In the current scenario, we have seen the power of digital and what are all possible with it thoroughly since early 2020. Several organizations across the world could use the digital in business continuity and could revert risk into opportunity. Digitalization, Digitization and Digital Transformation are the buzzwords going on across the world in different industries. They do play major role in an organizational success contributing to productivity improvements, making solutions available to remote population, providing accurate results, contributing to economy, reducing transportation times, increasing efficiency of operations in different sectors. This conference insight is based on an online conference I attended in the month of May 2020 conducted by one of the Institute in India. This insight describes Need for Digital, Different Types of Digital in Organization, Organizational Triggers for Digital Transformation, Starting Digital Transformation, How to do Digital Transformation?, and Success Factors for Organizational Digital Transformation.
Need for Digital: Now, digitization and transformation to digital is need of the hour; not only for the benefit of organization, but for the benefit of customers and the society at large. In 21st century, organizations are looking for sustainable growth instead of organic growth specifically in the current decade. The growth organizations are looking for should be sustainable, continuous, possible, and risk avert. Organizations are taking different routes for growth such as entering into new markets, entering into new regions, merges and acquisitions. For example, if an organization went for merger or acquisition; it leads to changes or integration in business processes enforcing implementation at digital level. Business process integration involves digital transformation in one or more organizations in case of mergers. During digital transformation, integrations of all business functions of organization take place. Digital transformation starts with customer and ends with customer in the entire customer engagement process of an organization.
Different Types Digital in Organization: Different forms of digital takes place in an organization. It is based on several factors, such as organizational age, organizational size, technical competency, staff skill level, and financial situation. The different forms involving digital include:
- Digitalization: converts manual paper based hard copy documents into computer software based digital copies.
- Digitization: At very high level it is nothing but the automation; In the Input-> Process->Output cycle, it automates all business processes and sub-processes.
- Digital Transformation: involves major shift in business model developing e-business model and automation of several business processes of an organization (converting manual processes into automated; may involve process reengineering as well);
Organizational Triggers for Digital Transformation: include organizational sustainability, long term survival, make innovations, bring disruption in the industry, create more customer value, and employee empowerment.
Starting Digital Transformation: Based on the criticality of digital transformation projects, understand that different stakeholders have conflicting interests. Plan for incremental deliveries, plan for incremental results, plan for early production, encourage team to learn and adopt new technologies, expect unknown risks and surprises, and facilitate end user adaptation of technologies.
How to do Digital Transformation?: There are different ways in which organizations do digital transformation. They include:
- Platform Development: develop product platforms to cater to larger markets. In future, competition will be between product platforms not between products.
- Open Source Technologies: organizations can use freely available source code, modify and redistribute the technology.
- Micro-services: organizations can develop software app based micro services useful for scale up;
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: AI is useful for decision making and ML enables computer systems to learn from data;
- API: Application Programming Interface libraries enable software applications to interact with each other
- Block chain Technologies: maintains ledger of distributed transactions; uses cryptography;
- Internet of Things: enables devices to transfer data and control information between themselves; and devices can even take decisions based on data received;
Success Factors for Organizational Digital Transformation: includes focus on core competencies, integrate technology, senior management commitment, coordination, and organizational understanding of their customer better than their competitors.
Organizations based on their need can go for digital transformation on a phased manner; it can give them competitive advantage over their competitors. With these transformations, the near future can see several universities becoming online universities or traditional universities offering online programmes, improvements in supply chains such as order from anywhere and receive from anywhere, increased Internet penetrations particularly in Asian and Emerging Markets, growth in digital economies, remote system supports in consumer durables, remote healthcare and medical advises; and particularly, the services sector is going to be transformed and going to adopt digital in a big way.
Hope this helps. Shared whatever I could extract from the conference;
Best wishes,
Dr.Goparaju Purna Sudhakar, PhD, PMP
(http://www.gpsudhakar.com)
Reference: (Murthy, B.G.K, Webinar on “Digital Transformation”, Dhruva College of Management, Hyderabad, India, May 2020)