Five questions before you begin your digital transformation

No one gets out of here, no one hides. It’s a matter of time before any company goes through digital transformation and embraces the cloud, robots, artificial intelligence, dev-ops, data analysis and the list is only at the beginning.
And then, there is no reason to go back.

When we talk about digital transformation, we say that there is this necessary change in business processes to take advantage of new digital technologies and the front-runners there is definitely the Cloud. IDC predicts that by 2018, two-thirds of global companies CEOs will put digital transformation at the center of their strategy.

Cloud, robots, artificial intelligence, data analysis, all becomes part of everyday business.

For the time being, the champions of this transformation are startups and mid-sized companies where new technologies bring economies of scale and synergies that can decide the future of those business. But digitization will also reach everyone regardless of size.

More and more will, but not all of them succeed. At least two-thirds of digital transformation projects fail. That is, the money spent does not bring the expected profits, and even produce disruptive effects in the company’s processes.

And then, what should a CEO know before he starts a digital transformation of the business he leads? Here are some ideas from the Harvard Business Review.

• Is it an upgrade or a digital transformation? Ask yourself if you are only going to increase the share of digital business processes, or use technology to change the way you work, especially in customer interactions.
• Are you sure you want that? Is your team also convinced? There are many situations in which management is not passionate about the idea of digital transformation, it knows that it should do it, but it does not take heart.
• Have you given enough power to the digital team? A digital transformation needs a team with extended mandate and strong support in the company. This team needs the symbolic power to influence and translate changes into the company’s structure. Digital advances can be limited by camping the team into marketing or IT.
• Do you know how to measure the value you create? Digital transformation does not always influence KPIs measured by the company, at least not immediately. First of all, it is worthwhile to look at intermediate indicators such as feeling, involvement, customer network development, customer satisfaction.
• Are you ready to make tough decisions with your team? An old saying says “it’s easier to change people than to change people.” The Harvard Business Review estimates that almost half of the team and even the board should change over a successful digital transformation. This also creates a balance between new and old people.

It is not simple, but there is no other way. Forrester predicts, perhaps quite dramatically, that by 2020 every business will become either a digital predator or a digital victim. No one wants to wait until then to see if the prediction is confirmed.

As your customers learn to embrace digital experiences and technologies as a normal part of their lives, their expectations constantly evolve. These expectations shape their perceptions of value. To succeed in the future, your business must learn to embrace digital thinking to meet and exceed your customer’s expectations. But embracing digital thinking is more than building a snappy website or implementing a new social media marketing…

Really powerful words as Digital Transformation is a journey, not a destination. This journey is centered around the customer as the customer becomes digital and the customer is the new market-maker.