Arresting headlines and worrying stats tell business leaders that time is running out – transform or die. With so much being promised to those who transform, there’s a fever of change happening. You can almost expect to see business executives setting fire to filing cabinets outside the window.
Yet, despite this pressure, transformation projects are no mean feat. Businesses tend to make the same mistakes time and again.
Following these classic models, here’s how you can make yours a sure-fire disaster!
Cover your ears and press delete!
Have all the gear but no idea!
Put one person in charge!
After all, nobody really understands what the social team does. If you haven’t worked with them yet, why start now?!
Sounding familiar? While all of us have probably experienced some of the above during company transformation projects, not surprisingly, they are not how you get good results. But there’s no need to despair quite yet, here are three ways to ensure your project stays on track.
Transformation, done properly
The issue with the word ‘transformation’ is that it implies speed. When we hear that word, we think caterpillar to butterfly - and that’s where it tends to go wrong. The reality of transformation is typically less glamorous, involving step by step change, rather than the ‘grand reveal’ which is typically touted by consultancies.
Rolling out new technology is important, but so is keeping the lights on. Legacy infrastructure, while onerous, is often the backbone of the company, keeping daily activity afloat.
For transitions to be successful, they need to take into account the reality of today’s office where every department balances paper and digital processes and legacy infrastructure still plays a role. The road to digitisation should be a smooth integration, not a rip and replace job.
However dazzling the product features, there’s no point investing in new tech if none of the employees will use it. Spec and capabilities remain very important, but should not come at the cost of practicality. What’s more, the most successful transformation projects involve consulting the workforce throughout, making sure new technology addresses current pain points and offers benefits above current solutions.
Given that most businesses ultimately want to move their entire organisation towards digitisation, it’s important to approach transformation as a company-wide strategy. Siloed projects can result in each department running separate software and systems which do not work together. Ultimately, this can lead to deeper problems with harnessing data across functions, for example, a single customer journey can often be managed by multiple departments.
There is huge pressure on companies to digitally transform. But doing so at the expense of the strategy will ultimately lead to frustration and wasted budget. There is no such thing as an off-the-shelf package when it comes to digital change. What works for another organisation, won’t necessarily be right for yours. That’s why transformation needs time and planning, it needs to be goal-orientated, it needs collaboration from top to bottom, and it needs to happen step by step to avoid company-wide chaos. While everybody is looking to capitalise on digital opportunities, it really is a case that failing to prepare means preparing to fail.
This is a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ article which takes a light-hearted approach to the much talked about topic of digital transformation. The piece follows the misplaced rationale behind errors companies make during their transformation projects.