No digital transformation without cultural transformation

The meaning of “digital transformation” has become somewhat diluted over the past few years, but many people believe it depends entirely on the choice of technology and system. However, in this Forbes article, Mike Fitzmaurice instead describes digital transformation as an organizational transformation supported by technology. Here’s how you can ensure its success!

What not to do

Organizations looking to implement new digital tools often tend to take a top-down approach. One person or more lead the project and spend a lot of time (and money!) hiring consultants and adopting systems that are often highly expensive.

However, this approach is often doomed to fail. Indeed, the reality on the ground is usually highly different from what management expects. For their part, users tend to resist change and look for ways to work around the new system if they feel the new tools and processes are not meeting their needs.

Another trap is to instead start multiple small-scale initiatives. These are generally made to meet specific needs, but fail to effect significant change throughout the organization.

What to do instead

To avoid these situations, everyone across your organization should pitch in to ensure the success of this transformation. Indeed, the cultural transformation of an organization involves all its employees. By involving them in the process, they will become stakeholders of its success.

The role of management is more to guide this process based on the organization’s needs and objectives. The various departments often have different realities and needs, and users should be the ones identifying the issues they face and suggest solutions to resolve them.

How to make sure it works

In short, the transformation of an organization happens through participation, which has to continue even after the implementation to ensure the transformation is continuous. By involving users throughout the process, you will increase the user adoption rate of the system and make sure everyone across your organization speaks the same digital language.

As such, a governance should be put in place to impose constraints, ensure best practices are used, examine successes and failures, etc. Lastly, the systems and applications that have been selected should be delivered across your organization in a way that facilitates their adoption and training.

The result will be users who are better connected, informed and organized. By rewarding proactivity, you will also put in place an organizational culture where innovation and technologies have their place.

For more information, read Mike Fitzmaurice’s article Digital Transformation Can’t Be Forced, But It Can Be Coaxed or our article Ensure the success of your system implementation despite the labour shortage.