Digital Planning: Digitization, accelerated by the pandemic, has changed almost every market rapidly. The online and offline realities have begun to interpenetrate, competing companies propose more and more modern solutions, and the level of customer requirements is growing. All these phenomena have one thing in common – they are based on the development of technology.
As indicated by BCG in the report, Digital accelerations is just a dream without a new approach to tech; among the main challenges faced by companies is the use of old technologies in highly complex business – with distributed databases, silo management and in combination with a lack of up-to-date knowledge.
The research on management perspectives, published in Research-Technology Management, shows that already in 2018, 67% of respondents were afraid of sudden changes and the growing level of digital innovation. The respondents were particularly worried that their companies would not be able to keep up with the dynamic development of technology, which would make them no longer competitive.
How not to go crazy with the excess of technology?
One thing is certain – it is not worth taking violent or even panic actions by force implementing fashionable, modern technologies.
The Deloitte 2020 Global Technology Leadership Study on a group of over 1,300 participants in 69 countries and 22 market sectors clearly indicated the need to change the role of CIOs in organizations. It is not about technological leaders being solution providers or even co-creators of business strategies. Instead, we need digital planning and smart management. They should provoke business transformations based on new technologies, having a clear vision of possible perspectives. The survey shows that such a role is still performed by a few leaders (approx. 13%).
The conclusions from the study also show that in companies belonging to the technological avant-garde, the vision and strategy of action are clearly defined and that strategic priorities and operational activities are parallelly distributed throughout the organization (not only in the IT department). This means that success requires the involvement of leaders from various business areas in building innovation.
Stages of digital transformation
The material published by the “California Management Review” (No. 6, 2020) on the implementation of digital strategy in three major projects (ABB, Vodafone and CNH Industrial) enables the development of a directional approach to the effective implementation of the transformation strategy.
The main point is to define the scope of the transformation. Before that happens, however, it is necessary to define the goal of the transformation. Knowing what the company wants to achieve will later ensure consistency of each element of the activities. In this regard, experts propose, first of all, to identify the company’s current position from an internal and external perspective, for example, through a SWOT analysis ( Strengths – strengths, Weaknesses – weaknesses, Opportunities – opportunities, Threats– threats).
After that, it is necessary to determine the desired state – where the company wants to be, considering the current realities, potential and achievability of goals. It cannot be done without defining strategic partnerships, critical processes and procedures, revising the main roles in the organization, and the desired skills and knowledge. Only then should a plan and scope of changes be developed, taking into account the real needs of the organization and building values where necessary.
A critical element in building a digital strategy is also the approach to data, crucial for the digitization economy. The effectiveness of activities will be ensured by planning their efficient collection, cleaning and safe storage.
Digital planning and the right transformation can produce great results. However, success also requires cultural changes in the organization and new employee competencies, not only technological.
A practical guide to digital transformation
Based on statistical analyzes based on factors differentiating companies in terms of the advancement of digital maturity, scientists from Poole College of Management (North California State University) prepared the following guidelines for the organization:
- Adjust your resources, both financial and human, to your strategy.
The essence of this advice is to encourage concrete decisions to invest in technology and specific employee competencies.
- Involve major partners in creating business plans.
It is about integrating internal and external competencies.
- Demand cooperation and promote agile environments for development.
It is worth taking care of the agile work culture that supports innovation.
- Hire enterprising leaders.
They are the ones who directly influence the performance of employees and thus the implementation of the digitization strategy.
- Push for leaders in the organization to communicate continuously.
The vision of digital transformation must be ubiquitous in the organization, and activities should be transparent.
- Support efforts in individual departments and provide training for employees.
It is very important! In an organization, in principle, everyone should improve their digital competencies, and employees’ goals must reflect their commitment to transformation initiatives.
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