Hardly any other topic is currently being discussed as much as digital transformation. The internet and evolving technologies are breeding completely new business and business models and previously stable markets are coming under pressure. Platforms and networks are becoming the most important and valuable companies worldwide, with data and customers being their most important assets.
The challenge of digital transformation is twofold: First, a strategy must be developed, and second, that strategy must be successfully implemented. The experience gained by organizations that have set out on this journey show very clearly how important the cultural aspects of the transformation are in addition to the strategic and technological dimensions.
Change processes are a question of attitude and leadership. They require the unlearning of old patterns and rethinking of one's own organizational structure. This is where we at cidpartners come in. Our team consists of experienced consultants and coaches in the areas of organizational development, digitalization, change management and communication, so that we can always put together the best consulting team for your individual needs.
Whether you have already started a digital transformation process or planning one, we can help ensure its successful implementation. Some examples of what we do:
No two companies are the same. However, when we accompany companies through new or already started transformation processes, we see how the challenges, patterns and effects tend to repeat themselves. Here are some examples:
What does digital transformation mean for your own company? And what what strategy will suit the company and lead to success? The answers to these questions cannot be worked out just by thinking hard. They are found in an iterative process that incorporates analyses, experiments, errors and detours.
An important success factor in digital change is the ability to react flexibly and adapt strategies to changes. At the same time, employees, customers and other stakeholders need a certain degree of stability. Finding the right balance is a major challenge.
Weighing up day-to-day business and transformation in such a way that both are given sufficient space and time is challenging and requires continuous fine-tuning and adjustment in the ongoing process. Otherwise, the necessities of day-to-day business threaten to push the transformation processes off the rails – or the focus on the business gets lost.
Successful transformation processes require organisational structures that enable change and self-organisation. Rigid structures make it difficult to create freedom and to act on one's own responsibility. Flat and flexible structures create space for the development of creative and innovative potential of employees.
What was successful yesterday is often no longer good enough for today. In times of digital change, new ways of thinking – a digital mindset – and forms of cooperatioin as well as a higher degree of self-organization and agility are critical for success. As a manager, your task is no longer to deliver the solution, but to empower your teams with the right skills, conditions and room for manoeuvre.
Every change process causes tension and uncertainty within the organization. Some managers and employees experience change processes as a threat and adopt a wait-and-see attitude or even go into denial. All the more important to build trust, address concerns and fears, integrate employees while keeping up the momentum and innovative capacity.
Transparency and communication are important change drivers. There are many ways of involving employees, customers and other stakeholders and keeping them informed. Appropriate orchestration of the various instruments and careful scheduling are central aspects of effective communication. This can take the form of interactive change workshops und continuous and dialogue-oriented communication on different channels including social media, although the latter should not be used exclusively.
DAdapting one’s own business model usually also requires new skills. Data has to be acquired, analysed and used in a targeted manner, new technological, mobile possibilities have become available and customer requirements have changed. This means building up specific skills and new know-how and positioning oneself as an attractive employer in the ‘war for talents’.
In highly dynamic times, an approaches is needed that enables rapid learning from mistakes. It is impossible to foresee everything, so learning from mistakes and making use of them for the benefit of others is an essential ingredient for success (‘Fail early, fail cheap.’).
Our core competence involves integrating these aspects into our clients’ initiated or planned transformation processes and ensuring their successful implementation. We define the individual fields of action and the design of individual measures in close cooperation and coordination with our clients.
Detlev Trapp is founder and managing partner of cidpartners.
