Digital Transformation Strategy

If you are a Digital Leader & transformation focused executive in your/client organization - this article is just for you

Every business is going through digital transformation in some form or the other. In order to gain market share, drive modest margin expansion and pivot on high-growth high-value opportunities - organizations will have to prioritize formulating a cogent digital strategy with extraordinary focus and drive execution to digitize various parts of its business.

Evolutionary biology reveals that - Altering the Essence - would really mean a gene transfer impact in varying degrees, engaging an intense form of recombinant DNA transformation from Transformation to Transmutation (where one completely mutates into new). The digital choices, effort and investments that you drive towards evolving business from top-of-the-house to all lines of the business ends should be selective enough for guiding measurable business impact to its key stakeholders.

Resources always being finite, how should one go about weaving their digital strategy formulation and navigating the next - to increasing relevance, building competitive advantage and capturing value? To begin with, let's keep technology aside and begin with the business strategy aspirations, understanding the digital technology horizons and then connect the dots on the digital ambitions. You, the digital leader can focus on drawing the big picture canvas on 3 key focus areas: 1) Aligning strategic digital business initiatives 2) Fostering a learning organization & UP-ping team/talents digital quotient 3) Process re-engineering/busting & change management, what problems do we intend to solve & what operating efficiencies do we target improving?

Companies who choose to spend/do only optimizing work, use tech primarily to cut costs or make big bets on seasonal trends - will be at a serious caveman disadvantage down the line. Such companies risk ending up becoming - most efficient but also ending up most irrelevant. Engaging with lots of technologies can be time consuming, at times distracting and absolute focus is super critical for establishing clarity. You could be going all over to leveraging/making pressurized interventions with a host of new technologies.

Remember - finite resources and we have to make the infinite with knowledge ! Therefore, do not end up exhausting resources and falling into jack of all trade trap. Imagine driving tons of initiatives spanning various emerging technology spaces (...here's a bunch of jargons to make you feel lost !) - platform tech, hybrid workspaces, hybrid/multi cloud, multi-kub cluster, multi service mesh, modernizing datacenters, AIOPs, industry 4.0, web 3.0, blockchain, quantum computing, metaverse, digital interaction & experience platforms, service desk omni channel transforms, edge computing, NFV, IoT, sustainability, centralizing/decentralizing ERP/HRM/EPM, system of records, RPA and automations, M&A/subsidiary integrations, risk & compliance measures, devops tools - new security/threat shields, privacy and re-hauling architectures on software-defined everything, zero-trust, resiliency, microservices alongside the evolution.

Fast forward to the future, nothing significant will add up with people who jump in and pick few not-yet-mature early adoption in the emerging technologies. It is important to understand how new cutting-edge technologies, modern architectures will make deep impact to your business landscapes - be it revenue enablement, competition displacement, driving efficiencies. This path and roadmap needs to be structured and guided with well-calibrated business experiments. Note how rules of the competition games are shifting from faster-cheaper-better only to truly building competitive advantage with network effects across value-chains.

Digital capability building happens with people who have a strong conviction and willingness to learn skills that make new ability and who are constantly - innovating, networking and powering new value chains. Build-nurture-develop-grow great teams by 1) Leading incredibly worthwhile changes 2) Building Future 3) Growing together. They operate at a different vantage point in the people side of the equation. M&As can be a vehicle to ramp up areas where . Be sensitive of the change resistance and challenges that would arise, root and establish the culture of change. Diversity, not just gender but generational mix is another brewing problem as we bring millennials and older generations to collaborate on our purposeful orbit-shifts. A practitioners approach that is adaptive and iterative speaks volumes. Every organization should focus on training their talent pools, assembling and preparing teams into getting future-ready.

As you descend the processes dimension curve, simplify and move beyond optimization to process busting unwarranted overheads. Leverage as-is/to-be process maps and guide process reengineering to delivering amazing digital experiences on systems. As team reimagines, keep the user/customer at the center of the experience design and our universe - engage design thinking approach where feasible.

Trust this article has given you a high level approach and ideas/perspectives to shaping Digital Strategy formulation in advisory capacities. Leverage technology, play/display digital intensity and create impactful systems that outlive our times.