What Digital Transformation really means?
By: Dipesh Pattni
Tags: Digital Transformation, Digital Strategy, Change Management, Digital Marketing

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Accelerating innovation and technologies are changing the face of business. You may be facing growth markets, competitive pressures, evolving customer preferences. It is imperative for companies to adapt to remain competitive and relevant to customers.

I was speaking at a virtual networking session for health care digital transformation. I shared my top 5 reasons for a smooth transformation for the audience and these are my summarized thoughts for you.

As you contemplate growth, scale or a much better way to connect with customers, digital comes to mind. I have heard digital transformation so overused that it has negative connotations. Have you seen disruptions to the business, failed attempts, execution, people turnover and budget overruns? I like to begin with the end in mind. The more specific your objective is articulated, the more likely your team will succeed.

Digital transformation is about people and culture change. You will change how the business will interact with employees, partners and customers. In all these cases, people are at the helm and will be doing things differently post transformation. I like to paint a vivid change story that explains where the organization is going and why this change is important.

I start with the customer to work my way back to the individual processes. By starting with the customer, I can identify the exact value of the actions. These actions make up the critical components of the digital transformation journey. In fact, a recent article from Forbes describes why digital transformation needs to start with the customer first. The people that work on the processes become my focal point for deeper discussions. By asking the right questions, the truth of the redundancies, disconnects and bottlenecks start to be revealed. Health care teams goals focus on data interoperability, security, collaboration and patient satisfaction.

AI and machine learning are considered essential to digitally transforming organizations and making all processes more customer-centric, with 41% of CEOs saying these technologies will improve data governance and data analytics capabilities.

Most organizations will need a team dedicated to digital transformation. A small team, with full support of the leadership, can work in conjunction with department heads to execute actions. A transformation team is driven by the need to work in collaboration carrying out sprints through an AGILE methodology. This ensures quicker feedback loops with validated customer value. Sprints can be completed in say 8-weeks and evaluated for successfully creating value for the customer. Teams must be transparent about the actions, sprints and outcomes. The best approach is to over-communicate to the rest of the organization.

I like to encourage intense collaboration when planning a digital transformation blueprint. One proven way is to simplify communication between department leaders, change agents and the transformation team. What worked in my previous transformations is status checklists and standardized operating procedures (SOP). These tools create opportunities for discussion, raising critical issues and tough questions. This is necessary to foster the intense collaboration and a culture of innovation.

The lure of real time data and real time benefits supports workers to make better decisions. Lockheed Martin has introduced smart glasses that help engineers work up to 30% faster and with up to 96% accuracy. Although you can ask for better cost, higher quality or faster speed but you can only control two of these. A good digital transformation experience is about creating value for internal and external customers.

This is second of three articles to help executives with creating a blueprint for digital transformation and execute it if one is in place. My previous article is posted here https://lnkd.in/gN9ZDSq