August 31, 2020
Eyes4Research
Digital transformation refers to the creation or modification of operational, organizational, and cultural business practices using digital technologies. By automating manual business operations, DX increases efficiency, optimizes processes, and enhances customer experiences. With this, digital transformation helps businesses reshape their internal and external approaches to become more agile and effective.
Operational Approaches
Digital transformation aims to achieve optimal operational efficiency without compromising the customer experience. When moving towards an agile and flexible structure, organizations must identify digital strengths and weaknesses to integrate appropriate technologies into the mainline of businesses. Common digital operational approaches include cloud computing, interfaces, and IoT devices. With these technologies, employees are more connected than ever before, helping to simplify remote operations to increase productivity and save businesses time and money.
Cultural Approaches
When implementing digital technologies into the workplace, organizations must ensure that the transformation aligns with the company’s culture. To build an enduring digital culture, it remains critical for organizations to clearly articulate the strategy, goals, and purpose of the transformation to successfully adopt new practices.
Digital transformation promotes a high-performance culture, encouraging an external orientation to enhance the customer experience. In addition to forwarding relationship-based business, DX empowers employees to deliver fast results, putting emphasis on action over planning and eliminating explicit instructions to guide performance. With this, employees must engage in cross-functional collaboration to make effective and fast pace decisions for optimal results.
Failing to consider company culture when undertaking digital transformation may hinder its progress. Without clear goals, employees may be reluctant to embrace new technologies, causing morale to suffer. The misalignment of DX goals and employee values may also create difficulties when attracting new talent, inhibiting cohesion, and advancement. With this, business leaders must guide employees through process and structural changes, eliciting new behaviors through coaching and incentives to emphasize expectations for successful execution.