Is your company committed to digital progress in 2019? Digital Transformation is a buzzword that essentially means integrating digital technologies, such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud, in the service of transforming how businesses work. In fact, it’s likely something that you’ve been doing on a smaller scale for several years.

However, until this point, digital change has been largely driven by technology. Companies are put in a reactive position as they are forced to “keep up” with changes in the tech marketplace. This leads to lagging customer experience and, in many cases, loss of market share to more digitally advanced groups.

If a focus on digital transformation is paramount for your business, it’s important to shift to a proactive approach and begin with a clear strategy.

Involve Stakeholders

Any effective strategy needs buy-in from all stakeholders. This means involved leadership who will guide the direction all the way to team members who will implement the strategy on a day to day basis. Identify everyone who will be impacted by this digital change and work to motivate them to contribute to the strategy in a way that’s most effective for your company.

This could be as formal as a survey or as simple as a conversation. The key is to communicate the outcomes of the strategy in a way that’s meaningful to them. What will this strategy achieve?

Define Scope And Objectives

Once everyone is on board, consider your business goals. This strategy is an opportunity to build a bridge between IT and the business as a whole. Tap into how an intentional and well thought out digital plan can impact each function within your company. How will it affect the bottom line?

When defining the objectives of your strategy, look past your competitors and focus on your customers. Understand the pain points of your consumer and work backwards to identify how digital transformation can address them.

Assess Current Skills and Technology

Now that you have involved stakeholders and clearly defined your objectives, it’s time to consider technology. This process will give you an idea of where you currently stand in terms of technological tools and skills currently within your organization.

From there, you can map out what is necessary to get from your current state to the goal state outlined in the previous step.

List and evaluate your software, technologies, and applications to determine which are necessary to continue to move you forward and should be upgraded or retained and which should be retired or replaced. Match resources to the problems that they solve and prioritize based on the business objectives.

Develop A Timeline And Implementation Plan

A strategy is nothing without implementation. Once you have a clear picture of the necessary steps, map out a timeline and delegate tasks to your internal stakeholders to begin executing the strategy. An actionable plan takes time and resources, and often is implemented in phases.

This phased approach allows you to test and re-align your strategy as you go to ensure its effectiveness.

A timeline also empowers internal stakeholders to begin preparing for change within their departments and proactively develop the skills needed for implementation.

To be successful, a clear strategy must be supported by commitment to change and leadership poised to drive that change and, in today’s climate, supporting digital transformation is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Continued involvement and support from all stakeholders and correct technology partners such as Softsys Hosting is crucial to the long-term success of a digital transformation strategy.