Take a Fast Track of Going Digital

Take a fast track of going digital, but also enjoy the voyage with unique scenes.

Digitalization implies the full-scale changes in the way the business is conducted. The organizations that have hit the heights of success in the digital world aren’t those that have determinedly followed the old models and ways of thinking or industry best practices; it’s those that have forged a new path and develop their own next practices to move forward. To take a fast track of going digital, it’s necessary for companies to perform an organizational change impact assessment to understand the current state factors, and then, determine what the impacts, risks, and challenges of any proposed change are. The bigger the change initiative is, the more important to take these into account early rather than late in order to lead change steadfastly.

Developing a growth mindset and cognitive intelligence: Nowadays information is only a click away, and the knowledge cycle is significantly shortened. Thus, to deal with fast-paced changes and continuous disruptions, growth mindset and cognitive intelligence are in strong demand to ride learning curves and make the progressive movement. However, in many traditional organizations, some managers still apply old silo management mindset to a new way of organizing and this legacy of the old economy limits many organizations to unleash their full growth potential. To take a fast track of going digital, it is strategic imperative to cultivate a set of digital mindsets such as learning & growth mind (thinking change as the opportunity), creative mindset (discovering the different way to do things), risk-intelligent mindset (having the right dose of risk tolerance and attitude, show the humility to learn and catch), strategic mind (keep the end in mind, think long-term), etc. To put briefly, to embrace and speed up change and make a digital paradigm shift requires a change of mindset at every level and have an in-depth understanding that things cannot stay the same. This is the groundwork that has to be down at all levels prior to initiating major changes. Change leaders should understand that you can make all changes you like, but unless people change their mindset, then, attitude, and then, behavior, the change will not be embedded and will not be sustained. Therefore, the mindset is the game changer from many perspectives.

Leveraging Information & Technology as the digital pathfinder: Information is the gold mine of the digital organization and technology is often the disruptive force behind change. Thus, to take a fast track of going digital, it’s crucial to leverage information and technology as the digital pathfinder. Because IT can provide businesses the ability to apply real-time insights across the organization in ways never possible before. With the invaluable business insight, organizations can acquire the digital capability to reshape products, services, and improve customer engagement. IT can also help to look at uphill to identify the real problems that matter, and on a scale that can make a difference and let the business stand out as the digital master. IT can also be used as a tool, enabler, catalyzer, or a collaborative digital platform to meet the ultimate goal of an organization’s short-term, medium or long-term strategic plans. Going digital is a multidimensional business expansion and exploration. Taking a fast track of going digital means that digital leaders should break down the silo, understand the business dynamic, make a shift from doing digital (taking a few business initiatives, usually it means adopting some digital technology) to going digital by taking a holistic approach to exploring possibilities in every direction. To leverage IT as the digital pathfinder, digital leaders need to break down the industry silo, look to the business outside their industry, explore opportunities for how other companies address similar challenges and implement different types of products or services to delight customers or gain the new market share.

Designing the strong digital business models: Technology is the disruptive force of digitalization. It can push you out of business if you are not adapt to change your business model. In practice, running a forward-look digital organization is an adventure to explore the concept of a business model by addressing some core questions such as, who are the target customers, how can you leverage the emerging technologies and trends to meet their needs (know what they need even before themselves) Due to fierce competitions and continuous disruptions, the business differentiation provided by innovative technology usually is more long-lived than the differentiation provided by marketing actions that can be copied easier. A strong business model is hard to copy, it is differentiated in the marketplace. Forward-thinking organizations recognize that IT could become the “magic” behind emerging business models and it is roughly coupled with the business strategy. The most important fact is that the closer we could get a clear and uncompromised place void of irrelevant complexity, analogy, and noise, the greater the business’s ability to execute with a predictive pathway, mitigate risk, increase go-to-market confidence, and support the more effective spending of human and economic resources.

Reimagine the digital business is exciting, but re-inventing and exploring the new path of going digital including designing the strong digital business models involves stepwise planning, experimenting, and implementing. Take a fast track of going digital, but also enjoy the voyage with unique scenes.

Posted in: Digital Master,Digitalization