Successful Digital Transformation doesn’t hinge on tech, it’s about shifting mindsets.
Companies across the globe are embarking on their ‘digital transformation’ journey and they are fast realising just how difficult it is to achieve.
When you consider that we’ve been at it for the past 30 years, it’s baffling that it’s taken this long for Digital Transformation to be seen as a top business priority. Despite its rise in popularity and presence in our vocabulary since the 90’s, progress seems more incremental than transformative.
Econocom (2019) research indicates that one in five businesses in the UK are failing to achieve their digital transformation goals, which makes this failure something far more common than previously thought. With the subsequent consequences that accompany inefficiencies like wasted time, money, and unmet expectations. We need only find the answer to a single question…How do we get it right?
Digital & People
A McKinsey & Company report states that in order to be successful, businesses must realise that digital transformation requires “discipline, planning, and committed top-down leadership.” More importantly, before moving forward with any digital strategies, leaders should not lose sight of the fundamental fact that digital transformation is ultimately about ‘people transformation.’
Winning Hearts & Minds
With the imminent threat of climate change, people can now truly fathom what planet earth without life could actually look like. When we ponder on this thought, we realise that the prospect of a lifeless planet is not only scary but would equally be devoid of purpose and would also be pointless. If we love our smartphones so much it’s not because they are smart, it’s because they magically connect us to the lives and experiences of other human beings. Without life, nothing occurs, that means no interactions, no reactions and therefore, no data.
If we can recognise that people are the heart of our companies, it goes without saying that they should be the foundation upon which we build and scale our digital transformation strategies. People operate technology not the other way round, therefore if people don’t adopt a digital mindset all efforts will ultimately fail.
If we wish to inspire transformation within our organisations, we must first win the hearts and minds of those we lead and serve.
Inspiring the hearts and minds is where we stand to learn the most from Greta Thunberg. Her climate movement sets down the blueprint, we can all follow, to not only save our planet, but also unlock the creativity within our workforces needed to successfully transform our businesses.
Whether or not you’ve begun your digital transformation, each member on your team has to have a clear sight of what has to be done to achieve transformation success.
4 considerations for you to keep in mind:
- Take a holistic approach
- Inspire your Leaders
- Data-driven planning & implementation
- Start local…Go global
1. Take a ‘360-Degree’ approach: it is useful to apply a framework called ‘360-Degree’, which helps corporate leaders identify potential opportunities and threats early-on so that they can see things through a holistic lens and make better decisions across their organisation.
2. Great leadership is the key to your success: investing in digital technologies is not enough to drive digital transformation. Putting your people first is crucial, meaning a change in leadership style and organisational structure is needed to ensure that everyone’s values and mindsets are aligned. Therefore, leaders and employees must be aligned to achieve effectiveness and successful outcomes in digital transformation.
3. Leverage data for effective implementation plans like any major business transformation, the process of digital transformation requires planning and preparation. Without sound data, your plan cannot be deemed effective and companies wouldn’t be able to measure and assess team performance. Therefore, every business should have data-informed and driven plans so that they can achieve optimal results.
4. Focus on peer-based networks & scale: Digital transformation success starts with your own workforce, but once you’ve got the hang of it, extend your expertise to your strategic internal and external partners, suppliers, and stakeholders. When people meet or surpass their own expectations, confidence is boosted and motivation is sustained
Not about change, but the journey.
The concept of transformation can be misunderstood or misinterpreted, and we see this when businesses confuse ‘change’ with ‘transformation’. Digital transformation isn’t about change, it’s a journey requiring smart strategy, collaboration, technological alignment, but more importantly the right mindset of all our employees.
Here’s a great analogy that first appeared in the 360 Transformation Business Journal.
“When a snake sheds its skin it’s merely changing its clothes; but when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it transforms.”
What the numbers say:
Interesting stats from the Forrester Total Economic Impact Report (2019) on cost savings and business benefits for implementing collaboration tools effectively.
Microsoft 365
- 190,000+ hours end user productivity savings by Year 3, across 5,000 users
- 40% risk reduction of a major security breach
- Savings of $7.15 million in Total cost of ownership (TCO)
Fewer help desk calls, provisioning savings, reduced licensing fees, infrastructure, and management costs
Microsoft Teams
- 1.1 to 8.0 hours saved per user per week, from one shared location for work, file sharing, collaboration, meetings and cross-channel communication
- $5,416 three-year net present value per user
- 88% of survey respondents felt “having all of our solutions in one place saves time”
Get in touch to find out more about the various transformation programmes we provide at UpSkill Digital.
To learn more about Microsoft Teams, read the articles on our blog. Finally, here are two videos we recommend about how to overcome the challenges of business transformation from McKinsey & Company.
Getting to ‘all in’: The six questions every executive team should ask
Transformation: Tell a compelling change story to inspire your organization
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