Digital transformation is helping businesses reimagine, modify and equip their business process, culture and experiences to meet changing market demands. This transformative role of technology can be seen not only in the way organizations function, but also in the skills that they are training and hiring for in their teams.
Just take a cursory look at the recent World Economic Forum's (WEF) 'list of the top 10 skills for 2025', and you'll notice the top spots have been given to - Innovation and active learning strategies. These skills are crucial not just for individuals but also for the organizations as a whole. Other vital skills included in this list are focused on resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. It is evident that COVID-19 has had a tangible impact on the way we function, but it did not just create disruptions; it brought along an accelerated pace of innovation. Organizations are now fully aligned with a digital transformation roadmap, and this need will continue to play a role as we progress in the new normal.
While the pace of innovation has been growing steadily over the years, it is in NOW that we’ve seen this pace accelerate significantly. Today, technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Commerce, the Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud, and others have become mainstream, and as these innovations continue to grow, organizations need to create new workflows to find the right mix of human intelligence and technology innovation to drive excellence.
In this note, I would like to touch upon the top three key approaches that have helped us enable and deliver impactful digital transformation programs for organizations of various sizes and for organizations that have been at different levels of digital maturity.
Combining the power of Human and Machine Intelligence
The future workforce will have a combination of humans and machines, and for both these to work in tandem will be the key for successful organizations. The future of work is remote and digital, and we've heard this often. But what we don't hear so often is how businesses are slowly integrating technology to empower teams and machines (AI) to work collaboratively. The addition of technology to power new growth and efficiencies is crucial, but it also brings in a new level of complexity. Organizational processes now span across multiple tools, deep-tech implementations across multiple user groups, creating a complex and inter-dependent workflow. As complexity in our workflows increases, it can often lead to longer execution time, bottlenecks and delays. The new success mantra will be all about balancing between the two forces of human and technology, that will play a greater role in automating processes and simplifying workflows and output for improved decision-making.
Acti-on (pronounced Action), is our innovative solution that was born from this problem and is focused on helping organization manage these complexities a lot more effectively. The platform leverages AI-based automation and workflows to dynamically distribute tasks, create event-driven triggers and provide 100% audit trail while providing pre-built integrations to work with existing systems. This advanced use of AI in enabling our workforce to be efficient and effective is a must-have for organizations, especially those that are planning their future to be largely dependent on deep-tech innovations.
Harnessing Technology Innovation and Domain-focus to create Business Value
We understand that a digital strategy is paramount to support business growth and drive efficiencies across the organization. To execute this digital approach, organizations need to have a focus on critical areas like:
- Having a clear strategy to adapt and leverage advanced technologies
- Modernizing process and infrastructure to absorb disruptions taking place in this digital race
- Innovating in the selected business area by using digital transformation as a strategic enabler
As most digital transformation projects in recent times are focused majorly on disruptions brought in by COVID-19, there is also a need to clearly outline and plan for the foreseeable future. To help embrace digital innovations with a long-term vision, organizations need to define their digital roadmap while clearly outlining how the short-term impact fits in with their long-term goal. While digital innovation partners can help to streamline and fast-track this process through several focused solutions like managed services, customized software development to becoming the end-to-end digital technology innovation partner for the enterprise, organizations will need to lead and determine if the digital transformation journey is on the right track. Consulting experts and getting the right push can reward greatly but is also dependent on the vision the organization’s leaders have for its future.
Rethinking Organizational Culture to be resilient & efficient
Technology disruptions and changing demands are going to stay even in a post COVID-19 world, but what needs to be the focus for enterprises is updating their technology, processes and the people involved in it. If an organization fails to focus on internal values and culture that is in-sync with these changing times, it is bound to have negative repercussions.
To help the entire organizations be focused on driving innovation and exploring out-of-the-box solutions, leaders need to formulate a clear vision that promotes digital transformation as the next step. Leaders can drive this change in a few simple steps by:
- Being open to digital strategy going off-track or experiencing inevitable failure in the pursuit of innovation
- Understanding gaps in advance and adopting agile strategies to pursue outcomes that are innovative yet in-sync with organizational goals
- Promoting a culture of learning and up-skilling by clearly outlining the skills that will play a key role for the organization in the time to come
- Emphasizing more on action than caution
The year 2021 and 2022 are going to be critical in setting the future of any organization. As the digital era unfolds, we as organizations need to start creating the right environment to harness and propel digital innovation in our roadmap. This creates an unique opportunity for organizations to sustain and grow even in uncertain situations, and the trends we can witness showcase how digital will be instrumental for organizational success in the time to come. If you are looking for the right combination of domain expertise and technology focus for your digital transformation journey, we suggest you start planning right away!
