Technology is only the first chapter in the history of the Digital Transformation. It is the tip of the iceberg of a complete revolution in placing solutions at the heart of the organisation. Companies are aware of the importance of this process, as it directly affects their customers. However, many move forward without a clear strategy, which involves employees. Why? If an employee cannot take advantage of the functions and characteristics of digitalisation, the organisation will not see a positive ROI.
Having a methodology to guarantee the training, incorporation and adoption of new tools without problems for your employees is essential. The main argument is that if you only focus on technology you will have overcome the main obstacle, but you will not be more efficient because you have not completely transformed the whole business. It is essential to implement the customer-oriented digital chain, supported by each and every department of the company.
Digital disruption includes a cultural change in business. If this giant step is not taken, there is a great risk. Proof of this is that 52% of Fortune500 companies have disappeared or been absorbed in the last 20 years. What's more, the lifespan continues to shrink. Renewal or death is achieved through profound and interrelated changes in the way people relate to each other both inside and outside the organisation.
Initiatives must have a background in order to reach the desired objective. The failure, according to experts, is in the implementation phase due to lack of experience in digitalisation. Surrounding oneself with experienced partners is fundamental, since the idea is to advance hand in hand with a joint technology and business strategy. With the deployment of solutions, the competitive level is accelerated, although efficiency will never be achieved. This will only be achieved by promoting this new culture where talent will play a key role. It must be clear that the mistake would be not to study your organisation to see what your employees need in order to develop their full potential.
Taking advantage of business opportunities in time is essential to enable sustainable, rapid and efficient change that also contributes to transformation. In order to do this, CEOs have to make quick decisions. However, when they see how their competitors are running, they find it difficult to make far-reaching decisions. They become paralysed and are unable to chart an alternative to the structure of their organisations. Nevertheless, they have to accompany each step with values that are characteristic of a productive and motivating culture.
Another problem for organisations is that their different departments work as black boxes for the others, except for the people who are in command and control. For example, IT relates to other colleagues through incident ticketing. If it is solved quickly, it can become one of the most efficient areas, although it does not create value for the company. Building multidisciplinary teams is the ultimate goal, as their steps will be matched to business strategies, data intelligence, software engineering and an agile culture.
If the common denominator is rigidity, customer service will not be as satisfactory, since there will be internal conditioning factors, such as lack of commitment and knowledge of the situation; increased costs, especially due to employee turnover; being stuck with obsolete technology; collaboration models without added value, and superfluous expenditure on solutions that are not aimed at motivation, innovation and competitive capacity.
It's your opportunity! Create a strategic innovation framework into which not only disruptive technologies fit, but which they are linked to the business model and to the people who are part of the organisation. Direct communication between business and technological solutions and digital culture is the differential factor between success and failure.