Transformation Requires Solutions, Not Just Technology

Today’s relentless pace of change and digital disruption has led countless organizations to fall victim to the “hurry up and build something” or “ready, fire, aim” approaches to technology without consideration of their business needs. Building and deploying technology without a clear vision, strategy, and alignment is akin to sitting on a lopsided stool: You’ll be unsteady, off-balance, and unable to focus on what’s important.

I believe that successful, sustainable digital transformation is rooted in how well an organization leverages technology to create unparalleled experiences for its customers and its employees; experiences that are tightly aligned with its business strategy and goals. At RevGen, we call this digital enablement.

First Ask Why

The first step in balancing your figurative stool is to ask “why?”

• Why are you doing what you’re doing?
• What outcomes and business value do you seek?
• What do your customers need in order to have a better experience?
• How can you better enable your employees to serve your customers’ needs and wants?
• What data, analytics, and insights do you need?

Answering these questions up front will provide the clarity needed to develop solutions that are holistic and aligned with your overarching business strategy; solutions that deliver value and a positive return on investment.

This approach enables you to support your customer or employee experience from end to end. It will allow you to ensure that your data is accurate, current, and sufficient to guide your business decisions. And, ultimately, you’ll be able to deliver the data, tools, and automation your customers and employees want—and need—to work and engage with you efficiently, on their terms.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

I think of digital enablement as two sides of the same coin:

• On one side you have the tangible solutions that your employees use to do their jobs and your customers use to do business with you. These solutions include websites and mobile applications using SaaS tools, bots, big data, visualization tools, and the latest frameworks to make the employee and customer experiences come to life.

• On the other side of the coin are the less tangible tools and practices that enable your employees to work smarter and more nimbly within the context of rapid change. Technology development and deployment is never ending. Agile teams and frameworks, enterprise architecture, and enterprise program management structures are essential to enabling sustainable technology solutions.

More Than Tech

Technology can bring tremendous value to any organization. How that technology is adopted and used—and why it was developed and implemented—determines whether it builds towards a successful, sustainable digital transformation.

Only by taking a solution-based approach that is unique to your organization will you be able to transform how you do business, keep pace with technology, and achieve true transformation.

A Director at RevGen Partners, Noah Benedict is passionate about leveraging technology for business impact.