Transformation brings us to change management and Re-skilling the workforce

Digital transformation investments, in the US alone some 70 percent of organizations failed to reach their intended goals, translating into $900 billion US dollars wasted, as per the report from Forbes says.

Most digital strategies don’t reflect how digital is changing economic fundamentals, industry dynamics, or what it means to compete. Companies should watch out for five pitfalls. Transformation, especially in the digital age, is not easily achieved. Many businesses are investing in transformation, but not all of these investments will pay off.

Digital transformation has become the C-suite agenda, many companies are still finding it difficult to understand how to begin the process. Customer experience is a good starting point. Aided by technology, there’s a clamour among both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C) companies in deepening customer engagement through hyper-personalized experiences across multiple channels.

It’s imperative to not look at customer engagement from a short-term perspective. The ‘journey’ does not end with the conclusion of a sale-it merely signals the onset of a fresh cycle. Importantly, a frictionless experience paves the long way towards brand advocacy and loyalty. It’s hard to earn these and, unsurprisingly, easy to lose them as well. However, the transformation is rarely discussed as advancement made in many small steps.
 

The e-mails in our junk folder indicate how many marketers have got it terribly wrong. A ‘frictionless’ customer experience also embodies uniformity at all levels. We should remember that the chain of touchpoints across multiple platforms is only as strong as its weakest link.

Transformation cannot happen overnight and this brings us to change management. Re-skilling the workforce, running a two-speed organization, adopting the right technology and creating a culture of co-creation, are all within the realm of change management.