Leading through change is difficult for any executive. You’ll face pushback from longtime employees, confusion from vendors, and some concern from management. If you want your business to survive and thrive, you have to treat company transformations with great care.
This is especially true of digital transformations. With digital transformations, you have to train employees in new technology, but you also have to manage the transition (security and otherwise) from your old system to the new one.
The problem with many digital transformations isn’t the transformation. The problem is the lack of strategy.
If you’re leading your company into a new day, you’re going to have to plan ahead. Here are a few essential digital transformation strategy tips you can’t afford to live without.
Lead from the Front
First of all, if you’re going to lead your company into greener pastures, you have to lead from the front.
Digital transformation demands vision. The changes will be profound and feel incredibly stark to employees who don’t know the whole picture. In order to keep things going smoothly, you have to know the right combination of carrots and sticks.
Let’s face it: people resist change. We’re creatures of habit.
If you’re going to radically revitalize what your company is, you have to take charge. Make it crystal clear what’s happening, how it’s going to happen, and what’s expected of everyone. Then, within that framework, you can encourage localized ownership of ideas to keep employees engaged.
Leverage the Right Technologies
You also need to leverage the right technologies for the job. To do this, you’ll need digitally savvy management.
These technologies don’t just bring you up to par with your competitors. They improve your business value, boost your efficiency, and enable you to attract the best talent.
The technology governing your core practices will depend on what your company does. In the transformation process, though, all companies need to be organized.
To do that, make use of project management and time-tracking tools. Remember when we said that you should be crystal clear on what’s going to happen and what each person is expected to do?
These tools will help you achieve that.
Make Your Culture Match
If you’re radically revising your digital landscape, you need to make sure your culture transforms in tandem.
Your culture flowers around your business processes. It’s what sustains your company.
That’s why even the best digital strategies will flounder without the right culture to sustain them.
Digital transformations demand radical innovation. If you want your culture to match your new digital world, it’s time to look beyond the standard paradigms. A great way to do this is to borrow business models from other industries.
Reimagine Your Customer Journey
With your culture intact and your leadership holding steady, you’re ready to turn your attention to the customer journey.
The best place to start is actually rather simple: talk to your customers. Ask them what you could do better. Unless you know your target audience, your strategy is just an educated guess.
The good news is that digital innovations like big data offer you critical insights into your customer pain points. You can use these pain points to work backward into a value proposition that will guide your new customer experience.
No Comments Yet
Let us know what you think