Why People Power Digital Success

Mia
15/07/24 14:19 Comment(s)

Does business appreciate the role of people in their digitalisation strategy?

Written by Abré Roux

The digital transformation landscape is rapidly evolving and is a key driver of competitive advantage and will remain in the coming years. However, technology, seen by business users as a big investment (time, money, change) with uncertain returns, often takes centre stage in this transformation.

How, then, do business leaders building future-proof organisations bridge this gap?

In our experience, organisations with strong people often ignore the exponential value that the appropriate technology, implemented with the right context, at a cadence digestible by its team, can unlock.

However, organisations facing communication gaps, poor client experiences, or structural inefficiencies often reach for a tech fix, neglecting the need for deeper solutions.

In one of my favourite business reads, Good to Great, Jim Collins, through extensive research, indicates the importance of "preparing the soil" for 'business breakthroughs', of which, as he calls it 'Technology Acceleration' comes at the end of the line.
(Collins & Collins , 2001)
(Collins , 2001)

So, if technology is the vehicle for business success / 'greatness', who is driving the vehicle?

It may seem obvious if you take a moment to think about it. 

Still, we find that operational busyness often creates an environment in which managers, leaders, and teams forget that people 'drive the vehicle.'

Through research and experience, we have learned that an integrated approach to business digitalisation offers the highest probability of sustained digital transformation and business success, regardless of its size.

If you have not considered your current team composition, recruitment strategy, learning and development plan, change management (or, as we like to call it, change facilitation) initiatives, employee engagement, incentive strategy, and organisational culture alongside your technology considerations, doing so is likely to propel your ROI.

References: 

Collins , J. (2001) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’t. Harper Business.