Top 5 Digital Transformation Business Targets

Digital Transformation should not be mistaken for delivering models like Airbnd or Uber. For existing organisations, the targets of transformation are different and go far beyond consumer mobile services.

Governance, process, culture, efficiency and business model are the real targets of transformation, updating the technology is a key enabler, but not the core reason driving change. So lets define these goals in a little more detail, and the change required in each area.

Governance - Driving efficiency and competitiveness, a agile, low friction governance model is required which produces a shallow organisational structure, all employees have a voice and are more empowered, inclusivity.

This is a difficult change, for staff conditioned over decades in a high governance model, it can feel reckless and alien. This presents a troubling change, that can make employees feel less empowered and even threatened if not positively adopted.

Process - Is also targeting efficiency, existing processes evolved as linear workflows, providing an opportunity today for improvement, this is were social and collaborative workflows come in. The diagram below shows the typical linear model which is resource intensive, slow and requires multiple resource intensive meetings.

Providing new social, and collaborative tools is only the first enabling step to changing workflow, adoption should be encouraged by clear narrative speaking directly about how this new model can be a beneficial and again inclusive.

Culture - Encompassing behavior, values, and interaction, a key behavior in many organisations was a high value placed on a steady state approach, change introduces risk, which was unacceptable and often compressed into bursts of disruptive change, followed by large gaps of no change, both periods resulted in negative business impact and a frustration within the organisation.

Transformation should look to aid remodeling of culture to embrace a constant ripple of change, and the benefits this can bring. This can start with the technology services but is dependent on the first two points, Governance & Process.

Efficiency - Is a the component of all these targets, and a core outcome of transformation, but one some interpret as a threat. All opportunities should be embraced to drive efficiency, including putting institutional knowledge & data at the center of all activity. A higher skilled, more knowledgeable, and smaller organisation is a key deliverable.

Business Model - Across all business sectors, the classic model of all value chain components held within the organisation is evolving into a new model. A smaller more efficient organisation supplemented with close external partnerships, enabled in large by moving data to the cloud. This is such a core remodeling, and should greatly influence transformation activity to ensure this goal is achieved.

All 5 points above are closely linked, which takes me to the a final point, transformation should enable a culture change to the silo'd structure of the organisation, breaking down the internal silo structure of the organisation resulting in a company wide community. The tension these changes generate should be acknowledged and defused, or transformation will likely fail to achieve the objectives outlined above.