Digital Transformation Strategy, Framework And Tools

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive, but those who can best manage change.

Charles Darwin

Digital Transformation Strategy: Framework & Tools

Is your business facing challenges set up by the merging of the physical, digital, and human worlds? Well, then it’s time for you to pep up your knowledge about digital transformation strategy.

Digital transformation strategy is a detailed plan for how your business will solve these key hurdles and challenges. Companies of all sizes are seeing desirable business outcomes from digital transformation efforts. For instance service & product improvement and innovation, operational efficiency, and increased swiftness across the value chain.

Willing to develop such a strategy for your own business too? Look nowhere, you are at the right place. Through this article we will take you on a step by step journey to understand how digital transformation can boost your business and take you to new heights.

The journey towards value of any type starts with defining a strategy for your specific business needs and desired outcomes.  So, Learn Transformation helps your organization in the same direction.

• Clear targets, management buy-in, and targeting easy wins early are just some of the key aspects of a successful digital transformation. According to experts from Learn Transformation. Digital transformation provides a lot of opportunities and organizations use them to improve their customer services, reform their internal operations and invent their way to a sustainable future.
• Learn Transformation’s experience says that successful digital transformation must rest on a foundation of smart digital transformation strategy. And making fine investment alternatives to widen competitive advantage, profit, and value—and then implementing them with direction is a smart business strategy.
• According to Learn Transformation, any digital transformation strategy looks at the goals, current situation and how to move forward on a transformational journey in a way that makes sense and connects the dots.

Also see: Top 10 steps for a successful business transformation

Two questions that top every CEO’s digital agenda:

1. What does the company of the future look like?
2. How do we get there?

Key Tenets of Effective Digital strategy

1. Set clear targets

• What will digital transformation do for your company? The first step in your digital transformation journey is finding an answer to this question and this makes it significant for all those involved.

• Firms must identify key milestones and targets for the organization to aim for. Ideally with low-hanging fruit first to help build momentum – before relaying the road-map clearly to key stakeholder groups, and keeping them up-to-date through detailed communications plans.
• Learn Transformation thinks that targets are needed for each source of value creation – cost savings, revenues, for better work of agents, and gratification of members and customers—and for different ways of working.

Also see: SWOT analysis  

2) Secure investment

• In this the phase “you get what you pay for” holds true, and only firms willing to truly commit to the investment needed will be able to pull off a digital transformation framework.
• Learn Transformation Experts thinks that if “Investment is likely to result in lower profits for a while. But without it there is a serious risk to profits in the longer term.”
• Superiorly, companies do need to assign investment & with this the current business will improve and new business will be built up.

3) Align digital transformation strategies with business goals

• According to Learn Transformation, humans, and not the technology, are at the heart of digital transformation.
• Leaders need to communicate that switching to digital is the ideal strategy, figuring out the end result, & reducing the panic of the ‘eventual effect’ whereby previous products or processes are replaced by brand new or digital ones.

4) Make experimentation with digital technologies easy

• Companies must set parameters around digital transformation that allow frequent testing of theory. Obtaining practical learning, and further modifying or getting rid of investigation.
• Companies who share three 3 finest operations. They connect revolution to a big-picture vision, make trials easy for employees, and also, share duties among everyone with a tie up in the innovation.

5) Develop your communications plan

• Learn Transformation focuses on encouraging the right culture. A culture that will get the wheels of a digital transformation in motion. That’s why education should be any organization’s primary focus.
• It’s vital for every employee to understand why things are the way they are. why changes are happening within the business? And also, what type of behaviors will be needed to make the changes effective? Without this basic transparency, it will prove impossible to get a company’s various teams behind any digital transformation framework.
• Moreover, change can begin in areas where there are fewer risks—in marketing. For instance, by testing messages and channels to find out what is most effective.

6) Expertise in risk management

• Every single thing about digital transformation and troublesome business models seems to go against the traditional IT concepts of risk controls. Digital transformation is about moving fast & growing and scaling new technologies.
• It requires the good design of risk management and controls around the digital transformation effort.

Also Read: 21 Best Digital Transformation Books

Tools of the Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is not only a technological switch, but an organizational change at the convergence of business & people. Such reflection must take into account countless possibilities.

And as a message to everyone that reads this, remember, the technology in itself does not equate to digital transformation. The culture, customer & employees accompanying business progression must be at the heart of each & every technology investment.

As digital business transformation is going to take the limelight of most organizations. Therefore here are the some digital transformation technologies that will influence the enterprise landscape in the 21st century. Including AI, 5G, advanced data analytics, and also some that may amaze you. So, without further ado, here are those trends that I believe will be the most significant in 21st century.

1. 5G for Everyone

21st century will be the era of 5G. With some of the major names in telecommunications, like AT&T, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Verizon, Nokia & Huawei. Making sure that global 5G placement stay on pace & the world’s finest Android handset creators already releasing 5G phones, 5G will strike the ground running in this century.

