Having a Proven Method for Evaluating Your Pharma Digital Transformation Program Is a Vital Step in Achieving Organizational Readiness (3/3)

ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS: THE FIRST STEP TO DIGITAL EXCELLENCE

Digital excellence (DX) is comprised of three interlocking parts: organizational readiness, importance and knowledge, and process and capabilities (see Figure 1). Digital transformation will not take hold unless an organization is ready for it. We divide organizational readiness into four phases: assess, launch, accelerate, and optimize, each of which has three specific drivers of digital excellence (see Figure 2).

ARE FIRMS ASSESSING THEIR PROGRESS TOWARD DIGITAL EXCELLENCE?

Digital teams know that many factors influence the extent to which their organization adopts new digital media and technology—and that many of these factors don’t actually relate to the technology, but to the organization’s readiness to take on digital transformation. What some teams don’t recognize is that a disciplined approach to digital transformation—embodied in an assessment framework—pays off and drives DX.1 We asked senior digital leaders at large pharmaceutical firms to what extent they have an assessment framework in place to evaluate their digital transformation progress. Overall, digital leaders rated their maturity in this area at 62%, which is good. Of the twelve DX drivers, the Assessment Framework has the largest gap between the most and least mature firm: 63% (see Figure 3). We conclude that:

• Progress on assessments is hit-or-miss. When we asked digital leaders whether senior management measures their team’s progress, only three of the nine firms reported excellent maturity, suggesting that they do this consistently. Two of the firms missed the mark, while the remaining four are getting there but still have a way to go.
• Firms measure project KPIs, but do so inconsistently. The other element of the assessment framework is whether digital teams consistently embed customer and business metrics into their digital activities. This is not only to improve the customer experience, but also to build business cases as ways to support their Vision and Buy-In efforts.2 While no company in our industry benchmark reported poor maturity, several firms, including Sanofi and Lilly, don’t consistently prepare and launch digital initiatives with a set of KPIs.

• Digital leaders should make their intervention options more visible. Many digital leaders take pride in their ability to execute, but some move too quickly to the next big digital initiative. Senior leaders want digital to scale; they also want it to deliver broad capabilities and be adopted throughout the organization. Project-level challenges are different from organizational challenges, and digital leaders need to take the company’s pulse on the latter. Assessment frameworks such as our organizational readiness model can accelerate digital transformation by diligently assessing, tracking, and deciding on the next best intervention.

This LinkedIn DT Blog Post is an extract. To understand more about having a proven method for evaluating your digital transformation program is a vital step in achieving organizational readiness, read or download the complete research report from DT Associates at: Assessment Framework: How To Plan For And Adjust To Your Digital Transformation

Companies Surveyed For This Report: AbbVie, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson / Janssen, Mylan, Merck & Co, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, Teva.