Set the Stage//Mobilise//Think//Plan//Discover
When should we undertake The Digital Transformation Approach?
The Approach doesn’t expect you to be a digital or technology expert! Far more importantly, you should be wanting to discover how digital technologies, services, and channels can help your enterprise harness the opportunity to engage more deeply and connect with your customers. It might be that your organisation has developed some areas of operations or practice with digital technologies, but not all; or has already begun experimenting across all areas with digital technologies; or wants to begin doing so. Is now the right time?
Enterprises have to grapple with a world in transition: societal, cultural and economic behaviours have all been impacted by technology and digital developments. Media are under transformation and disruption, with what used to be tangible becoming digital and data (photography, for example). Mass markets and audiences are dissolving into hundreds of niches. Solid economic models for digital are few (freemium and long tail work primarily for big players). So in terms of external factors, the only constant we can be sure of is change: now is as good a time as any!
However, do consider pragmatically whether now is a good time to begin a digital transformation journey. It will be an exciting journey, but will take up some of your organisation’s time and other resources. It will impact some of your organisation’s processes, productions, or people – so think about the whole organisation’s activities over the calendar year and plan development work in quieter slots. Its possible the timescales of the digital development may slip too, so build in a contingency into your time planning. The most important aspect of when to engage on a journey of digital transformation is when you have the buy-in from management, staff, and your board, to begin exploring the opportunity.