Cloud management and digital transformation are almost inseparable, if not for the strategies that go into bridging the two. Digital transformation, indeed, is not only about moving to the clouds, but also about leading from the front and motivating others in the process. A business, no doubt runs on the shoulders of its employees. How comfortable are they to handle to the new change? Do they see transformation as a challenge? If so, how to bring them close to it? While these are just instances of issues that businesses may face when they think of transformation, there are others that form a part of the strategy too.
IoT, Artificial Intelligence, all are new entrants in the digital transformation platform. There are others too that are making a beeline for the transformation platform, changing its dynamics every few months. Rather unsettling, integrating them together for a successful transformation poses a great challenge for many businesses, thus increasing the demand for digital strategies. This, in turn, requires a strong leadership and a well though-out strategy that can cause great conflict, leading to reduced productivity and loss in business.
What should the Strategies include?
Lead from the Front
According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, digital transformation that does not have a good leadership tends to get ad hoc and chaotic. With an exhaustive sense of authority, knowledge, familiarity with the domain, good leaders can turn challenges into opportunities for business. With a holistic understanding of transformation in the context of business, disparate digital transformation initiatives can be consolidated, prioritized, combined and properly coordinated for best results.
Strategy more Important than Technology
It is very important to determine the pain points and the challenges that the transformation has to overcome or face. Organizations should clearly document how an ideal transformation looks like and how it should be handled. By charting out their goals, leaders can start to strategize accordingly, so that they are reached within no time. This way, organizations can pursue the overarching cultural and technological changes needed to support digital transformation.
Experiments Rule the Roost
Digital transformation is a dynamic process, which requires up-to-date tools and technology. Making the best use of them is up to the business. The best combinations can be set only with small experiments. Failure is a valid outcomes and therefore the experiments have to be small so as not to effect the overall productivity. The lesson, therefore, is to bring clarity to the unknown is trying small experiments, gathering feedback from the already experienced and keep trying until a sustainable strategy is obtained.
Technology, a Must Have
While it is not the sole determining point here, it is still important. Technologies that are data-driven and help in decision making is something to look forward to. The technology should increase ROI of transformation activities, increase productivity, should be able to support competitive products and services, should be able to add value to customer experience, and increase revenues. Customer experiences are changing. Cultural changes in the organizations should align with the norms with the risk-taking to be able to define compelling new customer experiences.
Reimagining the Journey of the Customer
All the strategies should be customer-oriented. Digital strategy should include identifying the customer pain points then work backward into a value proposition, features and ultimately the customer experience. Some of the best strategies to adopt is to include analytics, online customer surveys, social media engagements, coupled with text analytics and data-mining tools. When they function together, they form new user experiences.
Manage Projects, Track Time and Manage Social Media
Project management tools like Trello, Asana and Wrike are some of the most popular these days, saving not just time but also giving real-time value to projects. Time tracking tools like Tick, HubStaff, Toogi and Harvest are some tools which help manage the manpower. Social media tools like the HootSuite, Buffer save more time by allowing to create content in advance and schedule them simultaneously.
Cybersecurity Walls
Transformation always have to be covered with the best security management systems. Any leakages in data transfer could prove to be fatal for any business. Ensure that all the employees connect through VPNs and are prompted to change password every few days. Security is often considered important, but it gets the last priority because of the multiple pain points a business has to undergo to put one in place. Ensure that a Chief Information Security officer has an eye on the transformation and the data transfer that follows it.