Getting started with transformation is hard. Where do you start?
Many companies are focused on the office “situation” right now.
Do you allow people back in the office? If so, which people?
Many companies have put the question to the employees and the answer was the people wanted flexibility of working. Which sounds great, drill down on that and we find out that “flexibility of working” actually means; we all work at home, Monday and Friday and all work in the office, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Which, dear reader, you will have worked out does not solve the problem of social distancing in the work environment.
Employers are looking at bringing people back to the office, people who are struggling with lock down. Such as the single, people who maybe suffering from domestic violence or people missing the social aspects of the office. A friend of mine turned up to a team call and there was a female colleague in a dress that she might wear to a ball.
The next call, they had was “black tie” to support this lady, she turning up again in her ballroom gown. But my friend also alerted the team in Human Resources (HR) team. I wonder how many other people are looking out for their colleagues? I wonder how companies are collecting and storing data on their employees? Some of the many things we are needing to get used to in the new normal.
How to Get the C-Suite Thinking Digital
There are a number of mistakes that companies make, the first is they get the “marketing agency” or the “PR agency” to do social. The problem with this is that if you check out these companies their social is crap. Generally, it’s posting corporate content, which gets little engagement. Of course, in the land of the blind the one eyed person is king.
The second mistake companies make is they get somebody / a company in to give a social “Masterclass” for the C-Suite to learn social.
This fails for two reasons
- People are not explained “why” before the “how”, this is about “change” and facts and figures are not enough to get the change you want and need.
- Let us liken that change to going to the gym. I know I need to lose weight and get fit. This requires me change my diet and go to the gym three times a week. A “masterclass” is me spending or let me run this metaphor, a day in the gym. It isn't going to do me any good. In fact I will probably get an injury.
Social Media Strategy for the C-Suite
Here at DLA Ignite we have a strategy day. Which is where we bring together all the C-Suite. And run them as a team, through a number of exercises.
I'm sorry, but a Zoom call and a bunch of Powerpoints, won’t create success in your business.
Social Media Strategy and Road Map
Following that session we create a report and offer suggestions as as to which part of the business you should look at transforming next and a road map.
Strategy "Quick Wins"
Often it’s Sales as this is a “quick win” and will provide with faster return. But that is me making assumptions about your business. It could be Human Resources (HR), the recruitment and retention of people, Customer Service, Procurement and Supply Chain, etc.
Digital Transformation Is Not Systems Change
My final point is that digital transformation is not systems or IT change. Too often we see people saying “we purchased this IT system” and when we asked “what happened” the answer is pretty much always “nothing”.
Nicholas Carr wrote an article, published in the May 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review, which is still reliant today. HBR voted “IT Doesn’t Matter” the best article to appear in the magazine during 2003.
Nicolas writes that IT is like a road, it gets you from “A” to “B”, you can rip up that road and relay it and the new road will get you from “A” to “B”. Nothing has changed. An opportunity for competitive advantage has been wasted.
Social Media Enter Stage Left
Social media has been gathering momentum over the last few years. Covid19 has shoved it centre stage. There are now more people on social media than not on social media.
Social media has changed the world, its changed society and its changed business. It’s time business caught it up, if you have a management team that (reluctantly) is looking at transformation, then you should get in touch.
We can conclude that the journey to digital transformation is going to be a long one. A new paper published by the Industrial Internet Consortium (affiliated with the Object Management Group) provides some clues to the alignment of technologies and strategies that will propel companies forward in this journey, based on the following steps: Find out what the leaders in your industry are doing.Investigate developments in comparable industries.Identify your key use cases.Deduce which digital transformation technologies are most relevant to you.Identify key vendors.Plan for deployment.
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