The recent PwC Caribbean Digital Readiness Survey 2024 reveals that only 42% of organizations believe their digital transformation is progressing quickly enough. This is not surprising based on my experience.
As Bill Gates said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” This is especially true for digital transformation. Given the significant investments, anxiety around progress is understandable. However, the real value is there for those that stay the course.
To ensure your digital transformation doesn’t lose steam, here are seven strategies you can’t afford to ignore:
Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew Focus on initiatives that align with your strategic goals and your organization’s capacity to execute. This includes looking at your available resources and things like several technical implementations IT can push to production. Trying to tackle everything at once dilutes your resources and diminishes your chances of success.
Aim for Value, Not Just Go Live As the saying goes, “If you aim for nothing, you will hit it with amazing accuracy.” Too often, digital transformation is seen as a series of technology implementations, with success measured by go-live dates rather than the value created post-implementation. Remember, technology is necessary but insufficient. The real aim must be to extract value from the technology implemented and that value to be extracted and how it will be measured should be clear before any investments are made.
Support Investments with Necessary Resources Ensure you have the right mix of skills and expertise by upskilling, making strategic hires, or partnering with external experts and sufficient resources to get the job done. Dedicated resources are essential to getting the job done and maintaining momentum.
Stop Using IT as a Crutch and Establish Business Line Ownership Engage P&L-responsible executives to take ownership of digital initiatives. Hold them accountable for the results of digital initiatives that benefit their domains. This drives greater collaboration in the design and implementation of technology solutions.
Monitor Digital Investments Like Your Apple Watch Monitors Your Step Goals Create dashboards to track implementation progress and value realization. Weekly high-level check-ins will help you quickly identify challenges and make necessary course corrections. Regular monitoring is your safety net.
Forget Big Bangs—Deliver in Increments Aim for incremental value delivery. This approach allows for faster benefits realization, better stakeholder engagement, and more opportunities for learning and adjustment.
Make It Easy for Users, or Your Investment Will Go Down the Drain You can only realize the return on your digital investments if people use them, so prioritize user experience with intuitive design and robust education plans to drive adoption.
Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. These seven strategies will accelerate progress and measurable impact.
Let’s connect if you are interested in digital transformation support.
