A digital transformation strategy is a detailed plan to improve and innovate existing business processes using digital technologies. An organization that can refine its operations and leverage automation can better support customers and allow employees to focus on activities requiring a more hands-on approach.
Adopting digital technologies must be done in a way aligned with an organization’s overarching business goals. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for achieving digital transformation success. To ensure that such success can be achieved, organizations need to implement a digital transformation strategy.
Essentially, a digital transformation strategy lays out a roadmap and timeline that an organization can use to adopt technological advancements such as the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Steps to Create a Digital Transformation Strategy:
- Hone in on your long-term goals: Decide your organization’s goals and adopt technologies that help you achieve these goals.
- Ensure that all employees and stakeholders are in the loop: Employees and stakeholders will be affected during the process. This is why they must be informed and mentally prepared for the changes that are yet to come.
- Try one project first, then take on more: It’s always best to conduct a trial project to see whether the initial choices work out for the organization’s processes. The “proof-of-concept” project must be chosen carefully and then tested.
- Design a roadmap for implementation: After proof-of-concept is completed, draw a roadmap that details the transformative process, following digital transformation best practices. Look for gaps in current processes, and assess what can be modified and what needs to be added or removed. Choose technologies based on that.
- Hire experts in the field: Choose vendors and in-house experts who know the business’s goals and strategy and have the expertise to incorporate that in due process.
- Implement, evaluate, iterate: While a strategic roadmap is essential, it also helps to have enough room to modify the processes based on stakeholder feedback.
- Scale horizontally and vertically: As success is realized through the digital transformation strategy, it is essential to scale these efforts throughout the organization. Apply a similar approach in other departments and leverage additional technologies wherever needed.
Business Benefits Include:
- Improved organizational efficiency
- Better customer experience
- Digitization of products
- Higher employee engagement
- Process optimization based on regular feedback
Use Cases Include:
- Under Armour used digital technologies to build its own “Connected Fitness” health data platform. This approach helped them diversify their offerings from athletic apparel to fitness technologies.
- Origin Enterprise PLC, an agri-services group, streamlined its internal processes using technologies such as GPRS-enabled mobile tracking applications. These applications offer recommendations about smart agriculture planning, nutrient planning, and more, making for a more efficient business.
