Vision and Strategy in Digital Transformation

The second session in The Icehouse’s new  Digital Transformation (DX) programme focuses on rediscovering your vision and strategy and the role DX can play in this.

You may be a business owner who is simply asking themselves, “where do I start?”. Alternatively, you may have a good knowledge of DX but aren’t quite sure which product or products are right for your business or, finally, you may have been poorly advised previously, resulting in disappointing and costly results. Whatever your situation, the programme will put you back on track.

Session two begins by exploring what success looks like and the outcomes you want to achieve in terms of market share, customer engagement, operational effectiveness and personal goals.

“This is important because so many businesses don't know where they're headed,” says Kevin D’Ambros-Smith, the programme’s co-lead facilitator.

“If you don’t know the destination, every road is an option, and that just adds complication. The natural reaction as a business owner is to introduce software and digital technology – but that doesn't really help. Once you know the destination, you can plot the course.”

The beginning of any successful DX strategy involves evaluating what aspects of the business need improving through DX and assessing whether the technology can help solve problem A, B or C. Then, what tools can you use to help you get there faster and easier, and as cost-effectively as possible?

“The first objective to work out where you are headed, discuss options, explore what these options do for you and then, suddenly, everything self-sorts.”

Session two continues by focusing on the financials to get a measurement of what it will take to achieve your new goals, which will ultimately be used for analysis on a business case consideration for investment into transformational technology options.

It's easy to buy an amazing adaptable and transformable product with the functionality to deal with millions and millions of pieces of data. Would an ‘out of the box’ option be more beneficial? What about hidden set-up costs – do you need a programmer or a new employee to operate the software because your existing team isn’t equipped with the right expertise?

“When you tell yourself you ‘need digital’, every company and every road is an option, but that can take you down a very damaging rabbit hole. You’ll end up making expensive mistakes which can financially destroy a business,” says Kevin.

It’s also very common to be seduced by the magical properties of the latest piece of technology, but what if it’s not the best fit for your business right now or doesn’t deliver on everything it promises?

“Every person selling software will tell you that they are the solution you need. This goes back to knowing your destination because suddenly, a lot of those options aren't the right ones. It wasn't the technology that was wrong, it was the wrong technology,” he adds.

CRMs are a great example. You sign up for an expensive, albeit excellent, solution and only when it’s too late do you realise that it can perform only 70% of what you need. You soon realise you need another CRM, or a combination of two, because they do two completely different things. That’s a costly mistake.

These are mistakes that few mediums-sized business can afford – SMEs even less so. Vision. Strategy. Goals.

One of the huge advantages of The Icehouse’s Digital Transformation is that it is impartial and completely focused on creating success for the participant. “[In the Digital Transformation programme]… you’re going to get good independent advice to help you work out where you should be going, the role that digital could play in that, and a really defined brief of what you need to get done.”

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