Sachin Sinha, Senior Vice President of Global Delivery at Orion, has five recommendations for traditional enterprises in a digital world:
1. Focus on Business Outcomes
Focus on business outcomes. Many born-digital competitors are good with technology but lack insight into the fundamentals and dynamics of the industry. They tout inputs, often at the expense of outcomes. Many have little experience managing complex processes or skills in change management. Don’t be intimidated by a competitor flashing shiny new objects. Double down on your experience, insights, track record and other strengths.
2. Manage Core First Business Concerns
Attack the core by taking on the systems that will have the greatest business impact first. Run them in parallel until the digital transformation is complete. Don’t start with peripheral systems. Start with the systems that drive the business which can be dramatically accelerated by automation and digital transformation. Then prioritize transformation of other systems and widely socialize the plan and the rationale.
3. Find Talent
Find staff with digital knowledge and experience. Be sure to mix digital natives, who will know the technology and be gung-ho, with digital immigrants who have lived through the transformation process, know the business, made their own personal transformation and remember the business fundamentals from the past.
4. Find an Experienced Partner
Find a partner with experience in your industry and is at your level of sophistication with demonstrated change management and process engineering skills. Expect them to bring best practices, tool kits, code and a bag of tricks to work around problems, migrate data and expedite the process. Be sure the partner’s team members have transformational experience. Approach it as you would when, say, choosing a surgeon, pick a partner who is technology agnostic and has done multiple, recent digital transformations.
5. Communicate and Educate
Digital transformation, especially if you’re playing catch-up, breeds anxiety. Develop a clear plan and roadmap, teach your people which tech choices you made and why. Plan for one-on-one training and recapitulate your plans, often. Set expectations that things will be in-motion, in-progress and that the implementation schedule could slip.
Excerpt from: How Traditional Organizations Can Survive in a Digital Transformation World.
