The Importance of Human in Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is no longer an option for businesses today. It is a requirement. To adapt and stay ahead of the ever-increasing demands for data, experiences, and digital channels, businesses must build and deploy new software applications at an unprecedented speed.

However, despite receiving trillions of dollars in investments from businesses and governments, more than half of new software or IT projects still fail. According to a Forbes Insights study, 75% of executives say they are still waiting to reap tangible benefits from breakthrough technologies. Indeed, technology alone does not solve the problem of digital transformation. To truly transform, organizations must also embrace human factors.

What are these factors, and how can businesses effectively leverage them? This article will outline six human-related factors that businesses should focus on to achieve successful digital transformation.

1. Changing Corporate Culture for Digital Transformation

One of the biggest challenges companies face when embarking on digital transformation is changing their corporate culture. To succeed in digital transformation, the involvement of everyone is necessary. Therefore, each member of the company needs to connect with the change and feel they can make an impact, or at least know their job is "safe" during the transformation. Additionally, to achieve the speed of change and innovation, businesses need to empower everyone, not just a select few.

An open culture can be a useful solution for digital transformation. In an open culture, digital leaders build their organization like a community where everyone contributes to something bigger than themselves. Anyone can participate, lead, and propose changes or improvements. This approach allows the best ideas to win, regardless of their origin. Each employee feels part of the process and works towards a common goal.

2. Defining a Clear Vision with Metrics for Digital Transformation Success  

For digital transformation to succeed, everyone in the organization needs to understand and agree on the common goal. The vision is not just words but drives the decisions of every team and employee. Without a clear vision, businesses cannot create a viable strategy.

First, businesses need to define a clear vision for the next few years: 

• Goal: Where are they headed? 
  

• Timeline: When do they want to achieve their destination? 
  

• Actions: How do they want to do it? 
  

This vision then needs to be communicated so that the entire company knows and understands it. Clear short-term goals and actions should also be established for employees to gradually realize this vision. Finally, most importantly, businesses must build a measurement and regular review system to track progress towards the vision and the effectiveness of strategies.

3. Connecting Teams and Inter-organizational Processes  

Digital transformation requires data, information, applications, and processes to be exchanged seamlessly within an organization. Therefore, all stakeholders need to collaborate closely. Without an open culture and consensus on common goals throughout the organization, businesses will struggle to achieve successful digital transformation.

For example, adopting DevOps processes is a great way to connect Dev (all software developers) and Ops (including system engineers, system administrators, network engineers, security experts, etc.). This allows them to jointly solve emerging issues effectively and minimize risks related to the processes of building, deploying, testing, and improving.

4. Developing People 

IT leaders and businesses worldwide face a common challenge: a skills shortage. This includes both soft skills (such as communication or management) and hard skills (such as technical competencies). 

According to Red Hat's Global IT Trends & Priorities Study, the biggest obstacle to an organization's digital transformation efforts is human. Specifically, the study shows that the IT skills gap is hindering organizational success efforts. Part of the reason is that technology and digital processes are changing too quickly, creating an IT skills gap among organizations across various industries and globally.

Instead of hoping to hire people who already have the necessary skills and talents, organizations should develop the capabilities of their current employees. Businesses should invest in loyal employees who fit the culture and believe in the company's vision. Additionally, leaders should be ready to support employees with new and bold ideas.

5. Focusing on User Experience

According to CareerFoundry (a company managing a UX Web design school), the cost of poor user experience is actually very high. Their research estimates that poor user experience causes e-commerce companies to lose $1.4 trillion in revenue.

Therefore, user experience will be a top priority when it comes to connecting people in the digital transformation process. Businesses should put themselves in the user's shoes to ask: What are they trying to achieve? Can my solution solve the pain they are experiencing? If so, how? By starting with the user, a company's projects will feel more relatable and familiar. Users will feel like they are communicating with a person rather than a digital entity.

6. Connecting Personally 

One downside of the digital era is that we don't have enough time to meet face-to-face. We believe that video conferences bring the same benefits as in-person meetings. We trust digital handshakes instead of real ones. However, to succeed in a company-wide digital transformation, you cannot rely solely on digital communication.

One important reason to spend time meeting face-to-face is to build trust. As humans, we need to see someone, look them in the eye, shake their hand, and respond to their signals. All of this helps us build more confidence in the other person. In business, leaders need to communicate more with employees, customers, partners, and users, those who are doing the work for them and the customers buying their products or services.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is not just about the technologies businesses use to transform but also how and why they transform. While technology is necessary for this change, it must connect with people to succeed. In other words, people are the determining factor in whether digital transformation is truly successful.

References:

“THE SECRET TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS HUMAN CONNECTION” - Margaret Dawson: https://devops.com/the-secret-to-digital-transformation-is-human-connection/