After more than a year of incredible change and disruption, organisations of all shapes, sizes and sectors have realised the fundamental need for digital transformation, and of the opportunities on offer. For some businesses, their experience of transformation has been a wide-ranging and in-depth programme of activity; whilst for others the change has been one of taking a small-step-by-small-step approach to modernisation and innovation.
Without a clear vision, you’ll struggle to achieve your transformation
There are many ways to enable transformation – and the pathway you choose needs to be right for you. However, whichever direction you take and whatever end-game is desired, one rule applies. Without a clear vision for the future, your organisation will struggle to coordinate the multiple moving parts required for a successful digital transformation programme. In other words, you need a roadmap. And like any map, it needs to tell you how you can adapt if you meet unexpected obstacles, or flex if the terrain throws up some unexpected surprises (good or bad).
So how does a business look to future-proof and plan for a post-Covid economy, making the most of the opportunities already emerging as the pandemic recedes? How can you ensure your digital transformation is scalable and sustainable, built on both resilience and the agility to respond to changing trends?
A roadmap that builds-in both resilience and agility
Having a strategic roadmap that builds-in both resilience and agility means aligning all planning, design, development and delivery activities to your goals and objectives – providing what we refer to as a “shared artefact” that can be referred to throughout your transformation journey. Being future-focused also means basing your plan on a clear understanding of your current situation – incorporating your technology ecosystem, business processes, people strategy and cultural considerations. That old adage “You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been” still rings true.
By starting with the ‘as-is’ picture, you’ll be able to identify how you can increase value in your ‘to-be’ state by upgrading, enhancing and building new systems and platforms that automate and streamline processes to deliver greater efficiencies, extend your product/service offering to reach new markets, territories and audiences, and facilitate innovations that differentiate you from your competitors and give you valuable first-mover advantage. Our experience in this field extends across many different types of organisation and sector, and you can explore our approach and outputs further at https://www.boxuk.com/strategy-planning/roadmap-planning/.
External experts bring the objectivity you need – and the ability to manage conflict between stakeholders
Many organisations are challenged to find the ‘bandwidth’ and objectivity needed to think through, create and implement a future strategic roadmap – particularly when the main energies are understandably focused on keeping the day-to-day wheels turning. That’s when engaging an expert external strategic consultancy service can prove a valuable investment – bringing the objective insight you need and, just as crucially, managing any potential conflict between stakeholders. Effectively, they’ll act as the ‘hearts and minds’ catalyst who will drive and support the rollout of an intelligent transformation plan that serves your true business needs.
Engaging with a CTO as a Service (CTOaaS) model can be particularly useful, giving you dedicated long-term access to best-in-class technical knowledge and proven expertise, without incurring the typically high fixed costs of a permanent CTO and enabling you to benefit from the shared experiences of many other organisations who, like you, are looking to transform. We have extensive experience of provisioning such a service – find out more at https://www.boxuk.com/strategy-planning/cto-as-a-service/ – having provided advice and guidance that’s helped, and continues to help, a wide range of organisations achieve their goals, and delivering future-proofed strategic roadmaps that support ongoing growth and continual innovation.
If you’re considering “What’s Next?” for your business, find out how we can help you on your journey through our Strategic Planning & Product Roadmaps and CTO as a Service offerings – and get in touch with a member of the Box UK team to explore your next steps towards digital transformation.
