CTG: Making Digital Transformation Transitions Smoother and More Successful

Many companies are diving headfirst into implementing what they’re calling digital transformation strategies. Yet McKinsey findings suggest that just 31% of organizations that have taken steps toward digital transformations in the past five years have been successful. This implies a major disconnect between desired outcomes and real-world results.

So where does the disconnect come from? Often, companies misunderstand the concept of digital transformation in general. It’s easy to understand why. The term “digital transformation” implies a move from outdated to updated digital solutions. And digital transformation certainly covers that ground. Yet a true, holistic digital transformation goes beyond updating software and systems. Instead, it involves a foundational overhaul in the way work gets accomplished—and the culture of the company.

A better way to view digital transformation, then, is to see it as a widespread change in the way a company functions. Though most employees say they welcome change, human nature says otherwise. Change is uncomfortable. Change can be unsettling. These are natural responses, which is why it is necessary to anticipate resistance points when implementing a full-blown digital transformation strategy.

Identifying and Overcoming Digital Transformation Friction Points

People tend to bristle when their employers roll out digital transformation initiatives for a few core reasons. The first is that they feel threatened because they’ve been pushed out of their comfort zones. Most people thrive on consistency, buoyed by routines. Digital transformations shake up the status quo, which may be difficult for employees to accept.

Another issue is that employees can't see the bigger picture. They're being told to change things up, but management often skips explaining the why and how behind digital transformation. This leads to frustration at the time sink of learning new processes—because leaders haven't shown how it'll save time in the future.

Even outside the employee experience, resistance against digital transformation strategies also comes from a top-down perspective. Digital transformation requires a healthy budget. Leaders often don’t earmark enough money toward ongoing digital transformation, treating it as a one-time event rather than something that’s continuously evolving. As a result, digital transformation progress may be impeded and desired outcomes may go unrealized.

How can organizations bypass these problems?

1. Get Employees Involved

The more engaged employees are from the start of digital transformation, the better. Workers feel more empowered when they’re brought into organizational planning at the front end rather than the back end.

When employees can see that they’re a valued part of the solution, they’re less reluctant to embrace change. They may even become eager to put their fingerprints on their company’s change management plan.

2. Rethink Everyone’s Roles—With Their Input

As mentioned above, digital transformation affects all workflows. It can affect the structure of departments or even entire companies. For instance, businesses undergoing digital transformation may realize that reporting hierarchies no longer make sense. Therefore, they need to rethink everyone’s positions.

Again, this can make employees feel uneasy unless they’ve been allowed to contribute. When they see that a change in their company’s organizational flowchart can be beneficial, they feel calmer about moving forward. Withholding information can spark fears of reshuffling or even layoffs. Rather, the digital transformation strategy should be communicated to employees openly and often.

3. Invest for the Long Haul

It is not reasonable to think that a digital transformation will happen in a few months. A continuous stream of funds needs to be invested and reinvested in change management for years. With a mindset of continuous improvement, all the benefits of a digital transformation are attainable. The organization just needs to prepare in advance for challenges and tackle them as they arise.

With this said, it’s not a good idea to have an open-checkbook mentality. Wise staging of digital transformation and a change management plan involves a series of predictable financial rollouts.

CTG: A Leading Digital Transformation Acceleration Partner

At CTG, we understand how overwhelming it can be for organizations trying to figure out how to implement digital transformation. We also know that digital transformation is necessary. A full 75% of companies expect to have full digital transformation roadmaps by 2023, according to IDC predictions. This is why we’ve honed our processes to help clients accelerate their digital transformations using proven methods and emerging technologies.

As digital transformation partners, we help organizations accomplish their unique goals. For example, when we start working on a digital transformation project, we focus on understanding the business’s outcomes first. Then, we can make recommendations based on our deep knowledge.

Our team members have worked with clients in numerous industries, giving us practical, relevant insight into the top digital transformation trends and best practices. Many of those best practices can be transferred from one industry to another.

Take the energy sector. We’ve specialized in energy for many years. One of the digital transformation technologies that we’ve helped implement in energy is called a “digital twin.” A digital twin is a 3D representation of a physical object or system that shows its inner workings and monitors its performance.

Now, we’re starting to bring digital twin technologies to other industries, including healthcare and warehousing. The concept of digital twins is new to those fields, but it poses incredible possibilities from an efficiency and safety standpoint, among other benefits.

Another advantage that CTG brings to the table is assisting clients in constructing a logical digital transformation strategy roadmap and then communicating it to their employees. When developing roadmaps, we look at all the desired digital transformation outcomes. From those outcomes, we can lay out an implementation roadmap that essentially connects the dots.

From the client’s standpoint, the roadmap serves two purposes. One, it helps create a logical schedule to follow. Two, it lets them have something tangible to roll out to team members. Team members find digital transformation less jarring when they can see when things will change—and where they fit into the roadmap planning.

Whether your company is thinking about embarking on a digital transformation or has had trouble getting one off the ground, CTG is ready to support you. Learn more about the necessity of change management for successful digital transformation.

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