In DT parlance we have a way of saying what stage a company may be in, in terms of digital awareness, readiness to execute and phase of actual execution.
We refer to these stages as:
Unconsciously Incompetent — You do not know that you can reimagine your business and therefore you are ignorantly happy.
Consciously Incompetent —You know you need to do it but you do not know how to do it.
Consciously Competent — You have done a customer discovery and have a road map for digital transformation.
Unconsciously Competent — Your business is digitally transformed . In this stage business leverages data gathered from business, takes inteligent decisions and provides a delighted experience to customers. It is like an expert is not conscious of technicalities like gear, clutch, accelerator etc, while driving.
Irrespective of where each one of us may be in our digital transformation journey, I am sure ‘our’ journey together so far has raised some questions regarding how, if ever, we can ready ourselves to take the plunge and what we can expect.
Digital transformation should always begin with customer journeys. Not just one but several. It is important to identify the core customer journeys that are most relevant to your company. There may be 5, 10 or even 20 based on the size of your company and the resources you have at your disposable. It is also important to note here that it is not advisable to attempt to take on all customer journeys at once. This is not only highly resource intensive but also likely to be stopped midway with no particular journey providing any value to speak of. Once you have identified core customer journeys, it is important to sit around the table and identify significant customer touch points that can either be eliminated or provided with better experience.
The next step involves additional capabilities. You either upskill your workforce, hire new people or recruit an agency or agencies that can do the work for you. Oh and I forgot to mention that you should never attempt to do any of this without management buy in. This is not something your department should do on your own — that is definitely not digital transformation. This is a change that affects the entire organization and therefore should involve the highest levels — your CEO and board of directors. Setting clear and ambitious targets should help you through this stage.
The next stage involves org restructuring — assembling a task force that is cross functional and whose primary goal is to execute digital transformation initiatives to target and to plan. A team that is used to flexible and agile practices. Start with low hanging fruits and take on the large ROI projects — to demonstrate the intent and to maintain the momentum. It is important to inculcate a digital culture across the entire company — a focus on customer needs, constant feedback, testing, learning and occasional failure, collaboration, etc.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words (and I have so far only exceeded 450). The Blue Print below is the typical Digital transformation journey we have charted for our clients.
Enjoy! And please feel free to get back to us for questions and comments.
We’re always happy to oblige. :-)
