How do I digitally transform my Business Unit???

I am writing this article after becoming increasingly alarmed at the amount of people, no matter their experience, seemingly having a similar issue. Namely, wanting to digitally transform their business unit, division, organisation but with no idea where to start... As such, my intent in writing this article is to give business unit leaders a cheat sheet to driving digital transformation.

My expertise in the field of digital transformation lies in the role of sales where we assist organisations discover automation opportunities and align relevant technology to enable automation to occur. This has allowed me exposure to most technologies that enable an organisation to implement automation in their business, this includes, but is not limited to: RPA, IoT, AI, ML, Workflow, Document Management, BPM, ERP and any other acronyms that you can think of that sounds technical and fancy...

No matter the type of implementation, the one commonality, no matter the implementation, is... PROCESS!!!

Process is the starting point to any conversation that relates to improvements in an organisation, however, with this said, process, in most organisations, is a static document attempting to reflect a dynamic operation which is your business. Simply put, process improvements is not sexy, yes I said sexy. Digital Transformation on the other hand is.

Digital transformation is the buzzword because it drives the following needs in an organisation:

1. The need to make more money in the business or drive more revenue
2. The need to optimise the business thereby reducing overheads
3. The need to comply to a policy, legislation, laws, etc

With this being said, how are you supposed to improve something that you have no view of. So process becomes the logical first step. At this step, most individuals state that their processes are mapped out and refer to some Word, Powerpoint, Excel or Visio Document that is lurking somewhere on the local intranet, hidden, only to see the light in the event of an audit or implementation of the organisation latest ERP. This makes me realise that this organisation is process immature and my issue with this answer is two fold.

• Firstly, business processes should be a dynamic element in an organisation. Processes are consistently changing yet the need to document them falls by the wayside therefore forcing an organisation to rely on key individuals or worse, stakeholders external to the company.
• Secondly, quantification. Yes, your process might be mapped out but do you have a view of the people and technology involved in each step of the process. Do you understand the financial and time based implications of a process in the organisation. If not, you have no view of the actual bottlenecks and/or challenges that you organisation is facing.

So what I am wanting to enforce is the following:

SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION = PROCESS MATURITY

The importance of process was highlighted when General Motors were struggling to compete against Toyota. Toyota's focus on process allowed them to introduce various methodologies including Kaizen, LEAN and Just in Time (JIT). 3 methodologies that enabled them to surpass even their biggest competitors. The added benefit of having a process mature organisation is that business leaders are able to find improvements to their business processes without the need for a technological impact.

Once the organisation has a better understanding of their processes, they are now empowered to understand where the financial and/or time impacts/bottlenecks are. Additionally, leaders are able to understand the consequences of these impacts throughout the process journey. Understanding these consequences enables a business leader to motivate to the rest of business why the organisation is in need of a specific solutions, platform or technology. I will illustrate this with a real world example:

A manufacturing company with 50 white collar employees and 300 blue collar employees is currently using physical paper to track the leave of its employees. The HR director notes that this is creating a headache in his department, however, due to lack of visibility of the process, he is unable to motivate for a digital solution. He decides to map out the current AS-IS leave process noting the time, money and people involved in each step of the process. After a week of mapping he realises that besides the direct costs of printing, scanning and data capturing, his organisation has been mismanaging the leave process. This mismanagement has led to numerous leave days not being accounted for leading to financial loss to the organisation, which he is able to quantify.

Armed with this information, the HR Director understands the financial impact of the current AS-IS process and presents this to the board. Additionally, with this information, he is in a position to engage with vendors showcasing the process that he is wanting to emulate as well as the current cost that he is wanting to reduce. This information enables vendors to immediately understand the challenge at hand and propose a solution that will solve the problem within the allocated budget or walk away should their solution not be viable. The HR Director will also be in a position to approach multiple vendors and be able to compare apples with apples focusing on whether the proposed solution solves his problem at hand.

The above example is one that I have come into contact time and again with the solution being very obvious. By mapping out the solution, the users together with the leader is in a strong business to make a holistic decision that encompasses the department in full. However, the above case is only true for department specific solutions.

In an organisation that is more process mature, the C-suite is able to adopt enterprise grade technology that will solve multiple challenges for an organisation across business units. As a business leader, you are wanting the best solution within your organisation, however, weak business cases often deter you from choosing the best, settling for a cheaper alternative with a weaker implementation team. By having a holistic view presented by multiple business units, leaders can opt for top right hand Gartner Quadrant technology.

If you one thing away from the above it is this... PROCESS!!!!