4 Steps to a Successful Digital Transformation Strategy

In a business reality where ‘the business' increasingly decides on technology budgets, we see IT and information management professionals struggling to speak the language of the CMO or other business executives who are not their ‘target audience'.

It's one of the reasons why IT companies are creating or purchasing "digital transformation consultants" with origins in marketing, business, or even agency.

Effective change management is critical to going digital (Deloitte, infographic below)

It's also why some digital transformation consulting companies are struggling to expand. They can't meet the growing need for end-to-end digital transformation strategies because they lack deep IT and information management capabilities.

That is, many of them struggle to establish the bridges needed in the holistic phenomena known as digital transformation.

Alternatively, many marketing executives are unfamiliar with business process management, critical technology advancements, and ideas or techniques of business process reengineering and/or optimization.

Strategies for digital transformation

There are more bridges to create than simply those between IT and business. We've already discussed the need for information bridges between back end and front office, content and processes (integration), human and machine, and machine to machine (Internet of Things), raw data and actionable intelligence, etc. As previously said, integrating information/content and processes is essential for the company and knowledge worker.

According to Professor Michael Wade, all companies must acquire three fundamental capabilities: hyper-awareness, educated decision-making, and rapid execution. More in the presentation below.

It's easy to see how much bridging of processes, people, information sources, silos, and gaps is required.

Information is everywhere and drives digital transformation. Big data quantities, formats, and sources are exploding. The challenge for top businesses is how to convert all this data into actionable information that leads to new possibilities.

Managing information needs a comprehensive and integrated strategy. To empower knowledge workers, better serve consumers, and obtain the appropriate information and insight when, when, and how you need it, many procedures and integrations are required.

End-to-end information management excellence, customized to the specific needs of businesses, customers, ecosystems, and increasingly, digital transformation, is essential to the success of any digital transformation plan. In reality, numerous bridges must be built to close remaining gaps and chasms.

Finally, moving from information to knowledge and intelligence needs data/content analytics and (therefore) artificial intelligence.

Humans have plenty of bridges to build. An end-to-end customer experience is critical in digital transformation initiatives. Customer relationships need greater depth, breadth (and customization) than ever before.

Bridges between various functions and, increasingly, between business execs and leaders from many companies who are building the ecosystems of value required in an economy where new business models and revenue streams increasingly dictate both the business and technology a The customer (external and internal, including workers, and change management) is the driving force for numerous bridges to be built.

Businesses that participate in collaborative ecosystems and communities of innovation are stronger in a culture of co-opetition and co-creation.

A technological reality increasingly centered on data, actionable information, software, and connectivity enables the creation of new income streams by linking systems of value and creating bridges. This dimension will grow as the Internet of Things (IoT) connects everything and provides more actionable information.

In a digital transformation economy and strategy context, collaboration and co-creation clearly go beyond the enterprise and existing ecosystems, building new networks and ecosystems where data and actionable intelligence are used for future growth and whole new business models.

Co-opetition is a concept that has been around for many decades.

We encourage you to read the classic ‘Coopetition‘ by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff, published in 1996. It has long been one of our top 10 business books, and given the holistic reality of business and digital change, it may inspire you as it did us.

Several industries are seeing co-opetition as both incumbents and disruptive firms realize that it is preferable to work together than to go in solely competitive. Fintech is a good example.

Speaking about disruptive businesses, notice that co-opetition builds upon a particular element of the industry attractiveness assessment model, commonly known as the ‘six forces model,' where ‘new entrants' are one of the main factors.

It's easy to forget that these many technologies are all part of one single, more holistic perspective, defined by the end goals why we ‘invented' and use them.

But knowing what these technologies can do isn't enough to enjoy the advantages and possibilities. It's just as vital to grasp how they all relate to your digital transformation plan, actionable information, and possibilities. Most individuals understand that an end-to-end perspective is required to develop new company strategies or address problems of any kind.

We must also understand them personally. You need to know more than just what the Internet of Things is and can accomplish. So that's what we aim for. But don't forget to create bridges between your knowledge and the objectives you want to accomplish on one hand, and all the technologies that fit in your specific company environment on the other.

This requires understanding their position in the larger picture of digital transformation, as well as the glue that links them and ultimately allows you to make a difference with your approach. And that's where people, purpose, innovation, optimization, information, processes, value, and business models meet.