A common misconception is that digital transformation starts with technology. Let's launch a loyalty app or a new CRM system, and we are good to go. Not really, you are not. Digital transformation actually starts with the transformation of your company - its processes, culture and then its technology.
About five years ago, MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte Digital conducted a study where they asked 3,700 executives, managers and analysts from organizations across the world, ‘is your organization ready for a digital future?’
The results produced a very interesting mix. Nearly 90% of the respondents admitted that their organization would be disrupted by digital trends - yet only half of them ( 44%) prepared for such an event.
So why didn’t this 44% incorporate a digital strategy, as part of its overall strategy? It’s simple. Digitalizing your company goes well beyond creating a website, or an app. It’s about restructuring the company from its core, creating new processes, re-training and re-educating your people, and eventually inducting them to an entirely new culture.
As the study claimed: ‘Preparing for a digital future is no easy task. It means developing digital capabilities in which a company’s activities, people, culture, and structure are in sync and aligned toward a set of organizational goals. Most companies, however, are constrained by a lack of resources, a lack of talent, and the pull of other priorities, leaving executives to manage digital initiatives that either take the form of projects or are limited to activities within a given division, function, or channel.’
Ignoring the creation and implementation of a digital strategy, will be detrimental to your organization in many ways, including: your company becoming increasingly vulnerable to more innovative competitors, or losing the confidence and trust of your team - as the study showcased, 38% of the respondents prepared to leave their organization in 3 years or less.
Preparing a digital future, has become inevitable. To prepare in the right manner, you need to run an overview of your processes/operations, people and their responsibilities, and systems before even building your digital strategy. Accordingly, you may assess your strengths and weaknesses, prioritize what needs to go digital first, and then start implementing.
Capacitor Partners offers all of the above through our service lines, not just as consultants, but a consortium of experts from the industry that have built tech companies and products, several times before.
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