Consider Process too for Digital Transformation

A view from the APQC domain.   As an answer to this see a recent book on the subject I also mentioned here: Why Digital Transformations Fail  by Tony Saldanha with lots of real recent examples in the big enterprise.  Some good points made below.

Why You Need Process For Digital Transformation
By Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland  

I recently spoke with Kevin De Pree, vice-president of Rand Group, to discuss why organizations are diving into digital, the common challenges related to digital transformations, and ways to help overcome institutional barriers that stymie so many digital efforts.

What are the catalysts that start organizations on their digital transformation journey?

There are several reasons organizations start their digital transformations—ranging from creating sustainable growth by better allocating the time of the existing staff to finding new product or market opportunities. Whatever the explicit reason though, it typically boils down to one or more of these three reasons:  increase revenue,   decrease costs, and reduce risk.

For example, one oil & gas client conducted a digital undertaking to create a digital “field ticket”, their invoice. Previously approval for invoice payments required a physical signature on paper from the customer. There were several benefits to digitizing the field tickets. Digitized information couldn’t get lost, it created more control over the timing of payments dramatically reducing Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), and it reduced job closeout cycle time. While the initial reason for the project was reduce paper and digitize information, the drivers behind it are reduce risk (both in losing the paperwork and in managing the payout schedule) and reducing costs by improving cycle time.

In addition to these three drivers, organizations are looking for ways to better leverage their existing staff with operational efficiencies. This driver has been the major one we’ve seen over the last two to three years and has been a result of labor shortage of experienced resources.

You mentioned that digital efforts are difficult to achieve. Where do organizations typically go wrong with their digital transformation efforts?

Most organizations are not designed for digitalization. They suffer from organizational silos, complex processes, and fragmented systems. This complexity and fragmentation mean they are typically only looking at one piece of an end-to-end process when they conduct digital projects, which ultimately makes it difficult to make improvements with the customer—either external or internal—experience in mind. Also, because they are looking at their pre-existing processes their automation efforts digitize the process as is, including unnecessary complexities or inefficiencies. ... "