Until employees understand that it is possible to work differently, the business will stagnate.
In recent years, “digital transformation” has become the most important business buzzword of any industry in the world. Companies are trying to figure out how to become more efficient and increase business results in a world where competition is constantly growing, technology is advancing and the future is uncertain due to the epidemic and economic trials.
Although even if you have not heard of digital transformation, you still may have been involved in it, you just did not know that it was called that. In fact, the transition to remote work, the operation of takeaway restaurants, the launch of the delivery of goods, the connection of new payment methods is also part of the digital transformation. Learn more about what it is and what opportunities it gives in this article-guide about digital transformation – in pressing questions and clear answers.
Let employees know that they work
In a single system and the value of the company’s products and services depends on the actions and efforts of each of them. Prepare for the fact that at the lower levels your ideas will be the least supported. How to prepare a team for change is well written in the book “Our iceberg is melting” by J. Kotter – we recommend it for reading.
Hire T-shaped employees with a broad outlook in different areas (horizontal T) and expertise in one narrow area (vertical T). They are also called generalists for holistic views of the value stream (superficial knowledge in each area) and for professionalism in a narrow area (without the ability to see the big picture).
Why you need such specialists: they are not obsessed with their tasks, they are ready to interact with other employees and departments for a common cause, and they perceive the whole picture of creating new values in the organization.
Remember the walls? T-shaped specialists are able to destroy them, as they quickly adapt to changes.
It’s good if you hire a P-shaped professional who is at the expert level in two areas.
Add Technology
Create a unified record system by integrating classic information systems of supplier accounting, business transactions accounting, vendor ecosystems and others that manage organization-critical data. Integrate disparate components on one platform and provide a single system of engagement (Single System of Engagement, SSE). It is a technology for organizing the user journey through personalized, seamless interactions across multiple touchpoints. Such points will be social networks, e-mail, mobile applications, service portals.
A unified system of engagement will help you break down the walls of the silos, and then employees will see the work of colleagues and understand how their joint actions affect the goals and objectives of the company. SSE will link all dimensions of service management: information and technology, partners and suppliers, value streams and processes. All this will “live” on a single platform that provides seamless and convenient interaction between the listed dimensions.
Unity and convenience are the main qualities of integrated platforms, which ideally should be fast and convenient – like an application in a smartphone. After all, new generations have a digital mindset, and their expectations will have to be met: a slow and cumbersome platform with 50-field forms is not their choice.
The path of digital transformation must begin with people, changing their thinking. And only when you dismantle the old business model and prepare the company for large-scale transformation, you can connect specific tools. Remember that your engagement system must be unified – only in this way business process participants will continuously interact, and customers will get a new user experience and decide whether your business is needed by the market.