The first mile!

The first mile!

(To Digital Transformation)[1]

?During the first internet revolution – the famous boom of the 2000 years – the number one theme in that internet/ e-commerce space was distribution. As the first outcome of the generalization of internet was the multiplication of platforms, the delivery to the consumer, ‘the last mile’ became the number one challenge.

In today’s world of digital transformation, my experience with corporate clients and SMEs is that the number one challenge has become ‘the first mile’ – i.e., what are the key steps to embark in an effective digital transformation (i.e., not just POCs) – and I believe that allegory applies to many of the most significant transformation challenges of the era – Digital, Sustainability, Diversity …

What do I mean by that?

There is a legend about the beautiful tree lined roads one can observe in France. It goes like this: while Napoleon was accompanying his troops to one of his European wars, he noticed that his soldiers and cavaliers, walking along the roads, were struggling with the heat. He turned to his aide-de-camp and said: we need to protect them from the sun, let’s plant trees along the roads. His aide very rationally answered: but Sir, it’s going to take ages! And Napoleon to respond: I know, this is why we need to start now! [2]

The first mile is the same concept: when a mammoth task – i.e., one of those transformation journeys – is in front of a business leader, he/ she might feel overwhelmed, and like a dear in the headlights, mesmerized … and frozen! What is needed is a nudge in the right direction, hence the first mile, a set of early decisions/ investments that will launch a serious journey and not open a series of dead ends!

What are the common components at an early stage of that journey? ?

The first and most obvious one is incarnation: CEOs who embrace Digital Transformation make it real for their employees. When Jean Paul Agon announces that L’Oréal wants to become a digital company – even if no-one really understands what that means – it is a clear and public commitment. Similarly, when Patrick Pouyanné launches the Total Digital Factory – the most ambitious one in Europe – it is a clear stake in the ground. When Paul Polman launched its Sustainable Growth Plan – he was the very first CEO in that space when Sustainability was more of an interrogation than a certainty – it changed the path for his company as well as for the entire Consumer Goods industry. ?As these leaders combined a commitment with a plan, i.e. the strategy to deliver a vision, success became probable: indeed, one is unlikely to reach a destination that has not been defined is a key principle of strategy!

The second component are the capabilities, human and technological. A Digital Transformation requires digital capabilities. Even if one can source talent and capacities externally to begin with, it is still necessary to build an expert team internally that will drive the journey and navigate the ecosystem, select the right tools and make the necessary investments around Data, Software, Applications …This is essential to scale the change, otherwise there will be small attempts, pilots and experimentation but the company will not be able to reap the benefits of the intended transformation. Moreover, technology is also needed to define the KPIs to measure progress. ?

A third component combines the culture and the ways of working, to avoid the consequences of the so-called Einstein insanity! [3]

One decides to become digital to become agile, not just in an IT sense – but as an organization, more resilient, reactive, adept and adaptive to change. The Covid era has shown how important were the digital ways of working to ensure business continuity in a time of disruption.

Similarly, to become more sustainable, a business needs to revisit many drivers: incentives, reporting tools, investment criteria … It has to embed sustainability from the product/ service design stage all the way to the execution stage.

As we see now in France around the activity of seniors (following the similar challenges around gender diversity), an organization cannot rely on its existing processes to drive a diversity focused rebalancing. It needs to revisit them, to change its performance indicators, its management culture, otherwise the objectives remain unattainable. ??

So, what is next, if a company has the leadership and vision, a new capabilities development path and a perspective on the culture change intended?

In my experience it requires a concrete and experimental path:

-???????A set of demonstrative use cases, i.e., a zero-carbon factory, a data-driven performance case, an adapted working model for seniors, ad hoc nominations …

-???????A program team: change of that nature needs to be driven, it cannot be delegated to the leaders who are delivering the performance on a day-to-day basis,

-???????A progressive set of milestones to track progress along the way: define the end point (Net Zero, Digital company, 50/50 and define steps to pave that journey and create a dynamique)

As one of my favorite INSEAD professor[4] used to stay: “Do the easy part first”, that’s how you create momentum!

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[1] If this blog is in English, it is because this topic – digital transformation – is more natural for me to address in my business language, i.e., English!

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[2] A law was passed in 1805 to create the conditions for planting plane trees along the national roads.

[3] Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result.

[4] David Young, INSEAD professor