Whether you’re an established enterprise or a newly-minted SME, getting yourself ready for digital transformation — a dizzying array of digital innovations, technologies, and services that will evolve business — will be an essential component of your business’ growth. Digital Transformation is the term of art we have been using over the past 10 years to describe the fundamental shifts in business coming from the rise of digital technology. It is described as “an evolutionary process that leverages digital technologies and capabilities to enable business models, operational processes and customer experiences to create value.”
No doubt, you have seen your industry in flux, and your business agenda has been informed by disruptions to systems built and defined over a lifetime. Today, data is the fuel driving businesses and societies forward at an exponential rate. Advancements in technology are constantly happening and along with them, new business models that were not contemplated before, and competition from places you never thought possible.
Now it is your turn, but maybe you are thinking about business in a very different way from how you did 10 years ago. Perhaps your mission is to embrace, lead, and develop the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, corporate buyers, and corporate users who can scale your business. Or maybe you’re just getting started. Regardless of where you are in your journey, the challenges are a lot to think through.
There is the inherent challenge of changing or replacing a product(s) which has become a main source of revenue. The challenge of realizing what it really means to be customer-centric. The challenge of deciding how to create economic value, and how to engineer and grow long-term value. There is also the challenge of focusing your efforts towards the next stage of growth and customer value creation without compromising the flexibility required to adapt in a rapidly changing, highly competitive marketplace. These are the challenges that digital transformation was meant to help solve.
But, of course, the drive towards digital transformation has itself created enormous new challenges for organizations. It has created a race against time to adapt rapidly to the digital world. It has created a massive new operational complexity as the old way meets the new. It has created new financial complexity that is driving needed investments in tech stacks and brings new risks to the IT and operations teams. It has created new logistic challenges for organizations when transitioning from legacy systems or when getting all digital business initiatives to come together on the same timeline.
How Ready Are You For Digital Transformation?
An MIT Sloan and Deloitte study revealed that digital transformation can prove to be difficult for many organizations. ‘The study found that less digitally mature organizations tend to focus on individual technologies and have strategies that are operational in focus. While digitally maturing organizations develop programs with an eye on transforming the business. To assess maturity, the study asked 4800 respondents to “imagine an ideal organization transformed by digital technologies and capabilities that improve processes, engage talent across the organization, and drive new value-generating business models.” They rated their company against that ideal on a scale of 1 to 10. The study found that unlike prior technology evolutions, with digital transformation, risk-taking is the norm as digitally advanced companies seek new levels of competitive advantage. They also found that the ability to digitally reimagine the business is determined in large part by a clear digital strategy supported by leaders who foster a culture able to change and invent the new.’ Where you are on the digital maturity spectrum is due in large part to your ability to juggle immediate demands while staying true to your long term vision.
“Big” Reasons Our Clients Are Successful With Digital Transformation’
In our practice, we’ve observed that many of our clients start by identifying the key digital transformation initiatives they will be driving in the current year to realize their business needs over the next five years. Their key priorities are usually; identifying the users of their products and services. Leveraging data to learn from and navigate customer needs as they build a vision for the future. Committing to opportunities that take into account the needs of the business both in the current and future environment. They also create a sense of urgency within their organization’s culture to support new ways of doing business. And they understand at a deeper level, the importance of change which is altogether exciting, a little painful, and requires a profound mental shift.
These observations form the “big” reasons our clients are achieving their digital transformation strategies, and, most importantly, ensuring that their digital priorities meet the desired end-game, i.e., winning the customer. They also shape the choices we consider when advising them on the required steps for technology implementation.
We’ve also observed that the business’ ability to measure and better understand the process of digital transformation is a key consideration. And while measures of success are valuable, their importance decreases if measuring and reporting are done in isolation rather than holistically. The true value of measuring and reporting is if it is done in the context of digital transformation as a strategic imperative.
Fundamentally, our clients accept that Digital Transformation is not a magic elixir that turns things around at the snap of a finger. It is an iterative process, requiring a certain level of re-arrangement of past practices and processes as well as new strategy, architecture, and infrastructure. The good news is that it does not have to be expensive and one size fits all, especially if you have the right team in your corner.
Having partners who can “hook up” your business in a way that helps to accelerate your efforts to meet customers’ expectations is a smarter, more effective way to realize your Digital Transformation aspirations. Archima offers a dedicated team of professionals who help you select the best-qualified talents to fit within your business on a short-term, long-term, project-based, contract, contract-to-hire or permanent basis. You can follow this link to learn more about our strategic staffing services, and discover how we are helping firms navigate the complexities of digital transformation.
