How can organisations ensure a successful digital transformation?

Digital transformation is redefining the way that organisations operate today. With new technologies always surfacing to improve the way businesses work, digital transformation possibilities are endless.

For most organisations, their digital transformation goals are unique to their business, necessitating different strategies. This means that organisations are fully responsible for their approach; it's not like school, where you could peek at the work of the student next to you!

However, there is a fair bit of overlap in how to ensure the success of your digital transformation strategy. In particular, for all organisations, the jumping off point begins with the companies leadership.

The power is in the people

Those who are spearheading the organisations digital transformation should also be digital-savvy themselves. McKinsey & Company's recommendation is hiring a Chief Digital Officer, as those who do will be 1.6 times more likely to report a successful transformation. However, it's very much a group effort too; everybody among the seniors and transformation-relevant roles should be working together to outline their goals and fine tune their strategy.

Today's digital skills gap puts even more emphasis on the importance of having the right team in place. In the event of a scarcity of talent, organisations should also consider upskilling their current workforce. By sticking with this approach, organisations can also become more adaptable, which is an invaluable asset for the evolving landscape today.

Driving with data

Data is no longer just for your data scientists to concern themselves with. Today, there is a new enterprise-wide culture for data, where it's everybody's business. Thus, you must be transparent with your workforce about your metrics and continually share them to help the different teams use it to their advantage.

The age of digital transformation brings new data models with it. In particular, these are born out of the boom in investments businesses are making to better understand their increasing amount of data. The dependence on data and insights is now unlike it has ever been before, meaning organisations should use their digital transformation as an opportunity to rewrite their data strategy.

Want to learn more about data? Check out this podcast with Aiven about modern data architecture.