DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – So Near Yet So Far

Companies often have dozens, or hundreds, of digital initiatives underway, leading to confusion and wasted resources.

Companies use digital to generate rapid performance improvements.

However, management teams often don’t quite know how to get started, and they underestimate the urgency. Sometimes, they are fully occupied running the business day-to-day, and digital lies outside their area of expertise.

Here are a few steps to begin capitalizing on digital:

· Understand your company’s level of digital maturity. A systematic assessment can establish a baseline for the organization and ensure that you are setting the right level of ambition—pushing for change while still being realistic about what is possible.

· Prioritize areas of improvement and digital levers according to the amount of time needed to implement them and the potential value they can generate.

· Prioritize among digital projects. Companies often have dozens, or hundreds, of digital initiatives underway, leading to confusion and wasted resources. Digital tracking tools can help segment the portfolio and prioritize initiatives with the greatest short-term ROI. That approach reduces costs and complexity, allowing companies to make faster progress on their digitization journey.

· Capitalize on the cloud. Most companies do not need to revamp their technology foundation or make major investments in infrastructure to begin benefiting from digital. In many cases, they can overlay new tools and applications on top of existing systems via cloud-based digital solutions. These tools reduce the complexity of a company’s technology portfolio and eliminate the need for specialist resources.

· Apply agile processes. Rather than traditional implementation methods, an agile approach with dedicated product owners and collocated, cross-functional teams can generate better results.

Most leadership teams recognize that they need to improve their company’s performance, in terms of costs, revenue growth, and profit margins.

But not many know that they can achieve faster—and more sustainable—results than they anticipated by relying on digital tools and applications.