What is a digital transformation?
We often see the top five management consulting firms talk about their version of what this looks like. For them, digital transformation is tied to their capabilities: accounting or finance. Or data. Or be business process-centric. But what they don’t do is define digital transformation for the customer’s situation. And that could be you.
Get to the ‘belly-of-the-beast’ first
We start with understanding the customer’s maturity level. No. Two companies are the same. So why stick with the same definition of a technology overhaul? Most larger firms will give you a presentation about their understanding of digital transformation.
Watch with caution.
Catalyst uses a different approach. We place senior strategists and architects – usually ex-CIO or Partners – into ‘the belly of the beast’ – the transformation office – that the various customers have used.
Why? They’ve lived through digital change over the last 30 years. From there, they start canvassing the customers, go to meetings and workshops with the senior stakeholders, and identify their problem. We could spend 3-6 months to bring out what this looks like, identifying where the opportunities are and the overlap is between different departments.
Our customers are quite often surprised by our findings. And you can bet it’s a different view of what their digital transformation looks like now.
Transforming quickly
Process change can be more difficult for a large technology firm. What a company is capable of doing (driving fast and efficiently changes) and what they want to do can often be two different things.
International companies can also struggle with implementing process change. Think about a cruise ship turning. There are so many approval lines and processes in place that things can take weeks before any significant evolution happens.
That’s why understanding maturity levels must be the first activity before offering any solutions or suggestions around digital transformation activities.
Current state thinking
Many consulting firms talk about ‘the current state’. It tends to be tied to business capability. We use a technique that makes sense for your organization. We take the customer through an interactive workshop. This includes some gamification, turning a typical one-day workshop into an exciting and engaging exercise. It also brings out creativity. There are no rules and boundaries.
Once you identify why you need a transformation, it is easier for senior managers and CIOs to get on board. But getting to this point only happens with a deep-dive analysis of your company’s maturity level and specific situation.
