5 Essentials for a “digital transformation”

“Digital transformation” is a term that’s come up a few times for me recently.

I interpret this as an organization’s goal to change the way they work – to streamline, to leverage technology, to incorporate AI and ultimately, to make more sense of how they do what they do.

A digital transformation usually centres around changing the IT infrastructure, but there is so much more to this work than: Find tool → implement.

It can’t be about layering yet another tool on top of the ever-growing pile. You need to let some things go to make space for innovation.

It’s rarely an out of the box solution. Let’s be honest, we want our systems to work for us, not the other way around. This takes time and compromise.

And most importantly - the work can’t be isolated to the IT team. They are there to help translate your needs and to identify and develop solutions, but without the business’ active participation, it won’t go well – it needs to be a whole of organization change.

I’ve led digital transformations of varying scales, and I’ve learned some lessons along the way. To really get it right, there are several components that need to be part of the process:

1.      Leadership - Every great journey needs a leader, a vision and a plan.

2.      People - This needs to be more than an IT team thing, it’s the whole organization that is making this change.

3.      Inventory & Needs Assessment – Before you jump in, consider what you are trying to do. How do you currently get your work done? What issues are you experiencing?

4.      Risk Management– Understanding your digital risk is critical.  Your data is one of your most valuable assets and you are responsible for how data is collected, used and protected. This is an opportunity to build risk mitigation strategies right into your operations

5.      Solutions – Remember, you are building a new ecosystem. Your tool selection and roll out plan needs to be holistic – otherwise you’ll end up right where you started.