Organizations look at digital transformation as an opportunity to radically improve operations and increase the value of a product or service to the customer by embedding technology into the decision-making fabric and building automation into its functions. This involves the integration of digital technologies into its planning and operations like adopting cloud computing to sustain and scale infrastructure seamlessly, using AI to improve user experience through natural language communication, enhancing data analytics for data-driven decision making and building closed-loop automated systems using IoT. For the employees, this freed-up human capital helps to invest more time in activities that require human expertise, judgment and creativity, and obtain better work-life harmony.
Leading any major change initiative is a daunting task, particularly the ones in which the result is unclear, the turnaround timelines are vague, and the value erosion rate with time is high. In almost all these transformations, one must prove the justification for change and navigate resistance to it, and go above and beyond to develop the business case. When talking about leading a digital change, the level of all the above is many degrees higher. So the question that plagues any professional entrusted with or motivated to drive a huge change initiative is how to inspire innovation and foster a culture of excellence.
Acknowledging the challenges of digital transformation
Lack of precedence or an absence of suitable benchmarks for results could be limiting factors for a digitalization exercise. Though there are some common goals every organization might want to achieve, there is a unique benefit or advantage each organization will seek to differentiate them from competitors. The unavailability of such a precedent could pose difficulties in allocating resources to the initiative, predicting the outcome of the initiative and stating a timeline upfront for realization of the objectives.
