Why Digital Transformation is not working and my two cents on how to make it work!

Why Digital Transformation is not working and my two cents on how to make it work!

HBR recently carried a provocative article ‘Why So Many High Profile Digital Transformations Fail’ talking about the digital transformation initiatives at GE, Lego, P&G, Nike, & Ford and why  (in their opinion ) the initiatives didn’t work.  The reasons they outlined:

  1. Digital Transformation shouldn’t be the last straw of a disrupted firm/industry – extraneous factors like economy, product life-cycle affects all change initiatives. If you are talking about an industry that is facing headwinds or a company that has made strategic & operational missteps  – a digital transformation exercise is nothing more than the last straws of a drowning man.
  2. Digital Transformation is messy, not plug & play – You have to mix & manage business models, people, process, system & culture. A very heady cocktail indeed! You need rigorous change-mgmt to make it work. Often the initiatives are led / sponsored by functions – say only by the IT department, or only by the manufacturing departments. Transformation initiatives need to have the right level of engagement & sponsorship.
  3. Give them a faster horse-carriage not a car – This might shock all ‘innovation as competitive advantage’ fans but if you innovate ahead of customer wants – you deliver duds!

At LeadStrategus we’ve been involved in a few Digital Transformation initiatives in Strategy & Sales+Marketing in mid-sized Indian firms. Our principles:

  • Go slow to arrive fast – Our project duration is > 1 yr. We transform one process at a time before moving to next & hold changed processes to the new standard.
  • Go Open source over tech-suite  but look at track-record of the technology/ software solution over brand-name.
  • Culture>>Business model>>Process>>Systems in priority. Most companies reverse that. Design systems around processes & process around business model.

Link to original HBR article – Why So Many High Profile Digital Transformations Fail

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,