The Devil Is in the Details: Why Process Matters More Than Ever for Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is the difference between being Blockbuster or Netflix, Kodak or Instagram.
One of the goals of a sound digital transformation strategy is to advance your company’s c-suite agenda in a way that is complemented and informed by modern channels. Well, to do that at the tactical level, you need great people on your team who will support you on your digital transformation journey. Your employees are your greatest asset. They can either make or break you.
But we are no longer factory workers like we were in the 1800s. Old school traditional structures don’t work. To optimize your employees’ value to your company, you need processes in place that will maximize your time together.
So how do you develop internal processes that are more agile, more flexible, and more fluid that embrace ambiguity? These processes are critical for adopting and adapting technologies within your organization.
Achieving a digital transformation involves linking two separate domains. There’s the technology component (e.g., AI, cloud based systems, VR/AR ect…) and the human aspect. If you want the technological transformation, it is really important to implement processes that harmonize the technological with the human. Bridging the gaps between company values and the workers that reflect them is essential for advancing a digital transformation strategy. Without effective processes you’ll be missing out on your greatest resource: your team members.
At Digital Surgeons, we practice three processes that unlock our employees potential–lean, agile, and design thinking. Each of these processes will leverage the strengths of your workforce while maximizing their output.
First, design thinking is a process that is focused on producing human-centered design. Originally pioneered by David Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO, the design thinking framework is built on the premise that innovation flourishes when a team cultivates critical thinking, curiosity, commitment to iteration, empathy, and cross-functional collaboration. Cross-functional teams will unlock creativity within your organization. A group composed of a UX designer, account strategist, and a copywriter will be more flexible and open to out-of-the-box thinking than a team comprising only UX designers and coders.
Second, lean describes process principles first used by scrappy startups to facilitate growth. When resources are scarce, you become creative out of necessity. A byproduct of this process is that startups are adept at adopting and adapting new technologies among their teams. As Brant Cooper, author of the Lean Entrepreneur, states, “the most valuable resources are talent and culture.” Lean uses these two resources to help you adopt the technologies that have arrived with the digital transformation wave.
Third, agile is a process and way of working that will make your organization more nimble and efficient–two qualities that you will need while you implement new practices, platforms, and people in your company. Though it originated in the software development world, the agile framework has taken off and is being used by many businesses. We can see why. To quote one author, “Agile enables organizations to cope with continuous change. It permits them to flourish in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.” Typically, agile relies on small, autonomous teams that collaborate with other small teams within the company. It’s a process that is dynamic and capable of helping organizations quickly learn from their mistakes.
During your digital transformation, you will need processes like design thinking, lean, and agile to help you and your company to roll out and integrate new technologies. You don’t know tomorrow’s problem. But when you combine different people, you get less overlap and the chances of producing innovative solutions skyrockets.
Let's have a conversation about how digital transformation can elevate your business.
