Best Practices for Digital Transformation – CEO Playbook for 2022
?If there's one thing the business world has learned over the past two years of global upheaval, IT is no more the sole domain of the IT department. Today, CEOs must leverage digitization to improve their business model, stay competitive, and increase flexibility. Those that aren't doing this are setting themselves up for failure.
It's a complex statement, but it's true. The CEO who leaves digital strategy to their internal IT team ignores the most significant business enabler of this 4th Industrial Revolution.
In this article, we'll give you the 30,000-foot view that you as a CEO need to guide your company into a better competitive position in an ever-evolving marketplace.
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See Digital Transformation as a Driver of Business Value
Too many business leaders struggle with the concept of digital transformation because they fear change. They have the idea that digital transformation is all about technology.
It's not.
And it's not about using the latest, experimental, cutting-edge tech either.
The digitization of your workflow is all about doing business better - making your employees' workday easier and enabling superior service delivery to your customers.
A CEO that can see past the technology to the business value that technology can drive within the company will be one step closer to successfully using tech to improve their business.
?Realize that Digital Transformation is More than an Initial IT Project
The idea that you can bring in a digital transformation consultant, spend a bunch of money, and have a one-and-done solution that will last your business years is a myth. Yes, initial things have to be assessed, remediated, and initiated, but after that, digitization is an ongoing, iterative process.
This agile process will help your business keep pace in a global marketplace.
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Imagine the Possibilities when IT Supports Innovation
You're a business leader. You have a vision for your organization – what it can become, and its good for investors, customers, and society.
Innovation doesn't begin with technology.
It starts with big ideas.
Digital transformation consultants must find technologies to form the infrastructure needed to develop companies for growth and success.
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Take it One Step at a Time
Small wins help your team to have confidence in the digital transformation strategy. Choose to start with an area of your business in which digital transformation can provide high ROI, and start with that piece. By building step by step, you can gain support for your leadership in digital transformation and maintain vital momentum.
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Hire the Right People – and Keep Them
A recent Forbes article points out the importance of hiring those who have an affinity for technology and can help plan strategies for digital development
Today's workforce is fundamentally different in mindset than the pre-pandemic workforce. Employees now place a premium on work/life balance. They also prefer to work for companies that positively impact society. The type of technology chosen and its utilization will help attract and retain good staff.
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Include IT In Your Business Strategy
CEOs who still see IT only as a business add-on that "helps run a business" are falling further behind the current competition and venture-backed startups. Think of digital transformation as the catalyst – the yeast that makes the bread rise. Yes, you're the business leader, and your ideas can make or break the company, but it's IT that can bring those ideas to life. Assess current infrastructure. Where can technology be improved to support future business demands?
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Adopt IT Solutions that Help Forward Movement
We said earlier that digital transformation isn't a destination but a journey – an iterative process that gets you closer and closer to your organizational objectives.
That is true, but here's the challenge: ?organizational objectives change as new opportunities open up in the marketplace. Regular adoption of digital technologies helps innovate the next stage of your business growth; and assures that business momentum doesn't stagnate and fall behind.
Regular adoption of digital technologies helps innovate the next stage of your business growth; and assures that business momentum doesn't stagnate and fall behind. A series of IronOrbit blogs detail the different stages of a true digital transformation and how the second stage builds on the first.
For example, stage one involves replacing legacy systems, processes, and siloed business units with standardized and shared systems, processes, and data. Just accomplishing these tasks alone has significant benefits to the overall business by ensuring reliable, stable, and secure operations. Companies that achieve this foundation are 2.5 times as agile and forty-four percent more innovative than companies without such accomplishments. Reaching these objectives doesn't happen overnight, so the sooner they're acting upon, the better.?
In Conclusion:
The CEO doesn’t have to have all the answers when it comes to the nuts and bolts of digital transformation. However, it’s critical that enthusiasm for and leadership of digital transformation comes from the top of the organization. By implementing these best practices, you can spearhead the digital transformation effort within your company – even if you don’t know your RAM from your ROM.