How To Develop A Digital Transformation Strategy

With rapid technological advances in the IT sector come digital disruptions, which can instantly cripple a company’s business operations. Companies need to be able and willing to adapt and be well prepared and innovative to overcome this and remain competitive. This can only be achieved through a thorough digital transformation strategy.

This strategy will need to address three main issues;

1) What is the current IT status of the business?

2) What objectives does the business want its IT to achieve?

3) What is the budget to meet these objectives?

Only once the business processes and operations are fully understood can these questions be answered. Having a grasp of these functions will make it easier to identify opportunities as well as problems.

Steps to a Winning Digital Transformation Strategy

A digital transformation strategy will undoubtedly affect every part of the business, so it is important to get buy-in from all employees and management. Resistance to change is to be expected, but it will derail the best-laid plans if not managed correctly. Therefore, management needs to share the vision in such a way as to unite all employees or key personnel to achieve complete alignment and ultimate transformational success.

Implementing this strategy will involve a sustained effort on many fronts and from many partners since various cross-functional skills will be required to achieve all the objectives. Businesses may consider contracting an experienced IT business partner to assist them with the multiple aspects of the project. An external consultant, such as Westech, helps companies identify the skill sets and competencies they will need to add future capacity and capabilities for this project.

Digital transformation will be an ongoing project for any company; therefore, the company must allocate sufficient funds for this endeavour. By having an initial idea of the budget available, businesses, together with their outsourced IT partner, can efficiently identify their priorities and allocate the necessary funds.

As mentioned earlier, having a thorough understanding of the business’s processes and operations is essential. It will result in a large amount of data that must be effectively used to build a strong foundation for digital transformation. In addition, it can also be leveraged to overcome the competition.

There will be significant changes ahead. Some of these changes will force certain processes to be completely overhauled for various stakeholders, hence the importance of getting buy-in from all stakeholders from the beginning. It may also be necessary to gain buy-in from different stakeholders at various milestones to ensure good progress. There are many different elements in a digital transformation strategy, but the outcome will only be successful if the vision is transparent and the cultural aspects are carefully considered. For more information on approaching a digital transformation strategy, contact Westech.