Custom-building your business’s transformation

Every digital transformation is different, as different as every business.

Nevertheless, there are key things that will need to be done as part of almost every transformation, said Paul Walsh, director of programme and project management at Expleo, such as getting the business and IT aligned.

“There are core principles, but everyone’s transformation is always drastically different,” he said.

These differences might include issues relating to their industry or customer profile, but equally important are the specificities of each organisation.

“How good are your ways of working? What shape are your processes and systems in? Some businesses wouldn't have a lot of documentation about how things are done which makes the transformation more difficult for them.

“There are, of course, also industry factors that come into it, but the key thing is how willing people are to change,” Walsh said.

Getting the business and IT aligned makes intuitive sense, but Walsh said that the reasons for it should, nonetheless, be made plain: digital transformation should be about achieving business goals and, at the same time, will involve technological change.

As a result, buy-in, both at board level and among staff, not least those who will adopt new processes and working methods, is a requirement.

There are core principles, but everyone’s transformation is always drastically different

“There has to be a very clear message of ‘this is what we're doing’, ‘this is why we're doing it’ and ‘here is what it will mean for the business and for you’,” he said.

In fact, so important is the human element that Walsh said the term ‘digital transformation’ can itself be misleading.

“I don't like to call it ‘digital transformation’, because it’s about [wider] transformation – and that starts with the people and the business side of things. You need to have the people to buy-in,” he said.

The term has also become associated largely with large enterprises, such as multinationals and government bodies, and this can obscure the fact that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), too, can benefit from change.

“One of the things with the smaller organisations is trying to find the right solution for them. However, you don't need the big brand solutions,” he said.

Even in larger organisations, however, there can be barriers to transformation. These are not typically sectoral, Walsh said, so much as particular to how well an individual organisation has documented its processes.

“One bank, for instance, may be better off than another, so it’s not quite an industry thing. A lot of work needs to be done up front and you have to get a very good understanding of what you do now. A lot of this information is locked up in people’s heads, but you have to understand of your ‘as is’, or else you won't succeed,” he said.

As a result, Expleo begins transformation programmes with a discovery process to understand what a client is doing now and what it wants to do. From there, more rapid ‘agile’ steps can be taken.

“If you try to do it by just learning along the way, that's when the problems and budget overruns occur. So you have this discovery process but then you apply the agile approach and incremental development,” he said.

Goals vary, but most organisations want to see a combination of efficiency and competitive advantage.

“Also, your customers are expecting a more efficient way of doing business,” Walsh said.

Taking an agile approach to technology will have further benefits down the line, he said, as it introduces a flexibility that has been lacking in most processes and technologies used by organisations.

“You have to keep a technology core that is adaptable and can be added to as you continue to evolve,” he said.

Ultimately, Walsh said, it was worth it, but no-one should underestimate the scale of transforming an organisation. However, understanding this and then proceeding would go a long way, he said.

“Do the detailed discovery to understand who you are and where you want to go. Accept it's going to be hard – it’s not just another project, it’s hard. It's going to be a big step-change in how you do business”.