Businesses of all sizes are being driven by technology at an ever-increasing rate, yet too many fail to take advantage of their full potential. As companies look to remain competitive, there is a growing need for business leaders and founders to focus on managing people and processes to implement technological change successfully. Transformation through the adoption of new technologies can help provide organisations with a strategic advantage; however, this needs careful planning and execution if it is going to be successful. In this blog post, we explore what’s required from leaders aiming to maximise their organisation’s technology adoption while driving fundamental business transformation – because progress isn’t just about adopting the latest tools but also having the right mindset and strategy.
Digital transformation can be hard to achieve without a clear end goal and a process map.
Digital transformation is a journey; you need to know where you’re going. You can’t just throw technology at a problem and expect it to solve itself. Instead, you need to understand your goals and how technology will help achieve those goals and then determine which tools best fit those needs.
To help guide this process, I recommend creating a process map for digital transformation that includes the following components:
- The end goal(s) – What do we want our business operations to look like once we’ve implemented this new system? How does this align with our overall strategy? How will this positively impact our customers’ experience or improve their lives? This step also helps us identify any potential roadblocks along the way; if there’s no clear vision, then it becomes difficult for stakeholders (and later team members) who aren’t involved in creating it from day one to recognise its importance when implementing changes later on down into implementation phase (which can cause delays).
- Current state – What does the current state look like today? How many legacy systems do we have running right now; what kind of technologies/capabilities do they offer vs newer ones available today?”
Assess your business and technology maturity.
Before you can start to plan your transformation, it’s essential to understand the current state of your business and technology. To do this, you’ll want to assess where your organisation stands in terms of maturity. This can be done through various methods, including gap analysis or benchmarking with other companies in similar industries.
- Identify gaps between current performance and expected outcomes
- Understand how much time and money has been spent on initiatives that have failed but continue nonetheless because they’ve become entrenched within the organisation
Determine which technologies will support your digital transformation goals.
- Determine which technologies will support your digital transformation goals.
- Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.
- Don’t just buy technology for the sake of it.
- Don’t be afraid to try new things, and don’t be scared to fail–it’s how we learn!
Establish a strategic roadmap for utilising technology in the right way.
The first step to maximising technology adoption through business transformation is establishing a strategic roadmap for utilising technology correctly. The following steps should be considered:
- Identify the critical business objectives. What do you want to achieve? What are your goals, and how will they help the company? This can include increasing revenue or reducing costs by 5%, for example. Use this as your baseline when identifying other areas of focus that align with those objectives.
- Define the technical requirements necessary for achieving these objectives (i.e., what tools or platforms do you need). This step requires input from all stakeholders within your organisation, including IT leaders, business managers/stewardship teams, end users/customers–anyone interested in seeing these objectives come true!
- Define an implementation strategy based on these findings and any constraints that may exist due to budget limitations, among other factors such as the time frame needed before certain milestones must be met; don’t forget about governance models too!
Ensure that culture and leadership are on board with digital transformation.
Digital transformation is a complex process that requires support from the top down. The cultural shift that comes with adopting new technologies and techniques can be challenging for employees, especially if they’re used to doing things a certain way. Leadership needs to be on board with the strategy and communicate effectively with employees. Hence, they understand why change is necessary and how it will benefit them personally and the company.
Create an internal communication plan that informs employees about how they’re helping to drive the company’s culture and strategy forward.
The best way to promote technology adoption is to ensure your employees understand how their role is essential in the company’s overall strategy. This can be done through a series of internal communications plans that provide clear direction, explain why specific changes are being made, and let employees know what they can do to help achieve those goals.
Suppose you’ve ever worked at a company where there weren’t any clear lines of communication between management and staff members. In that case, you know how frustrating it can be when no answers are provided for why certain things are happening or how they affect people’s jobs.
A successful digital transformation requires buy-in from all levels of the organisation, including leadership, IT, marketing, HR and more.
A successful digital transformation requires buy-in from all levels of the organisation, including leadership, IT and marketing. But not just those teams that need to be on board with your plan.
HR and other departments also ensure that employees are equipped with the right tools to succeed in their jobs and feel confident using them.
Bottom Line
In today’s digital world, companies that don’t embrace technology risk being left behind. Technology can be a powerful tool for businesses to increase productivity and efficiency while improving their customer experience. But before you embark on your digital transformation journey, it’s crucial to have a clear goal in mind and outline all the steps involved in making that happen. Then it’s time to start implementing those ideas through strategic planning and communication across departments within your organisation, so everyone knows what they need to help move forward together.
Who am I?
I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth.
I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 30 years.
Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, and ensure business continuity irrespective of the business climate.
Hire Dotun Adeoye to Speak Virtually or In – Person at your company’s event to cover this or other topics. You can also get in touch via +44 203 097 1718 or dotun at dotunadeoye.com
