5 Essential Ingredients to Successfully Digitally Transform in 2023
Introduction.
Digital transformation is a business necessity. Advancements in both technology and consumer demand are forcing businesses to quickly adapt to survive and preferably thrive in today’s digital economy. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the need for digital transformation, with businesses forced to employ new ways of working and engaging with customers.
In this article, we explore the five essential ingredients that businesses need to add to achieve a successful Digital Transformation in 2023.
1. Communicate the need for change. When you were a child did you ever sit in the back of a car and wonder ‘where you were going’ or ask if ‘you were nearly there yet’? Yes, me too! And almost always we were told, ‘not long now’, we were ignored or even told off for asking!
The same, can often happen in the workplace.
When our employees don’t know where they are going and why, they can get confused, upset, or even exit the business. Therefore, it is key for business leaders to communicate the reason for change
The retail giant Walmart successfully underwent a digital transformation by making sure there was clear and frequent communication across the business. Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon launched an internal communications platform called Walmart Today, and this enabled it’s 2.2 million employees to stay informed about their digital transformation initiatives. Walmart’s clear and frequent communication kept their employees meaningfully engaged in its digital transformation program.
2. Plan for continual change
They expect there will be confusion that comes with creating an uncertain future, but they get their teams prepared, resilient and excited for change.
When the global professional services firm KPMG implemented an Agile methodology to accelerate their digital transformation efforts, they planned for change. This involved creating small, cross-functional teams that worked together to develop and test new digital products and services.
KPMG also encouraged a culture of experimentation, where teams were given the freedom to ‘fail fast’. They created a psychologically safe environment
3. Provide an abundance of digital resources. Going digital requires business talent to be given the training, direction, speed of decision making, and trust to help them make meaningful progress. So, ‘digital CEOs work closely with their CHROs to create flexible career pathways where talented employees have opportunities to progress, learn, and grow their skills’ (McKinsey).
When the German multinational engineering and technology company Siemens decided to digitally transform, it invested in a comprehensive digital upskilling program
4. CEO commitment. Digital transformation requires a business model reinvention. It requires every function in the business to work together in new ways. That can only happen through large-scale investment in building an entirely new set of capabilities. And the only person who can make that level of sustained change happen is the CEO.
Without focused and active CEO commitment, there is almost no chance of transformation success. ‘An inconvenient truth for businesses undertaking digital transformations is that without focused and active CEO commitment, there is almost no chance of success.’ (McKinsey)
The global financial services company JP Morgan Chase & Co. underwent a successful digital transformation by making digital transformation a key priority for CEO Jamie Dimon. CEO Dimon, created a dedicated digital transformation team and invested billions of dollars in developing new digital products and services, such as the mobile banking App, Chase Mobile. Dimon lead from the front. That highlighted how critical digital transformation was to JP Morgan Chase & Co employees, who took their cue from Dimon’s words and actions.
5. A Digital Methodology. Digital transformation is about new ways of operating and competing to deliver business outcomes. New digital standard operating procedures (SOPs) must be developed to create a new digital business operating model.
The fast-food giant McDonald's successfully underwent digital transformation by adopting and developing a digital playbook. McDonald's used Agile to create small, cross-functional teams that worked together to develop and test new digital products and services. McDonald's also developed a digital playbook that outlined their digital strategy and provided guidance on how to execute digital initiatives. This proved successful in creating the operating methods and models needed to ‘act and be digital’.
Conclusion.
Businesses need to develop an operating model where technology and business teams actively collaborate to develop and deliver new digital products and services. They need to move rapidly by building, breaking and quickly fixing things, but always moving forwards to remain competitive.
In this article, we have explored the five essential ingredients that businesses need to adopt to compete successfully in 2023. These include clear and frequent communication, planning for continual change, providing an abundance of digital resources, CEO commitment, and a digital operating methodology.
By embracing these 5 essential ingredients, businesses can navigate the challenges of digital transformation and reap the benefits of a digitally transformed business.
End.
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Article sources:
- The Digital Transformation of the Retail Industry: A Guide for CEOs - Accenture
- The Digital Transformation of Banking - Bain
- The Future of Work in Manufacturing - Deloitte
- Achieving Digital Transformation Through Agile – KPMG
- Agile Transformation at McDonald's – McKinsey
- The CEO’s Playbook for a Successful Digital Transformation – McKinsey
- The digital-value guardian: CEOs and digital transformations - McKinsey
End.
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1yBang out of the gate number one for me is massive. Folks need to see what's at the end of the yellow brick road - it should excite them. the business needs to engage and kept employees updated on the journey to keep them on side with the change. Talk, listen, learn and only then progress forward. And train people to use the new tech and ways of working.