Balancing Speed and Patience Key to Success in Digital Transformation

For companies working toward digital transformation, there is one primary question that’s top-of-mind for senior executives: “How can we go faster?” Speed is an important factor given the role of data analytics in creating a competitive edge.

But to achieve sustainable transformation, it’s essential to balance speed with the patience required to build a culture that truly embraces data solutions. We must move quickly as we experiment, create new solutions, and find new ways of working. Patience, on the other hand, helps ensure that the innovative solutions we develop are actually used by stakeholders & customers. Senior executives as well as end users must be literate in how to trust data and put it to work. That means relying less on conventional reports and turning to algorithms to make key decisions. Creating that culture takes time.

 Here are five key elements for finding the optimal mix of speed and patience in creating sustainable transformation:

 1.    Establish a long-term plan with clear milestones along the way.

At Cardinal Health, we started on a multi-year transformation journey about 18 months ago. As a $150 billion Fortune 15 company, we are focused on improving the cost-effectiveness of healthcare, and a robust augmented Intelligence strategy helps drive this success. Our five-year plan establishes long-term goals along with guideposts to keep us on track. For instance, at six-month intervals we know we will develop 20-30 bots as well as how we will increase the sophistication of the automation technology. We also have targets for how many hypotheses we will explore and how many algorithms we will put into production to provide price elasticity, optimize inventory, or improve customer service. In addition, we have a timeline for increasing the number of teams that will be exploring operational changes that are driven by our advancing analytics capability. These milestones help ensure we are working at a fast pace to innovate as we concurrently work on improving our data culture.

 2.    Take a top-down and bottom-up approach.

In developing our multi-year plan, we debated whether we should start with senior executives or end users. After some trial and error, we learned the correct answer was to include both to create a holistic view of needs, expectations and potential obstacles. To build a culture that could embrace transformation, we needed to understand views from across the organization. In this LinkedIn post, my colleague Michelle Greene reflects more on our collaborative approach to innovation at Cardinal Health.

3.    Evangelize.

With a clear plan in place, data & analytics leaders must communicate consistently to share the vision and provide updates on progress. Leaders can overcome opposition through consistent communication, influence and marketing. Take a pragmatic approach – the most sophisticated strategy will meet with resistance if our end user – does not fully understand why it will help them do a better job. Be transparent – talk about setbacks as well as successes.

 4.    Democratize data.

The days of the data analytics team controlling the keys to the kingdom are gone. Today people want to access it on their phones, from anywhere. Recognize that data analytics is a team sport, so create data sets that allow users to nurture it and get value from it. Rather than working with data in an isolated way, spend more time asking open-ended questions to uncover what our end users – the people who manage supply chains, sales, pricing and other disciplines – need from data. They are hungrier than ever for insights. By opening up discussions and data, you can ensure your technology meets their needs.

 5.    Don’t just throw money at it.

As technology teams deliver successes, senior leaders may ask whether they can drive innovation more quickly with additional funding and other resources. Most technologists would probably say yes, it will. But over the past 18 months, we have found that more resources will not help if the organization is not ready for the solutions that are created. They will simply gather dust. The technology team can build an innovative algorithm, but if the buy-in is not there for senior leadership to allow it to make decisions, it will go unused. That outcome cuts ROI and is generally counterproductive. Again, it is essential to invest in culture change as technology advances.

 By following these tips, organizations can find the right mix of speed and patience that ensures success. At Cardinal Health, we are continuously striving for this balance to innovate and transform healthcare in the years ahead. Would you like to be part of the effort? Enterprise IT is expanding our augmented intelligence team with more data and analytics specialists. To learn more visit CardinalHealth.com/careers.