The Digital Transformation Playbook

Digital transformation (DX) is the latest expression in a through-line of major business movements over the past five decades.

While every company has its own unique challenges and potential roadblocks on its DX journey, there is an essential framework that can help guide companies looking to move into DX. 

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Fortify Your Foundation

First, audit how your company operates to uncover areas for improvement, issues that need immediate attention, and where you’re performing the strongest. Conduct a financial analysis to understand how DX will impact the business. 

Key questions to answer: 

• How are our different business units and business areas connected?  
• Where are we lacking resources (staffing, funding, etc.)? 
• Where could DX impact where we are underperforming? 

Align Senior Leaders

Hold regular discussions with senior leaders to determine if you agree on the drivers and values for your business, and if not, move towards alignment. Through these conversations, each senior leader should be able to clearly define your organization’s guiding principles. 

Key questions to answer: 

• Why do we want to embark on a DX journey? 
• What does success look like? 
• What are the steps we need to take to achieve that success? 

Work for Companywide Buy-In

Buy-in for a DX transformation cannot happen without constant communication. Speak directly and frequently with all teams to help them understand their value to the company. 

Key questions to answer: 

• How can we show – not tell – our employees that we value their input on our DX journey and that leadership, too, is walking-the-walk and not just talking-the-talk? 
• How can we maintain and improve regular communication across all teams? 
• Who are the influential team members across our company whose buy-in is critical to success?  

Test and Learn

Testing (and learning from those tests) separates whether “in-theory” improvements deliver “in-reality” improvements early on. Breaking down your company’s business processes into smaller segments by testing microprocesses, adjusting as needed, and then only testing on a macro level once you’re confident each segment delivers success, will save time in the long run. 

Key questions to answer 

• How do we translate our vision into process designs? 
• What are the microprocesses that are critical to solving the key problems we’ve identified? 
• What are the metrics for success in each phase of testing? 

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Thanks to advancements in technology, every functional and business area can be connected, and the benefits from making those connections can be realized. As a result, DX cannot be an isolated set of activities relegated to one function, business area, or set of processes. Using this playbook as a first-step guide can begin a meaningful DX conversation at your company. However, this playbook is only a framework. Success requires the senior team and a critical mass of key employee groups to commit to a true DX journey. 

About the Author

We can help you build out a senior team to effect a successful digital transformation. Contact Greg Selker, Managing Director and the North American Technology Practice Leader at Stanton Chase: [email protected].  

For More in This Series

When Down Is Up: Why the New Playbook for Growth Must Include Digital Transformation 

How to Implement a Digital Transformation Strategy: The Former CEO of Crossmark Speaks with Greg Selker on How the Company Successfully Implemented DX