Stage 2 – Digital Transformation: Present & Active

July 25, 2016

Altimeter, a Prophet Company, compiled years of interviews and research with digital transformation change agents. After analyzing the data, they found that there is a six-phase process to digital transformation. The second stage is called “Present and Active”.

As we covered in our last blog post on Digital Transformation, the first stage, “Business as Usual” is characterized by a lack for any drive for digital transformation. During stage two, “Present and Active”, things begin to change. It is during stage two that several stand-out employees begin to embrace digital technologies. These individuals are known as “change agents”. They come in all shapes and sizes and have different ways of bringing about change. Some might keep their digital use quiet — and simply download tools that help them with their day-to-day responsibilities, in isolation. They do this because it is oftentimes easier than waiting to get permission.

Other change agents are fighters; they push for new technologies to be tried out in the workplace. Both of these individuals push the momentum of digital transformation forward by showing success with various digital tools.

During the Present and Active stage of digital transformation, unique characters start to emerge from different portions of the organization that represent various facets, including data and analytics, customer experience, governance and leadership, people and operations, technology integration, and digital literacy. The six summaries below depict how these portions are affected in this stage of digital transformation.

Throughout this process, it’s important to keep in mind that the customer experience is the catalyst for Digital Transformation. During stage two, we see the “inward” focus of an organization and its processes begin to morph into an “outward” focus on the customer experience. At this stage, a common vision to address the customer experience has not yet been established, but we see an unearthing and evaluation of current processes.

Data and Analytics Are Utilized Differently

During phase two of digital transformation, data and analytics start to be utilized differently. Rather than looking at data to find ways to improve efficiency or cut costs, data is now being used as a tool to improve the customer experience. Organizations begin to use social media to find out what customers want. The metrics of customer experiences are analyzed–usually starting out with social sentiment and online analysis. There is just a bigger overall effort to bring in more data so that the customer experience can be approved. One major hindrance that still exists during this phase is that, for the most part, customer data from each division is still in silos.

Customer Experience

Competition forces many organizations in this stage to experiment with different channels. Various departments begin to rework their customer engagement because they see that their current digital framework, which does not take the customer into account, causes a disjointed customer journey. Because many of the departments are beginning to experiment with new channels and customer experience programs, and because these departments need to see a return-on-investment, more collaboration and sharing between divisions is sparked.

Governance And Leadership

While there is nobody currently in a leadership role who is overseeing the digital customer experience, executives start to take notice of the change agents in the workforce who are successfully utilizing new technology. This notice soon turns into deals that are made with change agents in order to promote what they are doing and encourage them to continue testing and learning with different programs. In addition, executives start to see a need for digital customer experience leadership in the organization as the change agents start to emerge as leaders in their individual departments.

People And Operations

The increased interaction and interest in customers during this phase have uncovered needs in other departments to improve the customer experience. These needs and the increased experimentation often are at odds with current marketing and customer engagement processes, but are becoming more and more in-demand by consumers. However, even though there is digital experimentation in most of the departments, it is still done in silos.

Technology Integration

The change agents in each individual department become proficient in the tools that their department uses, however, there is still very little communication about the various tools used in different departments and what results are being gathered. The technology being used during this phase includes everything from cloud computing and CRM to content management and social media management systems.

Digital Literacy

Change agents start to attend workshops and conferences, as well as joining organizations that further their education. They also begin to seek out training from other companies that could either be attended by leadership and co-workers, or adopted by them. Finally, change agents begin to request and campaign for more emphasis to be placed on digital maturity and literacy.

The Importance of Change Agents in Digital Transformation Process

One excellent example of a change agent introducing new technology to a company is Jason Browning, the Global Head of Social and Digital Communication and Head of Global Internal Communications for @Novartis. He recently stated:

“Sometimes the role of people like me is to offer employees technologies they don’t know they need yet. I’m gambling on what the next technology will be and consistently iterating and piloting with different communities within the company until I see something pick up. It’s a big challenge to decide, on an enterprise level, when to offer solutions at the right time.”

Browning, and change agents like him, are the ones bringing organizations into and through the six stages of digital transformation. And although digital transformation may sound like a big undertaking, it’s important to keep in mind that the end goal in fostering this type of change in the first place is to get an organization closer to its unique customer journey.

Those that undertake digital transformation understand that getting to the heart of the customer journey IS the most important endeavor for any organization, one that will provide a multifarious return on investment for years to come. Companies that understand this also know that the time and effort spent getting to the bottom of the customer journey will never go to waste.

“They are inspired by their customers. Everything they do is by and for their customers,” said Brian Solis.