Business transformation is a modern approach to adapting to an ever-changing world as a means to increase profitability, improve the customer experience, and increase overall workforce productivity. It involves investing in the three pillars of people, processes and technology to create a culture of innovation, streamline operations, and leverage technology to stay ahead of the curve. Especially in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation is crucial to ensure business continuity, given security protocols that limit any type of physical interaction. Recent studies have revealed that many companies prioritize customer experience as their top priority, followed by product development and pricing.
However, the most difficult pillar to build is the transformation of the business model. For business transformation to be successful, employees must be able to trust the management team that they are making changes that are positive for the entire organization in ways that are measured not only in terms of profitability, but also in other ways. Trust is an essential element of a company's culture for its health. A lack of trust in a culture creates more obstacles, barriers, and destruction of creativity than any external force could create.
If team members can't trust each other or their leaders, they'll hide their best ideas, their best efforts, and any kind of support that's absolutely critical to creating first-class products and services and to streamlining the organization from the inside out. Business process management is a methodology used to redesign business processes to make them more efficient and effective. It involves everything from the structure of the business model itself to specific internal processes. Many people get stuck in the software selection process, but if you do your due diligence before reaching the technological pillar of digital transformation, it will be easier to draw up a short list of technologies that meet that need.
When selecting new software, it's important to consider the prioritized processes that will help your organization move toward its overall business strategy. Companies with digitally capable board members also experienced a 38% increase in sales, a 34% increase in return on investment, and a 34% increase in market capitalization. By following these three pillars - people, processes and technology - organizations can set themselves up for success as they embark on their digital transformation journey. The reason they're often overlooked is because they come from the qualitative side of things, the part of the business that can't be measured in spreadsheets or added to an invoice from a consulting firm.
What I've learned about business transformation is that there are three concepts that are extremely important in determining whether it will succeed or fail: trust between employees and management; business process management; and selecting appropriate software for your organization's needs. By investing in these three pillars, companies can create a culture of innovation, streamline operations, and leverage technology to stay ahead of the curve.
