Overcoming Digital Transformation Barriers
Developing a Digital Transformation Strategy presents businesses with the opportunity to reimagine their business processes and customer experience. But there are implementation challenges that need to be overcome to realize the full benefits of digital transformation.
Our previous article on “How to start Digital Transformation journey” highlighted how developing a digital transformation strategy, and getting the buy-in of executives and employees can help you to overcome minor strategy implementation challenges.
This article will focus on how lack of change management strategy, complex Technological tools, Budget Constraints, unrealistic digital transformation expectations, and ignoring customer experience can negatively affect digital transformation strategy implementation and discuss how the barriers can be overcome.
1. Lack of change management Strategy
Many businesses implement digital transformation strategies without a change management strategy. This increases the stress, anxiety, disruptions, and risk associated with the implementation of the strategic plan. The change management strategy document focuses on what will change, who will be affected by the change, the reason for the change, etc will be used as a tool for communicating and managing the change process to minimize the stress, anxiety, disruption, and risk that comes with change.
2. Complex Technological Tools
Some new technological tools for implementing digital transformation can present implementation and end-user challenges because of their complexities. This can intimidate employees leading to change resistance. Businesses can therefore consider acquiring intuitive and integrated systems and provide comprehensive training and continuous employee performance support.
3. Budget Constraints
Digital transformation strategy implementation can be expensive if not properly planned and implemented. Frequent changes in strategy scope can add to the increasing cost of the strategy. Developing a digital transformation strategy based on the long-term business goals and appropriate return on investment ratio will enable you to work within your budget.
4. Ignoring Customer Experience
Some businesses ignore the customer experience journey when developing their digital transformation strategy. But if your transformation strategy does not impact customers positively, you may lose them to your competitors. Conducting a customer experience survey will give you customer insights to enable you to factor them into your digital transformation strategy.
5. Unrealistic Digital Transformation Expectations
Digital Transformation journey initiators sometimes expect immediate results or view the implementation as the panacea to all corporate problems. Thus, they become frustrated or give up with teething implementation challenges. Trying to implement several changes at once may cause delays and failures. So implement transformation strategy in phases. There is no need to hurry. The implementation lessons learned in the previous phase can be carried to the next phase.
Conclusion
Transforming your business digitally is no longer an option but essential. However, the impact of the transformation can only be realized by initiating the digital transformation journey and overcoming the barriers to implementing the digital transformation strategy.