Enterprises need to deliver revenue-generating digital experiences for today’s digitally savvy customers and consumers, but it doesn’t come easy. The article looks at five obstacles IT teams face along their digital transformation journey, along with realistic solutions for overcoming them.
There’s no longer any doubt. Enterprises of all types need to deliver revenue-generating digital experiences for today’s digitally savvy customers and consumers. The future is digital—and so is the present. But the kind of digital transformation needed to get from point A to point B doesn’t come easy.
Despite the fact that IT-related priorities have never ranked higher in the history of Gartner’s annual CEO survey, analysts confirm that many companies still have not gone through their digital transformation journey. To remain competitive and attract the best talent, modern technology solutions in the workplace are key, with 91% of employees saying they crave these solutions in the workplace according to the 2020 Workfront State of Work reportOpens a new window .
Enterprise leaders clearly understand the need for digital improvements, targeted apps, and entirely new digital platforms and ecosystems. So, what’s getting in the way of making these things happen—or even getting started? Let’s take a look at five common obstacles IT teams face, along with realistic solutions for overcoming them.
Nobody’s taking the lead
In terms of digital transformation, I’ve noticed that IT departments struggle to take a leadership role. Executives polled by the Digital Marketing Institute agree—only 7% say that the IT department leads the way when it comes to identifying opportunities for innovation.
But honestly, who is better positioned than the company’s resident tech experts to step up and create a strategy, accompanied by a step-by-step plan that will facilitate continued innovation? IT leaders need to cultivate a strategic mindset, so they’re thinking at least as much about larger business outcomes as they are about APIs, MVPs, sprints, and backlogs.
No visibility into the work
It’s no secret that silos are a significant challenge for the enterprise. The Digital Marketing Institute also found that 78% of executives believe IT and other departments could be better aligned to deliver on their digital transformation efforts. So many times, silos and a resulting disconnection occurs between IT and the business side of the enterprise. This makes a successful digital transformation project particularly challenging.
The solution? Centralization. When you centralize all the work related to the digital transformation initiative—including collaboration, work requests, status updates, and resource management—everyone involved has a better view of how work is progressing and how it relates to strategic goals.
Resistance to change
The CIOs have spoken. In a survey of nearly 4,500 technology executives, Harvey Nash and KPMG report that the biggest challenge to implementing a successful digital strategy is internal resistance. Resistance to change has many causes, but the lack of visibility and strategic leadership previously mentioned are chief among them. Work to mitigate those issues, and you’ll find it easier to get people on board with your transformation. Data also helps immensely.
To that end, modernize your tech stack so data is automated and more easily accessible, progress can be monitored by all parties, and the benefits of the transition become clearer.
Work moves at a snail’s pace.
The more complicated and cumbersome your process, the slower your digital transformation will move forward. Evaluate the number of tools you’re using to achieve your goals, and make sure you know the precise job to be done for each and every tool. You’d be surprised how often the why behind a tool is unclear to even those tasked with using it.
Keep only the most used tools that increase efficiency and drop any that serve a redundant purpose. Consolidate wherever possible and create processes for repeatable work. Automation can significantly help with this while saving time and resources. Simplicity is the name of the game when it comes to digital transformation strategies.
Lack of scalability
Often, teams will run into the same delays, issues, silos, and questions throughout the digital transformation process. To avoid the scrutiny of stakeholders who may start to wonder about the value of the initiative, I recommend documenting workflows and creating templates. This allows everyone on the team to have a visual of what’s involved and when it will occur.
The same familiar framework can be used again at different stages in the process, making incremental refinements and improvements as you go. When team members don’t have to waste time trying to figure out what to do next, they can get right to work and apply their creative genius to solve problems in a way that directly impacts the bottom line.
According to PM Solutions, only 40% of IT projects meet their deadlines, budgets and goals. It’s important to gather comments and evaluate whether changes need to be made to the process to help improve productivity. By making digital transformation a priority throughout your organization, enterprises are setting their employees up to do their best work.
The Future is Digital
Digital transformation is no longer a buzzword, it is a necessity for most company’s future success. However, the promises of digital transformation will not happen without strategic planning and consistent execution on those plans. As you work to overcome the five common challenges outlined above, you’ll not only gain efficiencies, but the daily work of your enterprise will be better aligned and a more integral part of your strategy and goals.