7 Misperceptions of Digital Transformation

Recently communicated with some customers, found that more and more customers have realized that the ubiquitous technology is becoming part of the work, become part of the business, enterprises are facing double pressure, internally to seek to promote the engine of growth and breakthrough, externally there are consumers more and more personalized demand, as well as from competitors' pressure, so the enterprise has to make changes, business innovation, or one step ahead to reshape the industry.

In this context, digital transformation is no longer a question of choice, but a question of survival.

But at the same time, enterprises have some misinterpretation of digital transformation and unrealistic expectations, the following summary of enterprises in the digital transformation before or during the process will often produce seven false cognition:

The trick may be a tool, or a platform, such as the current speculation of the hot "data center" or "business center". can be instantly presented to you, all these questions can be analyzed data to find the answer, and then, for example, on the purchase of that tool, it is very functional, can solve all our problems.

Behind these expectations, stems from a wrong perception that there is a master key to solve all the myriad of problems, also missing some of the necessary analysis, before you do something, analyze why you want to do this thing, the construction of the middle office is the means, so why do you want to build the middle office? Is it true that the center stage can solve my problems?

Very often, the consultant's industry experience or even cross-industry experience will be a very valuable asset, the wealth of enterprise change or transformation, will give the enterprise change or transformation to provide a more comprehensive information to support, to help the enterprise to be more rational decision-making, in the landing of some of the program policy may be twice as much effort, so the consultant is a very valuable resource, but that does not mean that the consultant The consultant can handle all the problems, such as the change process of organizational functions and business functions redistribution and re-combination of issues, such as the transformation of the old and new business how to collaborate and cooperate with the problem, these issues are the organization in the transformation of the need to consider clearly before the transformation process needs to be pulled through the top-down and implementation of the matter.

Enterprises consider these issues before the introduction of consultants, does not mean that the enterprise must first have mature ideas and programs, but the enterprise needs to be well prepared for the complexity of the transition and the degree of difficulty to have an objective and sober understanding of these issues are not sorted out clearly, even if the consultant to enter the field, but also encountered barriers, resistance, or the process of transition stumbling, or transition has not been waiting for the first results have been aborted. The first result will have been aborted.

Transformation will be accompanied by a lot of uncertainty, business transformation failure cases also abound, but at the same time, the transformation is facing a lot of expectations and pressures, so the more clear the results, the more likely to fail, because the process of any one of the uncertainty may lead to the results of the emergence of a different form, but also many companies in the choice of the transition, in the unknown fear, is also in the protection of their own!

The first step in the development of a new technology is to create a new technology that can be used in a variety of ways, including the development of a new technology that can be used in a variety of ways, including the development of a new technology that can be used in a variety of ways.

However, when an organization chooses to transform itself in pursuit of innovation and breakthroughs, it also has to consider the effective use of resources, and if it cannot correlate the desired outcomes with its goals, it will be difficult to measure whether the resources are being used in a strategic direction, and may even result in a huge waste of resources. Therefore, the road of enterprise transformation may be full of twists and turns, but the results can also be constantly adjusted and corrected, and the results are as important as the process.

Often heard customers mention that business people and technical staff to make changes at different speeds, sometimes the business in the front, sometimes the technology in the front, finally with the help of the transformation of the business and technology want to pull together, but found that they are different for the transformation of the demands of the business needs is always faster and better, while the technology seems to be in a pile of constraints forever crawling, so the business will complain that the technical team developed features and slow. The technical team to develop out of the function and slow and not good to use, and technology also has a lot of pain, both want to get business recognition, but also had to make trade-offs in resources, capabilities, priorities, so the contradiction between the business and technology seems to be difficult to reconcile.

This also stems from a misperception that the barriers between business and technology can not be removed and moved, if the business understands software development, data and technology (including smart technology) will have a better understanding of digitalization, technology if you understand the business scenarios, you can make better use of technology through the planning of empowering the business functions, business scenarios, and business goals, so reconcile this contradiction, the bottom line is to pull through the cognition, but also to make a better use of technology. In pulling through the bottom of the cognition.

Many companies are doing this, the other side is the boss of the industry, he groped the stones to cross the river, I follow him to walk, he does e-commerce platform I also do e-commerce platform, he does ecology I also do ecology, he does big data and artificial intelligence, that I can not be left behind, and even his supplier partners, I also accept the full list, he is the boss, has the vision of the strength, at least do not make a mistake to follow him.

Behind this behavior also stems from a misperception, that is, his direction is also your direction, his goal is also your goal, but in fact you may be competitors, and competitors to do homogeneous things, especially the other side of the strength of the opponent, your end is likely to be a glance through, the reality is that you have to find their own differentiation, to do for their own tailored things, the transformation is likely to be successful. It's only when you transform that you're likely to succeed.

Leadership in the transformation process plays a very critical role, the leadership is likely to be the transformation of the decision makers, initiators, promoters, many times the leadership in the direction of leading the transformation and the goal, so the leadership of the determination and the degree of participation in the transformation of the success of the very critical role, at the same time, the leadership is also the transformation of the impact of the people, the transformation process, the initiative is constantly being verified, there are successes, there are not work, these results are also the results of the transformation, and the transformation is not the only way. There is not work, these results will also affect the leadership of the transformation of the understanding and then make changes, and constantly amend the direction and action, and ultimately lead the transition to success, so that the success of the transition cannot be separated from the leadership of the support and recognition, but on the contrary, as long as the leadership is recognized, the transition is destined to be successful, but it is a pseudo-proposition.

Behind this idea also stems from a false cognition, that is, the stability of the leadership and the leadership of the transformation of the determination, have seen a lot of examples of transformation, transformation is still in the process, the leadership has changed a number of dials, each leader's ideas are different, so the implementation of the transformation of the team to do a lot of things, but has been parked in the same place, but have also seen the leadership of the side of the constraints on the shortage of resources, while dealing with the challenges and pressures of all parties. While coping with the challenges and pressures from all sides, over time, they will also make compromises on the matter of transformation, and this result is not a success either. So, for transformation to be successful, not only do the leaders recognize it, but the organization also needs to be consistent, and the parties involved need to be consistent in their understanding of the transformation.

Many organizations dream of transformation can be rapid results, can be one step, once completed, once and for all, but the reality is very bone, the so-called easy to start, difficult to keep, successful transformation has been very difficult, to maintain the successful results is even more difficult. In reality, we are in a changing environment, enterprises face a variety of challenges and opportunities from both internal and external, both defensive and offensive, so it is difficult to deal with all the uncertainty through a big move, companies need to introduce external resources to help companies grow, but also need to build capacity to deal with the development process of bottlenecks and challenges that continue to arise, as long as the ability to tamping up the business will only be a long time to sustainable! The only way to find opportunities in the multilateral market is to have the ability to consolidate your business.

The idea that transformation is a one-step process stems from the misperception that the environment is static, the market is static, and so the shape of the enterprise is fixed and unchanging, a perception that does not correspond to the reality of this society. Therefore, the transformation of this matter may never be completed at the moment, the enterprise needs to pay attention to the power of progressive change, so that the enterprise itself in the process of change continues to grow.

To summarize, digital transformation is a long-term process, the middle is full of variables and uncertainty, the enterprise in order to get the success of the transformation, first of all, the transformation of this matter to have the correct understanding, and these understandings come from the identification of the above misperceptions and deal with.

By Qingmin Chen, ThoughtWorks

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