I read one text that reminded me of a conversation with a friend who has an idea to start his first startup. My friend has a lot of enthusiasm and believes in his project, so I somehow found myself in the role of a devil’s lawyer. I ask him about the competition, why his idea is different than all other ideas, I point out the potential risks of a big leap into the unknown, etc.
The text published by McKinsey, says that without the focus and active participation of the CEO, almost no organization has the opportunity to succeed with digital transformation projects. For organizations to succeed, a CEO must show commitment and passion in the application of digital technologies as much as they have a commitment and passion for business strategy.
I see my friend exactly as it was described above. However, in order for the organization to succeed in its efforts to be digitally transformed, in addition to the desire, it is necessary to apply a process that is more science than art (that is, something that has been empirically proven to work).
For organizations to be successful, digital transformation projects must be viewed through the prism of the values they bring. The goal of digital transformation is not to make the organization digital, but to bring value to the organization. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not at an enviable level. I used to do some research on this topic and found that even the banking sector, which I believe is the most digitally advanced, does not have a structured process of planning, evaluating and monitoring the benefits of investing in digital technologies.
Digital transformation is not investing in individual solutions but assembling a puzzle that forms a whole called a strategy.
A couple of days ago, I watched a cooking show for fun where a jury member says, “The individual elements of a dish are good, but the dish doesn’t work as a whole.”
It is the same with digital transformation. It seems to me that our organizations approach digital transformation more by reacting to the environment and what the “neighbor” is doing, so they implement individual elements, than in terms of strategy implementation and the big picture.
Even when we look at it all strategically, in order to implement it we need to:
- Gather the right people with adequate knowledge and experience;
- Use our knowledge of the business and improve it and avoid buying (often half) solutions in which we then try to fit the organization;
- Use an agile approach with which we will be able to implement solutions faster, but also test their effect;
- And of course, only if the CEO continuously promotes change, invests in the knowledge and development of people (not only IT staff but also end users), and he_she himself_herself advocates continuous progress only then can the result of digital transformation projects be expected.
How many of these elements are contained in our organizations? Do they form one whole and what results do they produce?
Perhaps the answer to this question is the best indicator of the current state of digital maturity of our companies.
