Modern business, in a way, is a bit like Speed minus the plot, stunts, and special effects. Successful businesses are the ones that go fast. Those that can’t or won’t keep up may not explode, but can suffer fatal consequences.
What do we mean by “fast?”
Fast is first: First to identify and serve new markets, first to market with a new product or service, first to respond to changing market dynamics. Ask the folks at Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry line that once dominated the mobile phone market, what happens when a company fails to go fast.
There are many ways in which a company can keep up and go faster than the competition. Here are a few:
But the one go-fast thing in which many businesses engage today is pursuing digital transformation.
What happens when a business successfully executes a digital transformation? The effect depends on the process that has been digitally transformed. Different projects realize different benefits. But assuming the effort was a bona fide digital transformation (complete with an updated, streamlined, and perhaps automated business process) and not an online version of a paper-based process, the business should accrue any of the following advantages:
A successful digital transformation enables a business to go faster.
Successful digital transformations don’t come easy. There are typically lots of moving parts, and many things have to fall into place in order for a business to pull it off.
One important factor in successfully executing a digital transformation is speed. A digital transformation project that takes two years to complete is unlikely to be called a “success,” because the business landscape isn’t the same as it was when the project started. Customers and competitors have moved on, and the transformed process has landed in a place where it needs to be transformed again.
There are several reasons why digital transformation projects can fail:
A company can avoid most of these stumbling blocks and keep a digital transformation project on-track by adopting design thinking up-front.
Benefits of design thinking include:
And guess what? All of these benefits and more, help accelerate a digital transformation project. Design thinking removes the obstacles that can derail a project, keeps the participants focused, and draws a clear boundary around the project to prevent scope creep and analysis paralysis.
For an organization that has no experience implementing a digital transformation project, leveraging design thinking, or both, it might take a couple of projects before everyone feels comfortable with the process. In this case, it’s best to start with small, low-risk projects before embarking on more ambitious initiatives.
It can also help to engage an experienced partner. AndPlus has extensive experience with digital transformation projects. Design thinking is part of our DNA. We can guide you through the process and develop the right solution for your digital transformation.
Digital transformation can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here to help.