Additionally to bringing us all quicker broadband speeds & more reliable mobile networks. The reproduction of 5G will also quicken advancements in smart manufacturing, smart vehicle, and smart city. In other words, the true worth of 5G won’t be restricted to phones. Just about every industry that pushes our daily lives will be modified – for the better – by the technological advancement that will define this century.

2. Cloud Data Management will increase data mobility & portability

Businesses will look to Cloud Data Management to ensure the possibility of data covering all storage surroundings in 21st century. Data needs to be fluid in the hybrid & multi-cloud landscape. And Cloud Data Management’s function to expand data mobility & portability is the reason it has become an industry in and of itself.

The 2019 Veeam Cloud Data Management report disclosed that organizations vowed to spend an average of US$41 million on establishing Cloud Data Management technologies this year. The sight of ‘your data, when you require it, where you require it’ can only be obtained through a vigorous CDM strategy. So, its importance will only grow over the course of next year and hence it becomes an undeniable necessity for anybody creating a robust digital marketing strategy for their business. 

3. Blockchain in Mainstream

We believe that digital transformation services will boom with conventional applications coming out in 21st century. That will rapidly transform areas such as digital identity verification, data security & intelligent automation. Sectors such as regulatory bodies, BFSI, logistics, and government agencies have already begun using blockchain. Further, They use it to set up complex autonomous verification & validation systems that need minimal human intervention, thanks to the capacity of blockchain to be immutable.

As we know that Amazon Web Services adjusting blockchain technology with their subscription based blockchain-as-a-service platform. And they are not solo on this effort. Many other universal leaders are also playing in this area, including IBM, Samsung, China’s Alibaba & Microsoft.

What’s more, we are starting to see real use cases for the technology far off payments & cryptocurrencies. Look to how blockchain will be utilized in intellectual property & royalties, food safety, and real estate/asset management for instance. Moreover, 21st century is marking the potential importance of Blockchain in digital transformation framework.

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4. Analytics are the fierce trump card

Companies that aren’t investing deliberately in analytics by 2020 probably won’t be in business in 2021. There is simply far too much valuable customer data to be collected, processed & turned into insights for any company to be competitive without making full use of modern analytics tools.

Every other business is grasping experienced analytics tools to find out problems, solutions & opportunities. That’s why we are seeing a combination of analytical capabilities across the tech world. From Salesforce obtaining Tableau to Microsoft developing its own Power Platform.

Every major tech company has already estimated that the future is in data—most indicatively, the real-time processing of it. And so, nevertheless of what industry you’re in, analytics will again be one of the most ruling central points of digital transformation in coming years.

5. AI and Machine Learning propagating data analytics

If you will invest in analytics, you also need to invest in AI & machine learning to get ready to navigate the huge, boiling seas of information & data that you aim to put to good use.

The worth of AI & machine learning to data analytics can be refined into 3 separate value propositions: speed, scale & convenience. Speed and scale refer to the benefit of automating the inspection of huge data sets. As opposed to allocating human data analysts to the task. Thanks to AI and machine learning, you can analyze complex data sets in a snippet of the time which it used to take just two years ago.

This is not because AI & machine learning algorithms have become exceptionally good at data analysis. And also, because that analysis can easily be scaled in the cloud. On the convenience side the inclusion of AI & machine learning to analytics tools has made them instinctive. Much more reliable as well as easy to use.

6. A faster Wi-Fi for a faster world

Although Wi-Fi 6 and 5G are entirely different technologies, both will be bringing us much faster processing & wireless connection speeds in this century’s digital transformation journey. 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will generate an ideal end-to-end combination of ultra-fast connectivity for home & office. You can expect download speeds up to 3x faster than were achievable with Wi-Fi 5. But that isn’t the best measure of the new standard’s value.

The true worth of Wi-Fi 6 will be its capacity to increase quicker data speeds to far more devices than Wi-Fi 5 was able to manage.

So, This is important for two main reasons:

• The first is that the no. of connected devices on the average Wi-Fi network is awaited to rise from roughly 10 now to 60 over the next few years. And that increase will need quicker, more efficient & smarter Wi-Fi capabilities.
• The quality & volume of data gripped through Wi-Fi networks are both increasing as well, and Wi-Fi 5 can’t handle the load all that well. Wi-Fi 6 will remove these problem areas beginning in 21st century.

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7. Conversational Artificial Intelligence

One major thing that has achieved attention now is conversational bots. From websites to major apps, a lot of customer-facing interactions are now handled by programmed bots that can clarify queries & respond intelligently.

Whether it is ordering food from a restaurant, carrying out a banking transaction or booking a cab. Tech-savvy consumers are progressively depending on personal digital assistants or bots to assist them. The reproduction of smart devices like wearables & IoT enabled home and personal electronic devices. Smart home speakers have created huge possibilities for a business to connect more efficiently with end users. At present this is the best digital transformation strategy a company can leverage to expand its boundaries.

