5 things NOT to do in a digital transformation

Digital transformation. Digitalisation. Digital disruption. We've heard these terms bandied about. But rarely have we seen it defined. Instead, we get a laundry list of the latest and greatest digital trends impacting businesses - social media analytics, cloud, Big Data, IoT, everythingunderthesun-as-a-service etc etc... wouldn't some practical advice about the common pitfalls of 'digitally transforming' an organisation be useful?

For the purposes of this article, let's articulate what is and what isn't digital transformation. A pure business transformation involves successfully engaging, and performing, under a new business model. An IT transformation involves the dual-use of IT as a strategic enabler and the solid infrastructure which supports business functions.

Digital transformation efforts fuse the traditionally disparate domains of "the business" and "IT" together. It recognises IT cannot be optimised without innate knowledge and understanding of the business value chain. Only with this know-how will insights be gleaned from the expanse of data at IT's disposal. This enables IT to contribute directly to customer value, competitive advantage and ultimately: the bottom line. 

By no means an exhaustive list... below are some big ticket no-no's when undertaking a digital transformation. 

1  Not defining a holistic view of all-things-digital

Don't lob digital transformation into the same bucket as technology implementations. Instead of narrowly focusing on technology or how IT operates in the business, climb to the top of the pyramid and take a good hard look around. Explicitly identify the end game. Is it cost reduction, revenue growth or exceeding industry benchmarks?

The more digitally immature the organisation, the greater their focus on individual technologies and operational tactics. As organisations mature, digital strategies are developed with a view of transforming the entire business.

Conceptualising the end game will direct your efforts in identifying how data is used, collected, analysed and monetised. This allows better scoping of how digital technologies may impact the business. The key is not to obtain more information - but the right information - to develop a clearly defined digital strategy.

2  Not planning to collaborate, or collaborating to plan

To quote the good Mr Churchill, "those who fail to plan, plan to fail". Without a game plan or process to follow, progress will be limited to just talk. Talk that's going nowhere fast. Talk that is potentially one-sided (the business not taking technology constraints and implications into account, and vice versa). I've encountered IT teams that detest sharing information and intentionally converse in tech-speak to confuse and exclude colleagues. This stifles growth, squishes collaboration and makes scalability impossible. Ensure representatives from both the business and IT are in the same room, focused on shared objectives, speak a common language, and understand the overarching corporate strategy.

Collaboration - within the IT team and other areas, is imperative. Develop an approach blending business and IT perspectives, encourage participation from both sides, and build a process to obtain agreement on how to translate the resulting joint ideas into tangible actions. This will help get that first initiative off the ground. 

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” H Keller

3  Not orchestrating a roadmap of technology-based wins

Too often, the IT department is synonymous with 'help desk'. Someone to berate when tech goes wrong. For true digital transformation to occur, IT leaders must be innovative, aware of current and emerging tech-driven practices and have the autonomy to explore and experiment.

IT-themed discussions with the business need to encompass the full economic gamut - the costs of introduction, support, transition, maintenance and decommissioning - contrasted with the opportunity costs and benefits to be realised. The goal is to launch a series of quick wins, develop an appetite for change, and walk away with a staged roll out (e.g. now, next 6-12 months, +12 months) of agreed technology initiatives from the momentum generated.

4  Not obtaining the right person to lead IT change

Leading a change is hard work. Suppose you've secured an active and visible executive sponsor for the digital transformation. You still need someone from IT to champion the technology-related changes within and impacting the department.

What does this someone look like? Committed. Respected. Made of the right 'stuff', possessing leadership traits such as these is a good start. If your IT team is anything like the ones I've encountered, they're engulfed managing the day-to-day operations of the organisation's IT infrastructure or eyeballs deep in client delivery mode. 

Identify and cultivate team members with leadership potential. They'll jump at the chance to make an impact, and the systems or clients they were supporting tend be reassigned, lowered in priority or causes such an issue (because the team member was a single point of failure) it forces the business to take steps to mobilise a redundancy. 

5  Not sharing or learning from others

We need to break down the silos and become better at two-way communication. Sure, learning from data is important. Even more critical is sharing the learning with others. As the business moves up the digital maturity curve, IT will improve its ability to ask the right questions about the data and to capture credible insights from it.

This must be pre-faced with an integrated team environment in which the business and IT are on equal footing, with each party valuing the other's expertise and views. 

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." B Franklin

Digital transformation is still in its infancy. It carries different connotations depending on the business you're in, and I feel a truly defined end state of a 'digitally transformed' organisation is still murky. However, several success criteria are coming to light. A clear digital strategy focused on holistic transformation (vs limited to a productivity or customer focus), an innovative, collaborative learning culture, and the right people leading the transformation. 

Have I missed something? What are your experiences with digital transformation?

Like what you read? More of my musings below...

• 8 reasons why being a change manager makes you mentally tough
• Part 1: 7 signs of a toxic workplace
• Part 2: 7 signs of a toxic workplace
• Servant leadership's role in imparting change
• 10 leadership lessons from the front line of policing
• 5 infuriating stakeholders and how to deal with them
• Leveraging the ambivert advantage
• 5 ways change management increases organisational 'health'

"Strategy is actually very straightforward. Pick a general direction and implement like hell." - J Welch