Best Practices for Carrying Out a Digital Transformation
To help organisations better understand how to start their digitalisation journey, today’s article explores some of the best practice guidelines a business should consider when embarking on a digital transformation project.
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Whether it be to enable productivity, enhance business processes or facilitate hybrid work, digital transformation remains a top priority for Irish businesses today. In fact, a survey of Irish business leaders by HLB Ireland found that over half (60%) of organisations plan to adopt new technology in 2024, with 52% of business leaders citing that the adoption of emerging technology is key to driving productivity, innovation and creativity. It’s clear that for most Irish organisations, digital transformation is still a key focus. Yet for many it can be difficult to know where to start. With over 25 years' experience helping clients unlock business potential through technology enablement, here are some of our solutions specialists' top tips for ensuring success.
Define Current and Future Business Needs
Before you start the project, it’s important to evaluate the organisation’s current processes, workflows, existing technologies and areas for improvement. Identify where in the business bottlenecks or information silos occur and where new technology can be leveraged to improve such issues. For example, if you find your organisation is overly reliant on time-consuming manual tasks, it may be a good idea to consider implementing an automation solution to cut out some of this manual work. Or, if your business struggles with fragmented financial systems you could think about integrating a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to consolidate your financial data and enhance reporting processes. Defining your current business problems or needs will help you identify the best opportunities for digitalisation.
To ensure the longevity of any technology investment we also encourage clients to consider future business needs. Choose solutions that will support your business as it grows, such as scalable cloud-based solutions that can support seamless integration as the business grows and adapt in line with your evolving needs.
Set Clear Objectives and KPIs
Develop a project strategy, clearly outlining the goals of the project and the KPI’s you will use to measure project progress and success. Set objectives that align with long-term strategy of the business.
Develop a Roadmap
Create an adoption roadmap with clear project milestones and timelines to guide key stakeholders through the upcoming changes. This is an important step as keeping everyone in the loop will help staff feel included and improve buy-in. It may also be a good idea to phase the rollout of the solution, perhaps starting with a smaller test group to see if the solution works as intended and identify any areas for improvement or further customisation.
Choose a Trusted Partner
When modernising your workplace, it's important to thoroughly research the technology, but another potentially equally important aspect of carrying out a digital transformation is choosing the right technology partner. Carry out a detailed evaluation of a range of technology vendors. Ensure your potential partner has proven expertise, experience and references. It’s also recommended you partner with a business that offers sufficient support services. You need a technology partner who will ensure any technical issues are dealt with in the quickest, most efficient way to minimise any system disruptions or downtime.
Take a People-Focused Approach
The long-term success of any digital transformation initiative means not only investing in technology, it also means investing in your people. A change management strategy will help manage the people aspect of the digital transformation, helping employees to better plan and prepare for the business changes that will occur once the solution is integrated. Keep in mind that employee training will likely be required to help people understand the new business processes and workflows and upskill in the technology. You should also provide employees with regular communication and project updates to keep everyone informed and engaged. Following these practices will help your business maximise user adoption, which will ultimately contribute to the success of the digital transformation project.
To learn more about how you can digitally transform your organisation, get in touch today.
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