Business transformation implies the process of making comprehensive and considerable changes to diverse aspects of a business with the aim of improving its value propositions, capabilities, and performance. It often involves making fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with shifts in the market environment. Earlier, Anand Jayapalan pointed out that the end goal of business transformation can be varied, starting from adapting to evolving market conditions and driving innovation to enhancing the overall competitiveness of a business.
Here are a few tips that can be followed to ensure successful business transformation:
- Maintain a customer-centric approach: Developing customer-centric processes are important to delivering the best possible experience to the target audience. Businesses shouldn’t just build applications just for the sake of IT. Rather, their focus should be on managing the customer pain points. As a brand moves towards B2B and B2C business, they are likely to find customers in both areas. Hence, they should put customer data right at the center of the strategy. As there is a greater risk level linked to ‘big bang’ transformations, many companies today follow a more incremental approach to change. It can be a good idea to create products in increments and use the power of prototyping. A prototype can be used to show the team, and it can subsequently be refined along the way so that it ticks the right boxes.
- Foster leadership commitment: Leadership commitment is of immense value in the business transformation process. The top executives of the company must be fully committed to the business transformation process and actively take part in driving the transformation. Their support and involvement will go a long way in overcoming resistance, aligning resources, and setting the tone for the rest of the organization.
- Develop a cross-functional transformation team: Business leaders must put emphasis on forming a dedicated team consisting of individuals from various departments. This team must have a diverse set of perspectives, knowledge, and skills in order to address the complexities of the transformation in an efficient manner. Clear responsibilities and roles should be assigned to each member, and they must be empowered to make decisions and drive change.
- Engage employees at all levels: The employees at all levels of the organization should be engaged in the transformation process right from the start. The vision, rationale, and benefits of the transformation must be communicated to the employees while soliciting their feedback and input. Businesses must additionally encourage open and transparent communication channels for the purpose of fostering a sense of ownership and commitment among employees.
Earlier, Anand Jayapalan mentioned that there are always multiple systems across different lines of business in the case of a large, well-established company. Hence, absolute clarity must be maintained on which solutions should be used to support different activities in the business transformation process. The company should try to create a culture of learning and sharing to support business transformation. They must foster a business culture that values learning and knowledge sharing so as to leverage the benefits of new technologies faster.