Digital Transformation

A digital transformation offers plenty of opportunities while also contributing to the future-proofing of your organisation. Research has proven that digital-first organisations have more effective customer service, are better able to accomplish their goals, and achieve better financial results. A digital transformation can therefore ensure greater relevance and a competitive advantage for your organisation.

This is why most limited companies have already had the topic of digitalisation at the top of their agenda for years, and why they have by now appointed a Chief Digital Officer or Chief Technology Officer in order to assess the impact, risks and opportunities of digitalisation. These days, smaller organisations are – quite rightly – focusing on digitalisation too. So the question is not whether digitalisation will affect your organisation, but when.

What is digital transformation?

Digitalisation used to mainly be regarded as the process of making analogue, manual processes digital. That image has since been adjusted. Organisations are now using technological innovations and know how to translate available data into useful information and insights. For example, in order to identify market opportunities, to innovate, to develop new revenue models, to raise efficiency, or to improve the customer experience. This is what we call digital transformation.

In order to determine what precisely you want to transform, it’s important to look at the following factors:

People and Organisation: What form of teamwork will best support the organisation through the intended transformation? The flexible Agile method is often introduced for this purpose.

Data and Analytics: How should we organise our data governance to get the insights we need from our data? The best data approach is usually non-invasive.

Technology: Is the right technological (IT) foundation in place to support the future strategy and the customers’ products? The architecture is usually based on a platform that serves as a basis for the modular provision of products and services.

Ecosystems: Which unusual partners offer unusual opportunities for future collaboration? Building a healthy ecosystem often requires specific competences.

How do we want to transform?

In order to further amplify on the ‘how’ question, it’s important to pay attention to:

Shaping the change: Change does not happen by itself. It requires knowledge, experience, skill and capacity to perform the necessary interventions to guide the change in the right direction.

Ownership and cooperation: Transformation requires ownership by top management. But it also involves learning to cooperate differently inside and outside the organisation, while basing workplace behaviour morethe transformation goals than on the existing structures.

Clear picture of the future: At the start, the picture of the future will be more of a Polaroid photo than a fully worked-out, detailed drawing. However, the faraway dot on the horizon must be appealing and activating enough to set the organisation in motion.

Change team: Most organisations find it difficult to change completely autonomously without the support of a team of qualified change managers. The latter ensure that the change goes in the right direction, and provide the capacity and competence that the line organisation often lacks.

Sustainable impact: The change is only a transformation when it is permanent. This means that the transformation requires more than temporary support alone. Only by fully aligning all management systems – such as finance, HR, sales and operations – with the future can the change in a transformation be secured over the long term.

The term ‘digital organisation’ often first brings to mind huge technology companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. But digital transformation is actually about organisations that have implemented new technologies into old ones. Or that used their data in a trailblazing way to create new services and new revenue models. Two good examples of this are John Deere and Beerwulf.

John Deere, the American agricultural machinery manufacturer, used technology and data to transform itself into an agricultural consultancy. Watch this video and find out how it did so. Beerwulf is Heineken’s online portal that allows smaller, local brewers to use its distribution network, thereby expanding its own assortment without having to make acquisitions. See how it does so in this video. Both of these examples came into being not from one brilliant idea, but rather from careful change in the form of digital transformation.

Want to start a digital transformation?

Like to know how digitally mature your organisation is? We will be happy to show you an analysis of where your organisation stands with regard to digital transformation. This will determine the starting point for further digitalisation. For more information, please contact Heiko van Eldijk or Marloes van der Meer.

House of Performance. Impactmakers.

We are Impactmakers. And we get the ball rolling. Using our experience, knowledge and skill, we continue driving each transformation until the desired improvement is not only achieved but also maintained.

We will be at your side, tackling the job together with you and rolling our sleeves up whenever necessary, because we believe in the power of togetherness. We will discuss matters with you frankly, as equals. Talking openly and honestly about your organisation, your results and your future.

​We will support you where possible, and confront you where necessary. While always keeping our sights on the desired improvement. This is how we can make an impact together.

We are House of Performance. Impactmakers.