Path to Digital Transformation

The term digital transformation is heard everywhere these days, but it has always existed for the past decades in simpler terms with basic implementation of technology in corporations. Its meaning is evolving as technology has become more present in every aspect of our lives and transcended the brick and mortar walls of industry leaping into our homes and in the palm of our hands with unlimited information where boundaries are a thing of the past. In present day we are now more identified with the brands we consume, we want to know the details of how they conduct business and how our favorite products are made. This conundrum has shaken up the term and now is much more than just a simple device or software installation. My favorite quote from Brooke Lester, “Digital transformation involves the use of technology to radically improve performance or the reach of businesses” sets the premise for some of the elements I believe any IT function should consider on their transformation path of people, process, technology, customers and products to steer organizations into their digital evolution.

1. Become a business partner.

Create an organizational structure that drives business engagement through enterprise functional knowledge, becoming process leaders to establish great working relationships to provide IT solutions that enable business process optimization and deliver capabilities to the organization.

2. Develop your people.

It is very important to develop your personnel for the next generation of skillsets and prepare them for the future. A more capable workforce will nourish creativity and increase adoption of improved processes and technologies. The level of investment in this area will determine the level of organizational change capability at all levels, from top to bottom; which is essential for any type of transformation.

"It is very important to develop your personnel for the next generation of skillsets and prepare them for the future. A more capable workforce will nourish creativity and increase adoption of improved processes and technologies"

3. Quality IT services. Increase the IT services quality and enforce standards; having a robust operating model will allow your function to focus their time and intellectual property on high value activities that are bringing the business forward, while having a methodology to follow and establish consistency.

4. Process improvement. Convert low value processes and activities to free up resources into more challenging and value added activities Well defined processes will assist daily operations to function like a well-oiled machine, the more familiar and known they are, the more you can continue identifying candidates for further automation and evolve into RPA (Robotic Process Automation), a well-defined component of digital transformation.

5. Robust Infrastructure. Modernize and maintain an infrastructure that can stand up to the challenge of growth and facilitate transitions as new technologies come into play; outdated and unkept infrastructure can slow up progress and become a large expense at the moment of transformation.

6. Strategic initiatives. Support initiatives that have measurable impact, valuated return and grow the business. Become a champion of your functional stakeholders by supporting projects that follow the company’s mission, vision and have their results oriented to achieving strategic goals.

7. Data as an asset. Treat your data as one of your most important holdings; protect it and steward it. As I mentioned earlier, the generations ahead of us are data agile and hunger for it, so they have learned to use it for every aspect of their lives and the intelligent and proper use of quality and trustful data will help them set the competitive difference in the workplace and beyond.

These elements will help you focus your efforts and resources on high value, thought provoking activities to push digital transformation to set the stage to be ahead of the curve, proactive to react to external conditions and be ready for challenges presented for continued growth.