Sunday, July 21, 2024
Here’s a question: What is the elephant in the room for Digital Transformation? Answer: It is that Digital Transformation itself is usually a huge, expensive, and often difficult-to-execute project. (It literally is the elephant of all projects.) Despite the complexity, the reason it is compelling is that it is… transformative.
Yet are there other, perhaps less transformative opportunities, that are sometimes overlooked? Instead of a transformation strategy, can an evolutionary one, focused on continuous improvement and digital opportunity, also move the needle, at least part way? The answer is a resounding yes.
Here are four questions that can uncover these opportunities, and a few ideas:
- How might digital drive service quality? (Post-sales NPS survey, Digital rewards for service heroes, Video-based training on service quality, Client-accessible knowledge base, Client extranet.)
- How might digital drive sales? (Marketing automation, CRM, Improved digital ad performance, Online community.)
- How might digital drive culture? (Slack or Teams, digital town halls, updated intranet, Internal social media system, collaborative document management system.)
- How might digital drive efficiency? (Tech training, Client and supplier self-serve tools such as an extranet, knowledge base, payment gateways, etc., Digital signatures, Zoom/Teams, iPads, larger monitors.)
This week’s action plan:
Looking at the list of digital projects that are currently underway at your organization, how many of them fit into these categories? Too often, the rationale for specific digital projects gets lost a few years after implementation. This week, choose one or two digital initiatives that have overstayed their welcome, and use the resources instead in a project that answers one of these four questions. When you do, you’ll be one step closer to answering a fifth: How might digital drive competitive advantage?
Digital strategy insight: The best digital strategies are a blend of evolutionary and transformative change: the difference is often the timeline. Evolutionary change provides tactical benefits for the shorter term, and eventually make a big difference. Transformational change provides strategic differentiation over the longer term, while also disrupting the market. Both are necessary.
Related post: Transformational Thinking
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