Today, you can ask your smart coffee maker to brew a coffee in the most delicate alternatives of taste & smell without even touching the coffee maker. You can simply ask the personal assistant on your phone to do so. If this is not a massive technological revolution then what else is?

8. Immersive Experiences

2020 is seeing consumer experiences shifting to a more immersive phenomenon. A phenomenon where almost everyone from a local retail shop to an e-commerce giant will offer interactive experiences, courtesy of technology like augmented & virtual reality. Gartner says – this digital transformation journey is going to be the most remarkable one as by 2022. As, Nearly 70% of all businesses would be using immersive customer experiences in some form on an experimental basis.

Such immersive technology will find its way into a no. of consumer-facing scenarios. For instance virtual assistants, demonstrations, field services and so on. With gadgets supporting immersive experiences like smart glasses & wearables being available for very affordable prices. Furthermore, The consumer base requiring such experiences will grow enormously in the coming years. The possibilities are limitless and businesses small or big can undergo this digital transformation. And then, take advantage of this opportunity to improve their competence. 

Also See: Digital Business and Digital Leadership in 21st Century

9. Autonomous drones, connected vehicles & Smart Cities become our new reality

The combination of edge compute and 5G will bring us significantly closer to truly autonomous cars, drones, and smart cities in 21st century. Tesla distinctly is the first name which is bringing this to market, but this isn’t something only Elon Musk is trying to gear. Moreover, This is happening by the direct strategic alignment between digital transformation technology makers & automotive manufacturers.

Companies like Qualcomm/ Intel/ Nvidia & Ford/ BMW/ Volvo/ are merging up while Uber is building their autonomous fleet & Amazon is looking to cover your every need to your door via an autonomous drone to ultimately bring these long-committed digital transformation technologies to the market.

10. UX/CX, XaaS & privacy: How technology-adjacent Digital Transformation trends will take to center stage in 2020

Change itself is a core driver of Digital Transformation. Because of this, I am highlighting the technology-adjacent trends that I believe will rule Digital Transformation discussions: At the top of my list are UX/CX (User/Customer Experience), XaaS (everything as a service) and digital privacy.

i. User and Customer Experience:

As digital transformation success is closely knitted with user and customer experience (UX/CX), that stress will continue to lead business investments in digital transformation strategy. On the other, improvements in connectivity (5G, Wi-Fi 6), smart automation (RPA, AI), intuitive user interfaces (conversational AI, gesture analysis, AR), compute capabilities (cloud, edge, machine learning),), and will combine to make coming years an inflection point for UX and CX across a span of industries ranging from retail & hospitality to healthcare as well as transportation.

ii. XaaS:

Everything-as-a-Service will obtain even more strength in this 21st century, in even the most hardware-driven industries/sectors of digital transformation technology. Hewlett Packard Enterprise declared they would provide everything in their portfolio as a service by 2022. This is just one big example, but all of the on-premise providers are switching in same direction of digital transformation. As we continue to see the rise of hybrid, onsite, cloud, etc., “big IT” will move on-premises as-a-Service, right alongside analytics, big data, blockchain & more.

iii. Digital Privacy:

Thanks to the privacy failures from technology companies in current years, the establishment of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, and rising calls in the U.S. to urge controls on technology companies, we will be seeing more companies finally getting serious about privacy & data security issues in 2020.

We expect that many will adopt privacy & transparency as a brand differentiator, allowing users to opt in or out of data collection schemes with greater ease & awareness than in the past.

The actual question will be whether companies like Amazon (via Alexa) and Facebook will join in or carry on with silently gather all the data from users. Beyond that, the opportunity for legacy high-tech companies like including but not limited to Cisco, Dell, IBM & HPE to develop some actual & meaningful structure around data security and privacy could drive the way to a digital privacy rejuvenation starting in 2020. So, It will be riveting to see which companies stay status quo, what companies step up to drive privacy.

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iv. Digital Modeling

The notion is to develop a digital persona for every product or service business has to offer its customers. This persona would be used to arrive at choosing the right supporting digital enablers like data generators (sensors, IoT enabled devices, etc.) as well as the right decision path (data models & implementations of data science to arrive at success models).

Such persona would be used to find out an offering’s fitness to the market, the cost needed to maintain it feasible, the business models & processes that need re-defining to support it and so on. This entire exercise of digital transformation, though a bit tough, will bring about a strategic advantage to adopters as their business offerings would be more aligned for digital success than competitors.

Final word

At last, Business leaders need to sharpen their digital skills to keep pace with the quickly growing market. Thus, We believe that these specific tools will rule digital transformation discussions.

Frequently asked questions

Key Takeaways:

• Accept change: Adopting a growth-oriented mindset is necessary for digital transformation.
• Put the customer at the centre of the plan by concentrating on providing them with excellent experiences and value.
• Agility and adaptability: To stay ahead in the digital environment, be adaptable, constantly change, and make use of developing technology.