Some interesting research from Mulesoft, where they interviewed 1,739 line-of-business managers across the world,

"only 37% believe they currently have enough skills and technology to keep pace with digital projects during this period of upheaval. The majority, 58%, even feel IT leaders are spending too much time "keeping the lights on" rather than supporting innovation.  44% even go as far as to say they think their organization's IT department is a blocker on innovation."

Digital Transformation is ..... Like a Jigsaw

My family are big fans of jigsaws, I remember when my mother taught me how to go about completing a jigsaw.  First you had to start with the edges and then you would have "projects" building the boat, the grass and the sky.  Then you would start filling the jigsaw in.

Eric Doyle, whose on the DLA Ignite team, likens Jigsaws to digital transformation. 

A jigsaw isn't complete until you have put all the pieces in.  70% of the effort isn't good enough.  It's binary, either the jigsaw is complete or it isn't.

Digital Transformation is Binary

Equation 1 - What's 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 = 1 ?

Equation 2 - What's 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 0 = 0 ?

Equation 1 shows that if you do all of the right things in the right order you get a result.

With equation 2, it shows the person has decided to "cut a corner" and not do all of the right actions.  They have still put in energy, but the result is zero.

In the world of analogue 70% effort gets you 70% of the result.  In digital, 70% of the effort, get you zero result.

Why Hints and Tips and MasterClasses Don't Work

A great example of this is "hints and tips" and "masterclasses", you can spend a lot of time and money attending these events.  I was on a call yesterday with a company that had run a two hour digital selling session for their sales team.

I asked them "what happened after the hints and tips session?" and they said "nothing". Of course.

It's like doing the edging around a jigsaw, you do a load of effort but it's binary and doing effort but not all the effort the output is zero.   Just like equation 2 above, 20% of the effort gets you zero result. 

Digital Requires a Methodology 

For your business to move to digital you need to have a methodology, preferably a methodology that has been tried and tested.

You need to have a "transformation promise", what is the methodology going to do for you?  Many suppliers usually measure this in savings, but we all know nobody buys savings, a business needs to understand, in $s what you will do for that company.

A CEO Just said to me

A CEO just said this to me about digital transformation.

"there is a race on.  First we need to shock people into understanding that the world has changed.  Second, we need to give them the skills to work in the changing world."  I couldn't put it better myself. 

He went onto say "By giving my team(s) “new world” skills will gives us a competitive advantage."

Interesting that he finished by saying

"The thing is there is a “burning bridge” between analogue and digital and we need to make sure we are over that bridge."  

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Your leadership team has to lead and show the business they need to be digital.  Leading with digital processes.  Digital selling, for example.

Everytime we run our social selling programs, we always get 30% increase in revenue and a 40% reduction in the sales cycle.

There are also some softer benefits, you and your team get a new life skill and as a leader you are providing the business with a digital legacy.  Supporting the transformation to digital for your business.

Here is a great example of somebody who launched his business during the pandemic, but is not laying people off but expanding. 

Where Do We Go From Here?

Just give me, or one of the DLA Ignite team and hour of your time and we can walk you through what we are doing for other companies.  No hard sell, just take you through what other companies are doing to transform, how they are getting competitive advantage and how they have made their way over the burning bridge. 

Please contact me here or one of the DLA Ignite team here, so please pick one of our industry experts or one of our experts in your geographical locality.  Our website is here.