Feature
Digital transformation is a central tenet of modern business strategy, where organizations rethink how they use technology to shape their products, services and operations.
But while most agree this transformation is necessary for success, it remains an elusive and often intangible goal. How can companies gauge the effectiveness of a strategy that continues to evolve as quickly as the technology that surrounds it?
The Question
How can you measure the success of your digital transformation strategy?
The Experts
Jim Russell, CIO and VP for Digital Strategy and Planning at Manhattanville College
The total transformation is greater than the sum of the parts.
Multi-dimensionally, I measure both for the overall strategy as well as for the tactics or projects that support the transformation strategy. For instance, one of my strategies is to transform the work force in my organization by improving digital literacy. Component projects include general technology training, self-service online training options, data governance and perhaps AI competency. The training sessions are directly measured by sessions or hours by each employee. Indirect measurements occur with a reduction of service or help desk tickets aligned with those training topics. For instance, if a person in the payroll area submits fewer help desk tickets that indicate knowledge deficits regarding tax jurisdictions or specific concepts (“lived-in” vs. “worked-in” fields in HR systems and how taxes are then calculated) or coding for car allowances or data dependencies where a value cannot be updated until another process is run indicate progress on the overall goal (digital literacy) but are not part of a specific tactic.
Another facet of transforming the workforce is improving utilization of institutional software. If we train folks in using Microsoft Teams we also want to see either a reduction in help desk tickets for Teams or perhaps a shift to more complex tickets such as advanced features such as transcripts, Co-Pilot assisted ”takeaways” or the use of “newscaster mode” when presenting. Further up the scale of a digitally literate workforce is the presence of mature practices such as data governance. Here I measure the scope of that community and how often their work products (data dictionaries, data marts, process documentation, etc.) are referenced or used by the workforce outside to those directly working on governance.
Paige Francis, Chief Information Officer at Art and Wellness Enterprises
There have always been KPIs and maturity assessments. For me, it’s all about the people — the customer/guest experience, staff efficiency and productivity and is the strategy sustainable and maintainable. It starts with the current state; if the tech foundation is weak, if the chosen communication channels are outdated, if there is little confidence in or relationship with your teams that will be pushing the strategy from behind — it’s really difficult to be successful. Never forget the people on all sides of the equation.
Rob Green, Chief Digital Officer at Insight Enterprises
Accelerating digital transformation is essential to accelerating growth. That’s the general consensus among business leaders: In our annual Insight Intelligent Technology Report on digital progress, 82% of organizations agree that companies must invest in digital transformation or be left behind. Yet, even though most business leaders understand that becoming a digital business is extremely important, executing — and measuring the success of — these initiatives isn’t straightforward.
Assessing impact really depends on where organizations are on their digital journey. Every organization’s digital transformation roadmap should be guided by their strategic priorities. Some companies are more “digitally mature” than others, meaning they are farther along in spearheading modernization efforts and IT is more ingrained in the business in terms of defining common objectives. For example, companies with an omnichannel go-to-market approach may place a higher value on the revenue or profit driven by digital channels.
Regardless of maturity level, long-term digital transformation strategies must be tied to organization-wide business goals. New technology shouldn’t be implemented just for the sake of it. Typically, key criteria for evaluating digital transformation initiatives include increased revenue, greater efficiency, increased productivity, improved service quality and faster time to market. Success should be measured to tangible outputs towards these factors.
