8 Steps for #DigitalTransformation

What do?John Deere,?Delta Air Lines,?General Motors?and?Abbott?have in common? These traditional companies are re-inventing themselves as tech companies.?Deere?uses data and AI to bring next generation tractors to farmers. Delta’s?Parallel Reality?presents your flight information – just your info - on a shared billboard as you through their lounge. GM announced their move to electric vehicles. Abbot uses tech to deliver highly personalized medical treatments.

COVID accelerated the digital transformation of many businesses. Organizations who embraced transformation kept their brand in market during the pandemic.?

Here are?8 considerations?for leaders leading the #digitaltransformation of their business:

1.?????What problem you are trying to solve?

Is it changing how you engage customers, entering a new market or repositioning your brand for growth? In my case, as SVP Marketing at?Consumer Technology Association, it was reinventing CES, the world’s most influential technology event, as a digital event. How do you bring a global community, that normally meets face to face in Las Vegas, together online to keep doing business??

2.?????Know your audiences and stakeholders

Identify your audiences and stake holders involved in the transformation. What do you know about them? What insights does that data reveal? Getting a handle on your data is the foundation to transformation.

3.?????Re-imagine, not re-create

Start by re-imagine how you engage with your customers. When the trade show industry was faced with COVID, many tech solutions tried to replicate the physical world with little avatars walking through virtual exhibit. No one wanted that flat experience. Look beyond your industry. The best evolutions in digital engagement are happening in media, music and sports.

4.?????Set Your Digital Roadmap

Be realistic about your capabilities and set your transformation strategy. This includes the data you have and need, the skills and talent on your team, the organization’s structure and the technology needed.

5.?????Meet people where they are

Your audience is not a homogeneous mass and they consume content in different ways. Knowing your audience is critical (See No. 2). People are now playing in the?#metaverse. If a portion of your audience are there, meet them there.?

6.?????Lead through change

Leaders often underestimate the investment required to lead an organization through change. Engage all your stakeholders and don’t assume everyone is onboard. People move at different speeds and you need to bring everyone with you.?

7.?????Try, evaluate and refine

Transformation is typically a multi-year journey. You will make mistakes. Accept, learn and then move on.

8.?????Be the face of change??

Technology is changing our lives. Be the eyes and ears of your organization and learn about disruptive tech such as?#AI?and the?#metaverse. Understand the pros and cons of the tech but don’t ignore it. Do not be left behind.?

Be like Netflix, not like Blockbuster!