What is a digital transformation framework?

Digital transformation can offer organisation plenty of opportunities whether that is to streamline and improve internal processes, elevate their customer service or work towards creating sustained growth. Evolving expectations and demand internally and externally are driving this focus on digital transformation. Although it is a current hot topic, digital innovation must be ongoing and organisations must look to continuously improve and evolve to just survive but to thrive.

Digital transformation requires significant investment in time and resources to bring it to reality. Here, we will look at what a digital transformation framework is, its core elements of it and how to make a success of your digital transformation project.

What is a digital transformation framework?

A digital transformation framework is essentially a roadmap of the digital transformation that includes planning, implementing and optimising. The framework can be a vital tool in times of change and can provide a strong foundation for the digital transformation to be a success. If you want to create your digital transformation framework, here are the core elements that you need to include:

Setting objectives and targets

Setting clear and concise objectives and targets will give you a clear direction in your digital transformation project. Set overall objectives which will look at the bigger picture and highlight the main benefits of the entire project. Targets need to also be set to highlight and market the milestones of the project. These objectives and targets will then need to be communicated with all the key stakeholders involved, ensuring that the momentum is going and that the project is moving along smoothly.

Outsourcing digital transformation projects

Successfully implementing digital transformation is no easy feat. Many organisations will not have the resources in-house to bring the vision to reality, therefore, they will look to outsource their digital transformation projects. Finding the right provider will mean the difference between the overall success and failure of the projects. This will also impact the longevity of your solutions. If you are considering outsourcing digital transformation services, here is what you need to keep in mind:

• Communicate business challenges – Any good partner will look to understand your business challenges, to help find the right solution.
• Seek recommendations – You may have already had software or technology in mind for your digital transformation project, however, always seek recommendations. This will help you establish if you are dealing with experts or not. Additionally, they may suggest a better alternative solution whether that is to reduce maintenance costs or to ensure scalability.
• Find out about their delivery framework – Digital transformation projects can pan over weeks to months to even years. Therefore, having an established delivery framework from your supplier will ensure that project stays on track.
• Experience and skills – Ensure you are working with an outsourcing partner that has relevant experience to your project and the right skills to make it a success. Working with highly skilled and experienced software engineers can ensure that your software is future-proof which is what digital transformation is all about.

Planning your digital transformation

Whether you carry your digital transformation in-house to outsource it, you will need to have a clear plan in place that will help keep the project keep moving in the right direction. Your plan should include:

• Key objectives
• Targets and milestones
• Implementation
• Integration
• Launch
• Monitoring success
• Optimisation
• Risk assessment

Risk assessment

A digital transformation project requires buy-in from key stakeholders, significant investment and a lot of time and resources, therefore failure and errors can be incredibly costly for a business. Therefore, creating a risk assessment is key. Highlighting and preempting risks and having a mitigation plan in place can help your project overcome any issues quickly and efficiently. You may not be able to predict all risks and issues, however, if you are constantly monitoring the project, it can help make it a success.

Business cultural shift

Digital transformation is more than just implementing one software in one department. The entire business should look to drive a culture shift towards digital innovation. Leadership and management should encourage this mindset within their business. You can do this in a number of ways including:

• Shout about digital transformation projects and communicate across the business
• Ask for ideas, and suggestions from your teams to drive this change further
• Invest in your teams to upskill them to move towards digital
• Make digital innovation part of your company culture

Upskill teams

A core part of your digital transformation framework is the upskilling of your teams. If you have invested in building software, implementing it and integrating it with your existing systems, you also need to invest in your teams. For your teams to work at maximum productivity, ensure they are well-trained and supported when it comes to technology. This will offer many benefits including improved staff morale, higher productivity and elevated efficiency.

Ardent digital transformation service

We have worked with a variety of clients to understand their key business challenges and to help them overcome them with innovative, scalable, digital solutions. If you are looking to modernise and digitize existing, outdated processes or looking to implement digital transformation across your organisation, we can help. With a core focus on building long-term relationships, we deliver our projects in a structured way to ensure that we enhance your success and bring innovation to the forefront of your organisation. Get in touch to find out more, or to set up a quick discovery so we can help find the right solution to fit your unique needs and requirements.

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