8CIOReview | | AUGUST 2022IN MY OPINIONBy Michael Shanno, Head of Digital Transformation, Global Quality, SanofiDIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO, BE DISRUPTIVEAnother article on Digital Transformation! We have all heard the Digital Transformation success stories of Uber, Netflix,Venmo, Amazon, Bitcoin plus thousands, if not millions of other examples. The Digital Transformation stories that receive the most press are not minor transformations but the major industry disruptions. With all of these well published successes, I believe we have achieved consensus that Digital Transformation is not just important, but imperative. Unfortunately, we have also come to understand that it is not necessarily easy to execute a Digital Transformation, especially for organizations that have been around for a while since their ways of working and organizational governance structures are not fast to change. There is no proven "Digital Transformation For Dummies," that I know of, but there are some basics that are foundational for success.Last year I attended an in-person workshop in Boston from March 11-13 that was co-hosted by a prestigious university and an industry leading professional services organization. Yes, the university converted to fully virtual the following week! There were around 20 of us in attendance from several different industries all tasked with leading Digital Transformation activities for our organizations. At the end of the first day we participated in an interesting exercise. The professor asked us: "How can you prevent innovation in your company?" I was amazed at how quickly we all came to consensus. Here were our answers: Cut Budget; Ignore Ideas; High ROI Expectations; Lengthy Business Case Process; Failure not allowed; Lack of Diversity; Wrong Metrics; Not Enough Time Allowed; Putting Legal, Finance, Regulatory or Security in Charge; No Engagement from Leaders; Too Many Layers of Approval; Don't Prioritize; No Sense of Urgency; Over Management; and Low Performers.First point of advice to ensure Digital Transformation success: Reverse our answers to the professor's question! Focus on your customers. Bring your product or service to your customers seamlessly. Focus on ease of use. Simplify the execution of supporting processes?There is not enough space in a short article to address each of our responses, but I would like to address two topics that will aid in ensuring Digital Transformation success: Data and Solution/SW Delivery LifeCycle (SDLC).Data:Data is the foundation of Digital. What data do you need? Advice, the more the better! For existing products, services, or processes, determine what data you should be collecting to monitor effectiveness or to help you improve the process. If you are Michael Shanno
< Page 7 | Page 9 >