Demystifying Digital Transformation- A practitioner’s companion

Digital transformation is inevitable, for organisations who seek to remain relevant in the future. The objective of any digital transformation is to innovatively apply the technology stack to reinvent the organisation and the way in which it will engage with the customer to deliver value to them.

Given that each organisation has a unique DNA with distinctive aspirations, the digital journey need to be individually crafted with clear purpose, technology choices, and implementation specifics. Leaders will be called upon to take well-informed and deliberative decisions that have enormous implications and could very well define the future of the organisation.

I, along with Nishith Sharan, have suggested the necessary framework to assist leaders define their transformation agenda and execution specifics. We present an integrated approach, covering technological, strategic and organisational perspectives, while pointing out the decisions that need to be considered at various milestones during the digital transformation journey.

Demystifying Digital Transformation is an essential handbook for the industry leaders and transformation professionals as they embark on the digital transformation journey.

 The prime motivation to write this book is to bring certain rigor and sanity around this topic of digital transformation, so as to avoid lot of wasted efforts, resources and disappointment within organizations.


I wish this book serves the purpose in its usefulness to readers,

Happy to get the feedback, as always

Five Resolves for 2011

Continuing with tradition of writing (typing/texting) New Year Resolutions, here are my five Resolves:

1. Let customer speak once more: The conceit to assume that one knows “what customer wants?” is a dangerous habit that grows proportionately with years of experience as consultant. Hence the resolve to ask one more question (after the hurried run through of the check-list) before preaching to customer “what he needs to do” and be patient and shut-up till he reflects and respond. Better Insights, Better Results.
2. Dump the soulless Language : Enough of strategy, competency, commitment, knowledge management, collaboration; words which although bring sophistication to the dialogue, make conversations slave of standard patterns and arguments devoid of personnel attachment. Hearts and Soul react better to words like choice, will, clever, create, partnering or winning. Resolve to substitute as many listless words with curiously new/even absurd sounding words that provoke emotions.
3. Learn from new sources: Reading from similar sources is often more reassuring bias then illuminating new perspectives. Our ability to traverse knowledge across boundaries, often call for right level of abstraction, which with practice is within human realm of learning. Hence, resolve to consciously try to pick Dominique Lapierre over John Kotter, with hope that his recount of historic events has much to teach us on managing large scale transformations and radical societal shifts, that are going to be characteristics of global business entities.
4. Leverage Collective Intelligence: Captive knowledge and learning has a good companion in the form of wisdom of crowds and experts (real and imagined). Social media enable us to gather dispersed knowledge from our networks –no matter how weak are the links- as long as we have directional understanding of what we are seeking to achieve. Promise for potential digital eminence is sufficient for Gurus and specialists to willingly share and contribute. Resolve to go beyond captive intelligence to leverage dispersed but accessible knowledge in quest for better answers; but not to let collective intelligence be substitute to personal wisdom.
5. Leap beyond quick wins : Resist the temptation of bunching all quick wins (low hanging fruits etc) at the beginning of the execution plan to any transformation program, with hope that this will create momentum and stakeholder buy-in for expected tougher steps ahead. It seldom achieve these objectives, except making the program sponsors look good to have achieved something tangible in the short run- while doing nothing to mitigate stakeholders’ resistance for tougher measures ahead.!!! Resolve to see, that transformation initiatives insist on crucial steps early on (supported by better stakeholder management, plain speak and sufficient resource commitment) and to ensure that results come before project sponsors move on (say in first year). Further easy wins are dispersed along the complete program timeline then bunched in the beginning.

Not sure, if all of the above will yield better results, as these resolves are more based on self hypothesis then outcome of rigorous management research, underlining the need to continually experiment and break habits.

Happy to hear one thing that you plan to do differently in 2011.

Being Creative by Design

Everyone agrees that we need to be more innovative in our recommendations to clients to create greater impact.  However, despite rightful intent and efforts, there seems to be great variation in the quality of outcomes.  Some practitioners by experience or intellect are able to provide wider perspectives than majority.  So what does the majority do besides blaming education, experience or IQ?

I believe that conscious and rigorous employing of seemingly contradicting perspectives on any context can help us widen the universal set of possibilities leading to potentially better advice.  This is what we reckon as “being creative by design”.

Listed below are some of the perspectives (about objectives, strategy and execution) put forward by gurus that although contrarian to established thinking seems to be true as well in specific contexts.

1.    Stakeholders get motivated differently

• What motivates a professional manager may not motivate the owner of the firm.  Economists have always insisted on goal alignment between owners and professional managers under principal-agent theory. There is considerable debate on whether shareholder wealth maximization or stakeholder value generation should be the key objective functions of an enterprise.
• Further, managers and employees may get motivated differently.  Even in the same group, individuals may stand at different levels on the Missionary- Mercenary Orientation Continuum. 
• Off-course, there is need for an overarching objective that collectively reflects the aspirations of all stakeholders. But, for the message to engage, it should be able to connect to individual level legitimate aspirations as well.

Implications : Do not assume! Ascertain that every stakeholder’s priorities and expendables are well understood and the look towards achievement of Pareto Optimality.

2.     Selective Strategic Views are standalone traps

• Strategy formulation is essentially a creative exercise, an art that is being continuously scientisized through different frameworks, each approach providing a specific view towards strategy formulation.
• Unconscious of single view limitations, consultants often pick specific approach (framework) as favorites and apply it in all situations limiting the options.
• Ansoff matrix provides a sufficient framework for us to explore both the competitive and innovation orientation, provided we do justice to all the quadrants.  Return Driven Strategy framework is another broad encompassing framework.  

 

Implications :  It pays to consciously apply different views of Strategy Formulation to a situation to come up with diverse solution set.

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