“Digital Transformation (DT or DX) is the adoption of digital technology to transform services or...
Over the last 2 months, I have witnessed approximately 180 tonnes of spoil (mostly chalk) being loaded and transported away from our house as preparations are made to build a new garage and extension. With six months scheduled for the build, it has taken 8 weeks just to create the space, the first foundations don’t go in until next week! However without this preparation (and excruciating attention to the accuracy of levels / measurements) the structural works to follow would almost certainly be problematic and potentially doomed to ultimately fail.
It is this reliance on foundations that makes our current works a fantastic analogy for digital transformation within business – give me a moment and I’ll explain.
When building, getting the foundation right allows the continuing building work to be structurally sound, true to the specified design, remain ‘trouble free’ through the expected lifetime, deliver on its promised benefits, be built on time and within the specified budget.
With digital transformation the same principles apply…
The right preparation
Like anything in life, if you start incorrectly…
“…forever will it dominate your destiny”
– Jedi Master Yoda
This is the groundwork, the trenches being dug – this initial preparation will ensure this first digital transformation project will deliver on the promised benefit, with minimal disruption, within the expected time and budget constraints.
When initiating the first digital transformation project within a business, before the first solution proposal is even offered, knowing what issue is to be addressed and what the expected outcome of any change should deliver is critical. Not understanding ‘where you are’ and ‘where you want to be’ will lead to a path of indecisiveness, project bloat, implementation delays and potentially completely the wrong solution solving a completely different issue.
The right foundation
“Without a solid foundation, you’ll have trouble creating anything of value”
– Erika Oppenheimer
With the issue identified, your chosen consultant will (or should) provide a solution proposal that, once installed, will meet or even exceed the expected requirements outlined. This initial solution / product is the foundation – it will be what resolves the initial issue but also provides the solid base on which further transformation can occur.
The abandoned foundation
“It’s not failure, it’s unfinished success”
–
Back to the building – having spent a year designing / planning, months obtaining funding, 8 weeks digging and another week pouring concrete (hopefully just a week) why would we then just build a new garage (what was originally in the space) and stop? There is an office, kitchen and master bedroom suite unbuilt – the potential unrealised.
This is essentially what occurs when businesses consult and digitally transform a single process without consideration for what could be achieved. A great foundation has been created with unrealised potential to go further – unfortunately this is where most businesses remain having taken the first step!
Realising the potential
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
– Chinese proverb
Having created a solid and trusted foundation, to not continue to build would be a travesty. With the foundations laid, the really hard work is done, what happens now is the fun bit, taking the potential and creating further benefits. It is nearly always true that the solution provided has core functionality that far exceeds the initial implementation parameters and it is just there, waiting…
In building terms, that would be like us having the foundations put in and the initial structural walls completed but then not using the space created – putting a garage door on and parking the car in it but then not fitting a kitchen in the room above, not fitting the bathroom suite in the en-suite, not using the new bedroom or new office space. Essentially going to all the trouble of building something with great potential and then walking away.
Food for thought? Not quite sure what else your existing platform could do? Want to maximise the potential of your digital transformation foundations? Come and talk to us and see what further beneficial potential can be unlocked using your existing tools.
A conversation costs nothing and it comes with far less (chalk) dust than digging new foundations!
Toby Gilbertson, Customer Services Manager. March 2022.
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