Digital Transformation for Business: Where Goals Meet Delivery
There is a clear purpose behind winning business digital transformation initiatives. Increasing customer engagement, launching a new product, improving the customer experience, or improving efficiency are just a few of the strategic goals they align with.
The journey from concept to realization is rarely a straight line. Defining the features and capabilities that will deliver these expected outcomes can be challenging. You must align strategic business goals with capabilities that deliver features that achieve the desired outcome.
In designing your digital transformation strategy, there are many opportunities to get lost. Here’s how you can avoid falling short.
Partnership for Digital Transformation: A Partnership of Perspectives
To develop a digital transformation strategy, identify where it should reside. Is this a business initiative that should be driven by Marketing or Product? Is this a technology initiative that should be driven by IT?
As a result, most digital transformation initiatives belong somewhere in the middle. Often the best solution is to form a dedicated team that includes all existing and well-established departments.
There can be tension if deliverables don’t meet expectations and desired outcomes are not achieved during the implementation of a digital transformation strategy. It can be much more challenging when the whole process is working against a moving target.
The Agile Methodology should be considered
As you put new features and capabilities in front of your customers, their reactions and responses, as well as what you learn from them, may well cause some reconsideration of what you are providing. As deliverables are implemented, you must remain flexible.
The success of a digital transformation plan depends on a well-structured and organized team with a flexible approach, which is a perfect time to implement Agile methodology.
Digital Transformation: How to Make It Work
There is a great deal of work and effort that goes into implementing a new business digital transformation initiative. If you want it to be successful, here are a few tips:
Keep yourself informed
Identifying the target audience and the existing customer experience is essential. In order to gather data on the existing experience, you can conduct customer interviews, conduct focus groups, or use other proven methods. An organization that better understands its customers is more likely to deliver successful outcomes.
Utilize data to your advantage
Assuring each release captures relevant data and is used as a benchmark for future design and planning, informs design considerations, and can serve as a benchmark for measuring future results.
Effective communication
Keep technical team members informed about what might be considered business-centric discussions and encourage cross-functional activities. Focus on learning and implementing rather than perfection. Engage non-technical team members in discussions about how features are delivered.
Integrate business and technology through digital transformation
Build, nurture, and encourage cross-functional, highly collaborative teams as part of a digital transformation.
Technology and business work together to create success. You need to be well-informed about the people you’re building solutions for and keep your customers at the center of everything you do. Your decision making and results will be informed by your data collection and analysis.