Digital transformation is not just a nice-to-have anymore; it’s now a necessity for business. Digital transformation is more than just technological innovations. This is a shift in culture that brings together data, processes, and teams for streamlined workflows. The digital transformation street map is the blueprint of how a company will achieve its digitization objectives. This is a guide on how to build a digital street map.
What is a Digital Transformation Street Map?
A digital transformation plan is a strategy that guides an organization through the adoption and implementation of digital technologies and practices in order to improve their overall efficiency and competitiveness. It also acts as a guide to help companies move from a traditional and manual approach to one that is much more digital and modern. It also helps outline the steps needed to get from where a company is now to where it wants to be.
How to create a digital transformation street map
Here is a guide on how to create a street map for digital transformation.
1. Assess the Organization’s Current Status
Assessing current processes and system is the first step in digital transformation. This gives them a benchmark to measure the success of their digital strategy. If an organization wants to embark on a journey of digital transformation to increase the productivity of their teams, it needs to know how long they spend on certain tasks before implementing any new tools or processes.
2. Plan clearly and measurable
After analyzing the current state of their digital journeys, it is time to reach another milestone in digital transformation: create a clear plan with measurable metrics for effective execution. It includes the infrastructure requirements, new technologies and how resources are distributed between teams. A clear, measurable plan allows companies to track their progress and determine if their efforts are yielding the desired results.
3. Assure Team Members of Support and Commitment
The implementation of digital transformation will be smoother if everyone is on board. A new system may require extensive training, and the learning curve can be steep.
Businesses can train their employees on how to adapt to the new technologies. They can also use different platforms to create a program to update their team’s knowledge of new technologies, and how they can be used to automate various tasks.
4. Set goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
After the clear plans are set and communicated to the team, it is time to develop key goals and KPIs that will guide the digital transformation strategy. Defined objectives and KPIs are also important for companies to be successful, because they will be able to measure their progress once the digital transformation is complete. It also helps them identify the digital transformation milestones that they must cross in order to achieve the final goal.
Digital transformation is ultimately a costly investment. A transformation can be effectively implemented when goals are realistic and clear.
5. Digital Transformation
Digital transformation can be phased. Companies can, for example, start small and easy projects and then scale up the project to reach desired results. For better results and implementation, companies should phase in their digital transformation plans. Hiring tech experts can be the first step in a digital transformation plan, followed by launching lighthouse projects and finishing them. After that, businesses can digitalize their current processes before using new digital models to perform different processes.
6. Recruit tech leaders
A strong technical team led by a Chief information Officer (CIO) is essential for companies to achieve better results. A technical team is crucial in developing digital transformation strategies and communicating them to all employees. They also help digitize existing processes and introduce new technologies.
7. Launch the Lighthouse Project
It can be risky to start a big project. To ensure success, you should start with a smaller project, called a “lighthouse project”. The lighthouse project is the smaller version of a larger goal. A lighthouse project is a smaller-scale initiative that is designed to achieve quick success and deliver results while minimising risks. When it is carried out successfully, this can serve as a guide for other projects. It can accelerate an organization’s journey towards digital transformation. It also shows team members, stakeholders, and investors how technological advances can transform a business.
8. Existing Operations can be Digitized
Artificial Intelligence solutions (AI) are used to replace manual processes. AI can be used to digitize different aspects of a company’s business, including customer relationship management (CRM), market research and product design. AI-powered tools for tracking can also help businesses improve their digitalization efforts. These tools also provide insight for diagnosing and detecting operations in different parts of an organization, as well as tracking them.
9. Take a Look at New Digital Technology
Businesses that want to digitally transform must embrace the latest technology. It may be necessary to replace existing processes with newer solutions. The use of new digital technologies across different organizational functions will help you become a digital first organization.
10. Prepare for the future
A successful digital transformation requires more than just streamlining your operations. Companies must lay the foundation for the future to thrive and beat their competitors. It is important that leaders of organizations give this careful thought. Businesses can do this by evaluating the effectiveness of their plan.