Everyone is moving into digital right now – out of choice or necessity – from cloud migration to workplace mobility; via enhanced security and scalable capacity.
However, there are different ways to do this; just as there are different factors driving digital transformation. But one thing remains constant – driving change within your organisation means that some fundamental shifts are needed to align with the benefits that digital transformation brings: from business strategy to user adoption and everything in between.
Moving from an analogue way of working into a digital one takes collaboration and communication. It’s a process – a journey that has a beginning, middle, and end. We look at it as having five key stages that businesses must move through at their own pace.
We’ll look at the first stages – Ambition and Design, – in this blog, and focus on the secondary stages (Delivery, Scalability, and Revision) in another.
Ambition
The first step involves understanding the reason behind your move; understanding the ‘why’ – what is the challenge your business is facing and how can you overcome it? For many companies right now, COVID-19 is the momentum behind the shift towards remote working.
However, for change to last – and to make sure it’s a worthwhile investment of time and money – a broader ambition is needed. In order for your company to build a solid foundation you first need to assess the current state of your business and how prepared it is to embrace that ambition – including your users.
For example, a good reason to overhaul an on-premise server or legacy telephony system could be a move to a new office, or a need to accommodate a growing workforce with a more reliable solution. Another reason is a move to a new online collaboration tool: to connect project teams and easily share content remotely.
In this respect, digital transformation can – and should – be at the core of any fundamental change to how you do business. But technology alone should never be the driving force: merely the way to do it.
Design
When everyone converges towards a common goal with a clear scope and mandate. It’s a whole lot easier to design a solution that fits.
However, it’s also easy to design a solution with a singular purpose – one that fits the needs of a siloed department or business unit. But, often, with some additional probing, it can transpire that the issues one department faces are shared by others too.
Therefore, when designing the right solution, it’s important to maintain a strategic perspective – to identify the necessary business outcomes driving digital transformation, and align these with the wider customer experience and business goals, in order to create software and hardware solutions that can be embraced by everyone – not just a single group.
Ultimately, in these initial stages of digital transformation, the key to making a solid plan is to take a good look at your business’ needs and to understand the key motivations for change – before exploring what the appropriate solutions might be.
To get a better understanding of how to deliver change, encourage feedback, and new initiatives are adopted by users, check out our second blog: ‘Steps For Success Part 2’
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