𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝟒 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥
According to the new research published by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the majority of companies that orient their policy towards digital transformation (DT) fail to achieve their objectives.
I’ve analyzed why such negative statistics may take place nowadays and distinguished the 4 most important mistakes.
𝟏. 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Digital transformation is always a great opportunity to rethink and optimize business processes of a company. However, many companies treat DT as a way to solve a specific issue, for example, to reduce staff, thus simply transferring their existing business processes to a digital environment.
Indeed, DT may provide new features that help solve the issue. But the main advantages of DT are still left unused. Such phenomenon is better called “transferring to digital environment” than “digital transformation”. As a result, the costs for development and support of a new digitalized process affects the price of the company’s product. What we see in the end is that the company's performance was higher before DT.
When planning DT, it is necessary to clearly understand the purpose of this transformation, define the main indicators, and evaluate the performance. In recent years, we have been witnessing a growth of companies that had gone through DT and received a solution that required modernization from the very first days of consumption.
𝟐. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 “𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭” 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
DT provides a variety of tools, which are comprehensive and simple to implement. The right culture helps a company accelerate the process of DT and strengthen the result. The companies that are not only ready for changes, but also are capable for their effective implementation at all levels, can get the maximum value from the DT adoption. Having a culture that would encourage for that is one of the main keys to the DT success.
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𝟑. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
A company should have experts in specific technologies, analyze first before making a decision, and not to force the transformation faster than it’s necessary. An error in any of the points may lead to large financial and temporary losses.
𝟒. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬
If the leadership of the company is not involved in the DT strategy or does not support it for 100%, this may easily result in a “halt in the middle of the road”. Moreover, if the strategy is not approved at all levels, common decision mistakes may start to penetrate into all business processes, which usually complicates DT and leads it to the dead end.
I’d like to sum up all the listed points with one simple analogy.
DT can be compared with crossing a dense forest with a lot of paths. Whenever you decide to make a pass, I would recommend taking the following things with you:
And finally, you should be ready for surprises along the way.
