In September of 2019, while working Strategy at W2O, I consulted with a number of clients regarding digital transformation preparedness. Below is an introduction to that thinking with subsequent posts that introduce tools and frameworks.
Digital transformation is a term that has been prevalent throughout organizations across many industries for at least the last decade. Regularly cropping up in board meetings, annual reports and strategic planning, the term itself is often used to enable new types of innovation and creativity. However, the business questions that digital transformation is trying to answer haven’t substantially changed:
- How can we be more efficient?
- How can we measure our impact?
- How can we better connect with our stakeholders?
Digital Transformation is Ongoing
W2O has begun using the term digital maturity whenreferring to the status of the digital transformation taking place within our clients’ organizations. While digital transformation indicates an (often unachievable) endpoint, digital maturity allows us to quantify the ever-evolving processes, digital tools and platforms required. Let’s be honest – no company will be able to outpace digital change nor will technological evolution ever be completed. Therefore, the goals of digital maturity are readiness and agility rather than transformation.
As organizations face increasing pressure to keep pace with the speed of this technological evolution, compete in a crowded landscape, and battle for talent, we are seeing the gap in digital maturity widening. In healthcare, in particular, we have seen companies bring in expertise from outside industries to help them lead the pack.
While this is a good starting point, we must address the urgency and time pressure that a widening digital aptitude gap creates. Companies that do not move forward now will have more and more ground to make up once they start their digital maturity efforts. So it’s crucial that they establish platforms and frameworks for continuous experience and learning sharing.
Best Practices Established by W2O
In guiding many clients along their digital maturity journeys – from tech consulting, implementation and build, to analytics, governance, and training around digital channels – we have codified some best practices on how to establish and maintain digital maturity. Although there is clearly no one-size-fits-all process, tactical frameworks can be tailored to specific organizational needs – from small biotech companies to large, decentralized organizations with multiple business divisions. We will describe those frameworks in a series of blog posts right here over the next seven weeks.