both industries specific and organization-specific.

Understand the Key Business Drivers

It is essential to understand the key business drivers and strategic priorities before starting the process of digital transformation. The strategy needs to focus on the objectives of the business and to benefit the company overall. It is also important to measure the level of change a company is going to have after the digital transformation and how big the difference is that of just upgrading IT. It is equally important to train the people associated with it in the business. Not only the businesses require to have a 'digitally savvy' leader, but they also need to build relevant talent and skillsets throughout their organizations.

There can be no stronger argument than the fact that digital transformation brings with it a broad scale of reward and risk. However, no matter where you are on the ride, if you take into account the above three tips, you can look at refining your approach, enabling you to really harvest the benefits digital transformation has to offer.