Digital Transformation – An Opportunity and not a Challenge

We have often heard of challenges in Digital Transformation and some of it may be true. But in my experience, there are some key aspects, which if handled normally (yes, need to be normal & transparent), can make the digital transformation projects most effective. These are as below: -

a. Have clear objectives & priorities – Many a times objectives are not clear. This leads to confusion in Vendor Selection, requirements & project expectations. So, it helps to have clearly defined objectives, functionalities and priorities. It is OK, if at the beginning one is not clear, as we are all learning. Also, most organisations have internal capability & resources, but that is lost in Silos. Here, external consultants and advisors bring in clarity through research, internal discussions, and then move to defining clear objectives and priorities. Need to have a clearly articulated document, as outcome.

b. Team Work – Need to have a team who will spearhead the journey. Most companies get this and have a team. But, we need to maintain the stability of the team, have transparency, regular reviews and encourage some critical discussions. Key team members must not be overburdened by day-to-day activities and have adequate time to focus and dedicate. There should be proportionate representation across stakeholders / departments.

c. Vendor Selection – In today’s times, vendors come with varying capabilities or sometimes there is very little to differentiate. So ideally a 2-stage process of RFI & RFP helps. Then of course we have product demo’s and / or POC’s. This is followed by a proposal. Once again having an external consultant help you through the Vendor Selection & Comparison process, brings in a lot of objectivity and clarity. The shortlisted vendors need to align with the Objectives & Functionalities. One needs to evaluate vendors to ensure project continuity. Also, negotiation with vendors should be mutually beneficial, something which gets disregarded, when only negotiation becomes the objective.

d. Have champions – This is crucial as we need to have champions (like micro-CEO) assigned for respective project modules / functionalities. This is to be defined at team level and when objectives and priorities are finalised.

e. Project Governance – The most crucial aspect is, while we set functionalities, objectives, teams, templates, tools, communications etc. we should not become lax and regular review needs to be conducted. This is another area consultants and advisors provide objectivity.

The crux of the above basically revolves around having an external consultant / advisor to navigate across requirements / functionalities, vendor selection & Project governance as they bring in better objectivity and cut across silos. This ultimately impacts Cost, Time, Project Complexity & thus leads to success in Digital Transformation projects.