How to Accelerate Your Digital Transformation
Reworked released an article earlier this month on how businesses can utilise technology to improve outcomes. Here are some key points mentioned:
- 70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy or are working on one, according to ZDNet.
- VP of Engineering for OnLogic, Michael Kleiner, has stated that digital transformation is about how technologies solve issues rather than simply adopting them – he is quoted to have said that digital transformation requires the company to try a new process rather than the right technology.
- Drew Falkman, Director of Strategy at Modus Create (digital transformation consulting company), is quoted to have said that the definition of digital transformation varies depending on the organisation, therefore innovation and adaptability are vital for keeping companies competitive and disruptive.
Tips for starting your digital transformation:
- After coming up with your own definition of digital transformation, start with identifying and aligning on a goal; e.g. looking for places with measurable ROI, with high impact but relatively low effort.
- The starting point will vary across industries, although organisations that acknowledge a requirement for transforming how they conduct business will generally find a reduction in efficiency, leading to an impact on their bottom line.
- Other key starting points include: adopting agile methodology, devops adoption, and cloud transformation, and upgrading to an improved operational software.
- Businesses should ask themselves, ‘how can we improve this, and what data do we need to improve it?’ – for example, the manufacturing industry has benefited greatly from digital transformation as it began identifying how factory floors could become more efficient and smarter by deploying predictive models and downtime monitoring.
The article concludes by reiterating that where you start, and how well you adapt to change matters.
Falkman recommends starting out with a pilot to work out the kinks if you are considering larger transformations. Kleiner also suggests starting out small, such as identifying an obvious efficiency gap and determining an easy solution, before working up to bigger transformations.
This is all great advice. The AREA also guides for getting started if Augmented Reality technology is the way forward for your organization.