Success in Digital Transformations: Trends, Examples, and Best Practices
Introduction:
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses across industries are undertaking digital transformations to capture the benefits of technological advancements and stay competitive. However, achieving success in these transformations is proving to be challenging. This article combines valuable insights from McKinsey’s Global Survey on digital transformations and explores the key factors that contribute to successful digital transformations. Additionally, it delves into the specific trends, examples, and benefits of digital transformation in the food industry.
Unlocking Success in Digital Transformations:
Research indicates that the success rate of digital transformations is lower than that of traditional organizational transformations. There are 21 best practices identified that increase the likelihood of success. These practices fall into five categories: leadership, capability building, empowering workers, upgrading tools, and communication.
Leadership: Having the right digital-savvy leaders is crucial for a successful digital transformation. Adding leaders familiar with digital technologies to the management team significantly increases the chances of success. Engaging leaders dedicated to transformation-specific roles, such as individual initiatives or program management, also enhances transformation outcomes. Organizations that engage a chief digital officer (CDO) are 1.6 times more likely to achieve successful digital transformations.
Capability Building: Developing digital capabilities throughout the organization is essential. Redefining roles and responsibilities to align with transformation goals, engaging integrators and technology-innovation managers, and investing in digital talent significantly contribute to success. Organizations that invest in talent, set cross-functional hiring goals, and employ innovative recruitment strategies are more likely to achieve successful transformations.
Empowering Workers: Cultural and behavioral changes are necessary to empower employees to embrace digital transformations. Establishing new ways of working, encouraging employees to challenge old practices, and fostering collaboration across units are key factors for success. Providing employees with a say in identifying areas where digitization can support the business also enhances transformation outcomes.
Upgrading Tools: Digitizing tools and processes supports success by empowering employees to work in new ways. Adopting digital tools to make information accessible, implementing self-serve technologies, modifying standard operating procedures, and increasing data-based decision making contribute to successful transformations.
Communication: Clear communication is critical throughout the transformation process. Communicating a change story, fostering a sense of urgency, and relaying clear targets and timelines significantly increase the likelihood of success. Leveraging remote and digital communication channels proves more effective than traditional in-person channels.
Digital Transformation in the Food Industry:
The food industry experienced significant challenges during the pandemic, accelerating the need for digital transformation. Common trends in the industry include cloud migration, the use of artificial intelligence for real-time analytics, the importance of omnichannel customer service, and the focus on sustainability and supply chain visibility.
A real-world example is provided by ARYZTA, a global bakery company. ARYZTA embraced digital transformation initiatives to optimize sales processes and navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic. Migrating to a true omnichannel approach, leveraging cloud technology, and implementing real-time analytics helped ARYZTA adapt to changing market conditions and ensure the resilience of their supply chain.
Conclusion:
Digital transformations present immense opportunities for businesses to thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape. By implementing the best practices outlined in this article and leveraging trends in the food industry, companies can increase their chances of achieving successful digital transformations. Embracing digital-savvy leadership, building capabilities, empowering workers, upgrading tools, and communicating effectively will pave the way for transformative success in the digital age.
