‘Over the past year, no area has undergone more rapid transformation than the way we work’, says Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. On digital transformation, he went on to add, ‘We will need to define productivity much more broadly – inclusive of collaboration, learning, and well-being to drive career advancement for every worker, including frontline and knowledge workers, as well as for new graduates and those who are in the workforce today. All this needs to be done with flexibility in when, where, and how people work’.
Since the pandemic and the resultant lockdown, the world has seen a dial-up of digital processes. People are plugging in longer and faster, while innovative companies are looking for ways to improve this experience. Simply put, COVID-19 led to surges in e-commerce and accelerated digital transformation.
Is digital transformation really worth it? We answered this in our article here.
A cloud-first approach to keep operations light, secured and fast, understanding the relevance and critically analysing data, centralising operations efforts around customers, providing low code/no-code solutions, and so much more are the latest trends in the current wave of digital transformation across industries.
Only teams with this foresight can understand the relevance of tracking and incorporating these trends into their business model. As a result, operations will improve incredibly in the next three to five fiscal years. Paired with customer loyalty, a company that adopts modern disruptors like advanced chatbots, for instance, will see a change in their business bottom line, no matter how little that change is.
Digital Transformation experts state that choosing the right technology is only one part of the journey. You should also understand that readjusting your structure and strategies from top to bottom is not a one-off event but a constant commitment to adapt. This constant state can only be maintained as a habit and nothing else.
In this article, our digital transformation experts share some unique habits that successful teams have adopted. To see business growth continuously in terms of digital transformation, read the full article to learn more.
Check the Top 10 Habits of Successful Teams for Digital Transformation
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Define, Quantify & Track Success
Every successful team articulates expectations for every digital transformation initiative. Clearly defining and predicting the value of any digital transformation endeavour a business enterprise undertakes sets such a team apart from the rest. Such teams see continuous growth every business quarter and resultant fiscal year. They have not only defined what success looks like but have kept a close eye on every ‘win’ or problem their transformation has solved. Asides from helping these teams learn what went wrong for a ‘loss’, this helps keep morale up whenever there is a loss. It is a lot easier to know how successful a team’s track record is when there is a record to reference.
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Customer-centric Transformation Approach
There is practically no organisation in business today that does not service customers or a list of clientele. Therefore, they all understand the importance of good customer service. The ingenious organisations have gone further to create a whole customer journey that focuses on a positive customer experience from ‘enquiry’ to actual ‘purchase/subscription’. Now technology has been developed to amplify this experience without interrupting business operations. This habit captures customers’ attention; now more than ever, customers have easier access to more options. Your objective is to be the easiest to access and the most relevant.
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Agile-Positive Work Environment
Teams that encourage agile methodology in their operations are more likely to reach success faster than those that seek perfection at the first shot. This is because they are constantly creating while learning. Teams incorporating the execute-learn-iterate habit rank high on overall company operations output. It is the most cost-effective yet output-positive operation process, regardless of industry. Of course, this does not ignore the need for quality assurance, but it should not be an excuse for slow execution.
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These teams are wary of perfection, smart enough to know it is possible, and aware that it is a process, not a one-shot occurrence. Simply put, a successful digital transformation team constantly seeks progress instead of perfection.
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Ecosystems and Partnerships
Shared outcomes and collaborations is a key habit for business growth and success. A team with clarity on the business expects outcomes like personal accountability while exhibiting leadership in their responsibilities. Part of the reasons digital transformation fail is that there is a lack of communication due to the absence of a partnership-encouraging ecosystem. This leaves operational gaps that the team is unaware of to plug. This also applies to partnerships with external teams where businesses are cutting costs by partnering with other businesses to help them meet their customer demands.
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Continuous Innovation
According to Ernst & Young, the current skill gap is at 59% for all corporate companies. That is a problem that can see companies inefficiently delivering. So, learner/learning habits are an operational plus for a successful team. Another smart way of doing this is creating systems that seek to improve talents (especially young talents) with requisite experience, skills and insight. This pushes your business innovations through the roof while retaining top talents nurtured in-house.
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Intentional Data Governance
An organisation with a successful team most assuredly resides within an organisation with solid governance for data. The information gathered on an enterprise’s digital transformation, customer preferences and so on, is extremely important for future planning. This data helps optimise business operations and improves the team’s efficiency. Developing and deploying governance initiatives that have taken adaptability into account is also a positive ecosystem with an ‘adaptability’ habit.
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Cross-functional Approach
Any organisation successfully achieving digital transformation has a multidisciplinary team at its core. According to industry leaders, digital transformation does not allow for silos any longer. This means that tech-savvy employees and business concourse of employees must not only work together but share an understanding of each other’s roles. This also translates to the technology adopted by teams too. Inter-connectivity allows for secured system handshakes that improve the overall customer experience. The faster the interaction between systems, the more seamless the functionality. That is the ultimate objective for most online service providers.
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Transparency
‘Communication needs to be consistent and flow up, down, and across the organisation – whether it’s good, bad, or just informational. When bad news needs to be communicated, your team should feel empowered to deliver it without fear of repercussions’, says Jay Ferro, CIO at Quikrete. This level of transparency helps give every team member a clear view of the operation matrix and where it needs the most attention. This habit is cultivated with the special involvement of the Chief Information Officers and IT leaders through the consistent celebration of organisational successes. Coming together to take the losses and proffer solutions as a team also fosters a positive ‘family’ vibe that increases commitment. A team inherently without transparency will fail at achieving full digital transformation.
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Automate Now, Automate Often
Effective teams possess a time-conscious habit leading to punctuality, as time plays a big variable in operations. So teams looking to adopt positive habits to move and keep them on the path of success automate what they can as often as possible. There are bound to be repetitive tasks within the organisation’s operations. Cutting out these tasks with digital solutions from a trusted provider like Hidden Brains can leave more time for the team to focus on more demanding tasks.
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Paced Change Adoption
In the operation of an organisation, change and its resultant resistance are a challenge to digital transformation. And teams that approach change systematically are more likely to succeed. Forward-thinking teams that succeed in digital transformation and other objectives are the kinds that take on change in gradual phases. Carefully analysing processes and then identifying the optimal periods for change implementation/upgrades is a skill they have mastered.
Let us note that these are interesting times, and market leaders should not lose sight of these new trends. As digital transformation unlocks newer and more targeted ways to meet clients and their expectations, teams should be ready to adapt to recent trends.
Therefore, before a team can match up and surpass the competition, they must adopt certain habits that set them apart. For these kinds of teams, tapping into digital transformation is not only the smart choice in recent times; it is the only choice. From what we have learnt, a successful digital transformation framework is founded loosely on these simple steps: identifying the team/business objectives, developing a joint execution strategy, appointing relevantly skilled leaders, adopting the adapt-to-survive mentality, and finally, up-skilling to meet (and surpass) industry standards.
Therefore, any team can succeed in digital transformation by adopting the right habits.
Hidden Brains is the No 1 IT consulting company in Nigeria with a team of experts dedicated to providing solutions that work. Are you looking to embark on a digital transformation journey? Our team is ready to see you every step of the way. So send an enquiry email to [email protected] and we will get back to you.
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