The sooner you measure the impact of these transformations, the sooner you can implement measures to take advantage of these changes rather than suffer them. Getting started is good…getting ready is better! Here is the list of prerequisites for the success of your project.
7 Prerequisites for a successful digital transformation
These are a few reminders that may seem obvious but are still fundamental to a successful digital transformation. If necessary, these prerequisites could quickly become obstacles or even blocking points to the transformation.
What are the consequences? A transformation that takes a long time, with long, complicated, and very costly changes for the company… There is a strong risk of losing the mobilization of the teams, or worse, of reinforcing the (natural) resistance to change.
Do not hesitate to recruit your CDO (Chief Digital Officer) to lead or accompany you in these first phases. He/she masters them quite well and will be able to guide you towards very simple and adapted solutions!
1 – A committed management/CODIR
For the project to succeed, the entire management or the Executive Committee must be convinced and committed to the transformation process. For it is these members who will have to carry the project to all the company’s employees and departments.
2 – A shared vision and a clear roadmap
A digital transformation plan often starts with an audit of the current situation. It includes current state, strategic objectives, business priorities, opportunities/ threats/ available levers, tools, available resources, digital maturity, corporate culture, etc.
From this analysis, a roadmap is created that will outline the path to take. This roadmap will list all the projects to be deployed, and the way to get there (prerequisites, necessary resources, businesses involved, key stages, objectives and identified KPIs).
3- An aligned IS plan
The digital strategy is nothing without a good technical implementation in terms of tools and information architecture. Good tools or a good IT department are useless if they do not support a precise and refined digital strategy.
The digital “business” roadmap and technical deployment are inseparable to implement an efficient digital strategy. The digital objectives must therefore be aligned with those of the IT department.
4 – Putting people at the heart of the transformation
The roadmap defined upstream allows us to see the height of the steps to be taken, i.e., the gap between the current situation and the target vision of the transformation. It implies reorganization, distribution of tasks, transversality to be deployed, skills to be acquired, training, etc…
At the center of these changes: the company’s employees. There is therefore a human aspect to consider succeeding in the transformation. Behind the technical aspect of digital that is easily understood (automation of processes, tools to be acquired, data to be collected), there are above all and always employees on whom we rely on to deploy the transformation plan.
5- Upstream definition of the change management strategy
The change management strategy allows us to define an action plan upstream to facilitate the transition. It is the “oil in the engine” to implement the project: training, internal communication on the phases and the path to follow, coaching, preparation for the various operational deployment phases, mobilization at key stages, feedback from employees to management, participation in the transformation project, etc. …
6 – HR, actors of the transformation
Because of what has been mentioned above, it seems obvious that HR must be positioned at the center of the transformation project. Depending on the size of the company and the organization in place, the change management strategy is generally carried out by HR and/or internal communications (or even in combination).
7 – Develop a transversal, efficient and agile organization
Digital technology is also disrupting our way of working: we need to break down the “silos” – by channel/by market/by BU – and we need to cross-functionalize our practices. Each business line contributes to the building: the whole digital strategy only makes sense and is effective if it is coordinated, coherent and homogeneous.
This whole process requires collaborative and cross-functional methods that feed the common reflection, support the strategic axes, and ensure overall consistency.
With digital technology, we have added the notion of agility, the ability to “adjust our aim”, to be reactive in a fast-moving Web world.
In conclusion
Even if companies equip themselves with high-performance digital tools or recruit the best digital talents of the moment, if customer knowledge, data analysis, performance lever analysis and the complementarity of off-line and online supports do not feed the global digital system, nothing will be done. It is, therefore, necessary to rethink the organization of work, tasks, and responsibilities of each person so that the processes are fluid and the actions effective, so that the digital strategy can be deployed.
Would you like to get more information about digital transformation? Contact us today.
