Digital Transformation Success Depends on Your Team Strategy

In recent studies, 49% of the organizations surveyed about Digital Transformation (Dx) initiatives reported that Dx gave the business the ability to better manage business performance through data availability. When it comes to Digital Transformation strategies, the wise enterprise knows to involve its team members in the requirements planning and in planning for execution and transition.

Here, we discuss some of the factors the business should consider when involving incumbent team members and continuing its support for Dx and its future evolution by planning appropriately for hiring and training new team members.

Incumbent Team Members

Involving Team Members

When the organization undertakes a Digital Transformation (Dx) initiative, it must establish a plan for success and that plan should include team members and business users. The very people who perform the tasks and activities are the people who understand what is working and what is not working, both within the technology landscape and in work processes and workflow. Businesses may perform an intensive review of technologies, networks, and infrastructure but, if they fail to involve the existing team members, they will not capture the inner workings of the organization. Those workarounds and manual tasks that team members are forced to accommodate because of gaps in technology are the things that will make or break the Digital Transformation (Dx) project. Include team member involvement in your Digital Transformation initiative, and you are much more likely to succeed.

Identifying Champions

Part of the review of the technology and workflow needs should include the identification of technology ‘champions.’ Team leaders, managers and fellow team members are often the best at identifying these champions and, in many cases, they will reveal themselves through interaction with the project team, by making thoughtful, insightful suggestions to improve the technology or business processes. Look for team members who are curious, and interested in analytics, technology, and continuous improvement. These team members can become champions of the digital transformation process and encourage, support and mentor other business users as new technology and workflow rolls out.

Providing Training and Support

Be sure to include training and support in your project plan. Do not assume that the average business user will adopt and embrace new software solutions or business processes without support or mentoring. Encourage team member acceptance and alignment by adapting HR evaluations to reward the use of technology, analytics and collaboration and fact-based decisions.

New Team Members

Characteristics and Traits

The Digital Transformation (Dx) journey is one that will take time. Businesses cannot typically change the technology and business process landscape overnight. Part of this transformation and preparation for long-term success must include the identification of team member traits and characteristics to ensure the use of new techniques and technology and feedback from the team members to ensure continuous improvement. When a business develops a job description for interviewing and hiring, it must include characteristics to support digital transformation and the use of data in day-to-day work processes.

Interviewing and Hiring

Be sure your managers and leaders include appropriate questions in the interviewing process to identify those candidates who are curious about and comfortable with technology and who routinely collaborate, report on and use data to make decisions and recommendations. Look for candidates who have a history of mentoring and who are willing to provide feedback to encourage continuous improvement.

These are just a few of the factors that should be considered in involving current team members in the Digital Transformation (Dx) initiative and in identifying new candidates to staff the business and assure the long-term success of your Dx journey.

If your organization is considering the implementation of a Digital Transformation (Dx) strategy, these White Papers will help you explore the issues and prepare for the challenges. ‘Accelerating Advanced Analytics in an Immature Analytics Culture’, ‘A Roadmap to ROI and User Adoption of Augmented Analytics and BI Tools’, and ‘Integrate Augmented Analytics and Digital Transformation to Achieve Continuous Business Improvement.’

In recent studies, 49% of the organizations surveyed about Digital Transformation (Dx) initiatives reported that Dx gave the business the ability to better manage business performance through data availability. When it comes to Digital Transformation strategies, the wise enterprise knows to involve its team members in the requirements planning and in planning for execution and transition. The business should involve incumbent team members and continuing its support for Dx and its future evolution by planning appropriately for hiring and training new team members. Identify champions on your existing team, provide appropriate training and support for the Dx initiative and hire team members with the right characteristics and traits. Join the conversation and tell us how Dx can help your team and how your team can help Dx!

When it comes to Digital Transformation strategies, the wise enterprise knows to involve its team members in the requirements planning and in planning for execution and transition. Here, we discuss some of the factors the business should consider when involving incumbent team members and continuing its support for Dx and its future evolution by planning appropriately for hiring and training new team members.