In 2020, businesses of all kinds were forced to fast-track their digitization journey. Now that the year’s end is in sight, you may be looking for strategies to help you hit the ground running in the New Year.
Here are four strategic ways to advance your digital transformation process in the remainder of 2020.
1. Finish what you've already started
It’s tempting to plan new activities for the upcoming year. However, the best approach to moving your digital transformation forward is to finish the existing tasks related to it.
It will feel great to start the new year with no tasks in the backlog, whether these include computerization of internal processes or cloud migration. If you manage to check the outstanding tasks off your to-do list, you’ll be ready to start the next phase of your journey.
2. Analyze your resource capacity
What’s the best way to push digital transformation if you’re still in the early stages?
[ Get answers to key digital transformation questions and lessons from top CIOs: Download our digital transformation cheat sheet. ]
Focus on planning, but first, carefully analyze what your team – and your company as a whole – are capable of. Digitalization requires a lot of hard work and resources, so before you map out your future plans, you should have a clear understanding of a few key factors, including how much time and money you can spend on them, who will be responsible, and what the potential risks are.
Because digital transformation can be both lengthy and costly, call out the most important elements for your specific business. This will help you prioritize the most important tasks for 2021.
3. Set well-defined but flexible goals
Once you have a clear idea of your digital transformation’s potential, set objectives and create a plan. Start with outlining your needs, then decide what you want to achieve. When your main digital transformation objective is in place, split it into smaller goals that can be achieved one by one or several at a time.
Depending on your needs and goals and what you have already accomplished, create a step-by-step roadmap that will help you and your team stay on track. Consider this valuable advice from TechBeacon on essentials for your roadmap:
- Propose outcome-focused solutions based on customer wants
- Launch a pilot project tied to those solutions
- Make your decision systems data-driven
If you have the time and resources to test parts of your plan now, do it. You’ll be more confident as you work your way through the rest of the plan.
4. Watch emerging technologies
Finally, a great way to speed up digitization is to research emerging technologies. Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and automation tools have been helping companies hasten digital transformation for some time now.
New ways to apply these technologies in your business processes are happening every day, so set a goal to learn more about emerging tech for digitalization before the year ends. Implementing new tools at the beginning of 2021 will turbo-charge your transformation journey.
Digital transformation is a rewarding but challenging process, and every step you take toward your goals is important. Make most of the time left in 2020: Finish existing tasks and plan for the future, and you’ll be ready to make even more digital transformation progress in 2021.
[ Culture change is the hardest part of digital transformation. Get the digital transformation eBook: Teaching an elephant to dance. ]
