Ask any organization’s C-suite on their readiness for digital transformation. Well, be prepared to get varied reactions as this question is scarier than a horror flick for them! Some may look at you as if they just saw a ghost and want to run to the nearest exit. Others may quip enthusiastically, ‘of course we’re digital… we’ve got an app.’ And yet others may talk with long endless pauses making you wonder whether they understand what digital is in the first place! 

 

But if you’re a careful observer, you’ll find a common undertone in all these reactions. Most executives are in a state of flux. Those who want to embrace digital transformation don’t know where to start. Those who have started are struggling to understand whether an app/website is enough, or will moving to the cloud constitute being digitally transformed. Many others are still undertaking cost-benefit analyses. And even worse are those who outsource their digital responsibility.

 

Coping with the multifold changes that technology brings on business cannot be underestimated. But if you’re still sitting on the fence waiting for all of this to play out, make no mistake – digital transformation is real and is here to stay! And if that’s the case, organizations will have to learn to sail this storm. So, digital adoption will have to be an ongoing process and not a one-off exercise. And the onus to make an organization digitally competent lies with the C-suite. 

 

The C-suite has to ensure that digital tools and competencies penetrate throughout the organization and not just consumer-facing areas. As an example, to facilitate mobile shopping, you may have a website customized for mobile viewing. But don’t forget that you’ll also need analytical capabilities to develop insights on the data collected through social media, etc. Also, if your employees are working remotely then there is a need for your software to be on the cloud.

 

Look at your business processes – can you imagine doing them differently using technology? When steps that you take give you a competitive edge, generate a positive ROI, or lead to a new business model, you’ll know that your organization has truly become digitally transformed.