Digital transformation is an ongoing hot topic. It won’t die down. No business will fully transform digitally until… well ever. Telstra recognises that UK businesses are struggling with even the first step of digital transformation. I spoke to Tom Homer, Managing Director for EMEA at Telstra, who shared some of Telstra’s own findings and gave me some context to how digital transformation can be bumped along in the UK.
Organisation vs departmental digital transformation
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Tom Homer[/caption]
Telstra found that most businesses allow individual departments to drive digital transformation projects, whereas success comes when the whole organisation has a unified approach.
I asked with each department already driving their own agenda, how does an organisation enforce one change without losing buy-in and respect at department level? For example, one team uses Slack and the other a native UC app then the CEO says we only use the UC app from now on.
Tom said the research found that while a company-wide approach to digital transformation is significantly more likely to deliver business success, more than half of UK organisations are taking a fragmented, business unit led approach.
“For the 53% of British businesses who said they take an incremental approach, how do they change? What our research shows is that change must be led by the C-suite and company boards at the outset. It is the role of the company’s most senior team members, and not just the CIO, to set a clear company-wide vision, strategy and roadmap for digital transformation.
Not having a clear, big-picture vision means there is no foundation for transformation teams to guide execution plans and determine success. Teams need this direction and will thrive in an environment where the importance of their world is guided, driven and acknowledged by their company’s most senior leaders”.
Constant struggle to deliver
I asked Tom why businesses are struggling to deliver digital transformation and what is the key to successful digital transformation, beyond technology?
Tom said that organisations are too focused on the role of technology, whereas a successful digital transformation is one that balances people, culture, process and technology.
“Digital transformation should be a company journey that involves upskilling and changing employee mindsets, adapting structures and ways of working, creating teams that can maximise the new technologies being introduced”
Getting it right
I asked Tom what advantages are businesses that get digital transformation right, enjoying?
Telstra’s research tells us that the benefits of a successful whole-of-company, leadership-led approach to digital transformation cannot be understated.
“The impact is not only digital, but also on the bottom line. Globally, digitally mature companies are significantly more likely to achieve successful revenue growth (39%) against businesses that haven’t started their transformation journey (13%). This trend is consistent across all business outcomes, including increasing profit margins (39% vs 12%). For business leaders, making the right digital decisions provides enormous rewards”.
Processes and people, not technology
Telstra found that business leaders are leaning too heavily on technology (rather than people and processes), to deliver digital transformation, and this is reducing their chances of success.
I asked Tom the killer question: how do business leaders change the habit of a lifetime and entrust people and processes to deliver digital transformation?
“About three quarters of UK businesses are undergoing a digital transformation in some form, but many are hindering success by placing too much focus on technology and too little on people and processes. To combat this, organisations must stop being attracted by ‘shiny’ new innovations and understand that successful digital transformation sits with those that use and understand it.
I strongly believe that digital transformation is technology-enabled, but people-led. And that requires a skilled and empowered workforce.
