People (not tech) are key to digital transformation
As AI encroaches organisations looking at digital transformation, they should be reminded that people are as key to the process as technology
UK business leaders are urged to focus on people – not technology – when driving digital change; the consensus at the recent Digital Leader Summit, from digital transformation consultancy, Purple.
Experts and delegates from all organisation types and digital sectors looked to how business leaders could drive meaningful change and found themselves challenging conventional perceptions commonly associated with digital transformation.
Alistair Sergeant, CEO of Purple Consultancy and founder of the Digital Leader’s Summit, said: “According to the latest statistics, a concerning 88% of digital transformation projects fail. We believe this is because those implementing the strategy haven’t taken the time to understand what needs to be changed, what the strategy should aim to deliver and when, and more importantly how to correctly communicate change with staff or other company stakeholders.”
“The Digital Leader’s Summit was created to provide true insight into how leaders should create, implement and drive an effective digital transformation strategy that delivers positive change with tangible results. As a result, over 150 delegates have now left the event with a blueprint that will actually work for them and their business and this is something we are incredibly excited about.”
The conference considered, as Paul Forrest, transformation consultant, board adviser for Purple highlighted “how over the past ten years people who have thought they have done digitally well have in fact been abstract failures.”
A typical example was an IFA network which attempted to redesign the online system for its advisers to make something utterly unique but had to throw it all away and get something off the shelf.
“When people treat digital as something completely different to the customer experience and look to another group of people to look after the customer experience – an insurance client of mine, you cannot easily update your change of address for your home insurance online,” said change catalyst and author Campbell Macpherson.
When things go wrong in digital transformation invariably, the key reason is getting the strategy wrong.
Kelly Teasdale, business growth expert, said: “Make sure you have a strategy in place and operate – so many business even big ones are not operating a best strategy on a day to day operational level. It is no good having a strategy and shelving it – you have to live it day to day.
