Seven Steps To Simplifying Your Digital Transformation
Source: Forbes on June 1, 2018 | Teresa Spangler
Beyond much of the hype, there is an actual movement when it comes to digital transformation. It is enabling organizations to develop new sales channels, new markets and exponentially grow opportunities in ways never before experienced. According to CIO Magazine, “Digital leaders ... generate better gross margins as well as better earnings and net income than organizations in the bottom digital quarter. Leaders post a three-year average gross margin of 55%, compared to just 37% for the laggards.”
Have you started the process of transforming your company, or are you just starting to consider digital transformation for your company? Regardless as to which side of this coin you're on, to fully embrace digital transformation, enterprises must start with a plan. The word transformation itself is telling of a caterpillar-to-butterfly story.
Discussions of digital transformation alone are daunting, much less the actual process of putting the plan together and executing it. I think the very thought of it is paralyzing to many CEOs, leading them to ask, "What step do I take first?" So, where should one start the process of this magnitude of change?
Here are seven points to help your digital transformation become a success:
1. Get closer to your people. This includes your customers, partners, vendors, staff and your community. These are the people who buy from you, who provide you with great feedback and ideas and bring new innovations to life. They help you deliver value to your customers and help engage with them.
2. Find the knowledge power centers and the knowledge gaps in your team. Put a plan in place to fill those gaps. Define all of the gaps till you have exhausted where holes need to be filled. This might include -- but is not limited to -- a leadership gap, technology knowledge gap, market knowledge gap, customer knowledge gap, value creation and definition gaps. Build a training and development plan to help fill these knowledge gaps sooner rather than later. This allows for people to execute faster, align seamlessly and become more productive even while the company is transforming.
3. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. There are great things that are working for you. The value of what is working will come to support your transformation plan. Identify what is working well. What technologies are implemented that have the ability to scale and do more for you should you want to turn on more features or leverage new capabilities of a current service or technology?