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Digital Transformation

Becoming a Digital-First Powerhouse

Details

Role: Organization

Focus: Digital Transformation

Outputs: Digital Transformation Playbook

Digital Transformation – DX – is about starting over and completely rethinking how your organization operates — so that it becomes a true digital-first organization, and thus center of digital innovation.

This is a place where everything it does is rethought entirely — starting from first principles and working forward with a purely digital mindset.

And as important as the digital technologies themselves are, Digital Transformation is actually as much – and usually more – about leadership philosophies and practices – plus organizational culture – as it is about the technologies.

This is because the technologies involved are simply a means to an end (digitalization) – not the end in themselves.   Consequently, simply digitalizing business processes and digitizing data and information are completely insufficient.

What is required is a complete and thorough reexamination of what the organization does and how it does it – so that it is not simply ‘digitalizing’ what it currently does – but rather is starting over at ground zero with each specific job and outcome, and rethinking the entire customer experience from a digital-first mindset.   This produces an entirely different experience – one that is inherently digital at its core, not simply a ‘digital white-washing’ of an otherwise non-digital experience.

The difference between doing this right and not doing so is night and day — one approach produces true frictionless innovation (unlocking substantial new value), while the other just makes an already frustrating experience frustrating in the digital domain on top of the physical domain.

Consequently, a radical shift is required if your organization is to make this leap into the digital era — moving it from one that thinks in traditional ways, to one that inherently thinks in digital ways.
Strategy X delivers the highly specialized support your organization needs to succeed at Digital Transformation.   This includes such interventions as:  program design, executive coaching, training, workshops, and numerous other activities – everything needed to realize success!

To facilitate our journey together, Strategy X goes deep with your leaders – getting down ‘in the weeds’ with them to:   1) thoroughly examine the core mentalities and thought processes at work in the organization;   2) identify the specific areas where interventions are required, and;   3) design just the right interventions to guide the organization through this space and safely out to the other side.

Strategy X has a well-honed process for doing this – its proprietary Digital X Framework – a critical toolset that lets us properly carry out this examination, and thereafter correctly define the interventions needed for your organization to be permanently transformed.

The end result is a completely reoriented business organization — one that has cultivated the ability throughout the organization to think and act from a purely digital frame of mind — and one that is now working hard to redefine the value it delivers into truly digital-native contexts.

Achieving this transformation is paramount to having your organization remain vital and relevant to the markets of today.   Aside from organizations who were born digital-native, there is no other way to get to this place than by undertaking this liminal journey.   We're here to walk the journey with you, and to be your guide all along the way – from beginning to end – until you have arrived.

Also… depending on where your organization is culturally, it may first need to undertake a Cultural Reinvention prior to embarking on this journey.   We're here for that too.

Our Digital Transformation work involves two sequential sets of activities.
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DX Assessment | DX Intervention
DX Assessment
The purpose of DX Assessment is to thoroughly examine your organization — so as to fully understand its present starting point — including its core mentalities and thought processes, its attitudes and behaviors toward digital innovation, and all the different cultural artifacts that define its collective disposition toward the realities around it (proper variants of which are necessary for any type of transformation, not just digital).

To undertake this assessment, we work hand-in-hand with your organization and its leaders to thoroughly dissect and cross-examine each and every aspect of the organization and its operations.   We look for evidence telling us where – on a spectrum from novice to master – your organization currently is with respect to digital thinking and digital capabilities — understanding that the larger and more heterogeneous the organization is, the more this can vary from group to group inside the organization.

Consequently, we work to ensure that by the end of this phase we have developed a comprehensive profile of your entire organization.   This way we know exactly where its strengths and gaps lie, and can define appropriate interventions to address each one.

The final outcome of our DX Assessment is the identification of the specific areas inside your organization where DX interventions will be needed to succeed at a full and comprehensive digital transformation.

In the course of undertaking this assessment, we also observe and note where your organization is culturally.   This is because being able to succeed at DX requires that your organization first be at a certain place culturally… one where it has developed a high level of cultural maturity involving the cultural artifacts that define its unique identity and purpose.   This is mandatory.   So if your organization is not there yet, we will advise that it first undertake a proper Cultural Reinvention prior to embarking on this journey – to ensure the success of this journey — or that we meld the two together into one comprehensive intervention for ultimate success.   Either way, this is a must.
DX Intervention
The purpose of DX Intervention is two-fold…
  • Number 1 — to design just the right interventions (as needed) to guide your organization through this transformation and safely out onto the other side;
  • Number 2 — to actually undertake and complete each of these respective interventions with your organization.
In undertaking these interventions, what we are ultimately working to arrive at is an organization that inherently thinks and behaves with a comprehensive digital-first / digital-native posture.

What this looks like is an organization that:
  • has truly digital-native mindsets and thought processes;
  • acts out of a true digital-first mentality;
  • has developed – and continues to develop – ever more powerful digital capabilities;
  • is extremely comfortable with, and competent at, pursuing new digital strategies that leverage those capabilities.
The types of intervention we use will depend entirely on the needs of your organization.   Characteristically these include:  executive coaching, training, workshops, strategy development, initiative definition, partnership facilitation, talent recruitment, and more.   We will use whatever most optimally facilitates your journey to the other side of this transformation, so that you and your organization can achieve success.

Most importantly, we don't just define these interventions; we lead them for and with you.   In other words, we're right here by your side the whole time — walking the journey with you and guiding you through each step of the transformation, until we arrive at the other side and your organization has achieved its transformation and consequently become a master of digital innovation.   Our goal is your complete and total transformation.   We don't rest until you arrive!
To learn more about our Digital X Framework and the interventions we use, drop us a line… we'll be happy to explain them in full detail.
The outcome of our Digital Transformation work
The outcome, and thus deliverable, of our Digital Transformation work is two-fold.

First is the development and documentation of a comprehensive Digital Transformation Playbook.   This playbook prescribes for your organization each of the interventions we intend to take with it, and why so (i.e. their respective purposes and intended outcomes).

Second is the actual transformation of your organization — something that will come about as a result of our undertaking these interventions together.

The Digital Transformation Playbook will describe each prescribed intervention in complete detail — including its nature, its content, its recipients, its deliverers, its expected duration, and its expected outcomes and results.   The playbook will further present an overall timeline laying out the intended delivery sequence of each intervention — so that you can see them all together in one place and understand their overall scope of activities.   Some of these activities will involve actions like executive coaching for your leaders, training to the organization (at various levels), workshops with the organization (also at various levels, and of various types), joint strategy and initiative development activities, partnership development activities, talent recruitment efforts (for new digital skills – so as to further develop your organization's digital capabilities), and more.   Together, these will achieve what your organization needs.
The progression of your unique Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation – done right – takes time.   It is not something that one can simply map out from above, dictate top-down, and expect to work.   Real transformation doesn't work that way.   Real transformation requires recruiting pockets of champions and supporters from inside the organization to help blaze the bath — the real pioneers of the effort.   With their help and support, and with the right interventions undertaken together, digital transformation can and will eventually succeed and take hold in your organization.   But it will take time – and effort.   It will never be a ‘walk in the park’.

The total time it will take your organization to complete its particular transformation and achieve the results thereof (in full) will vary greatly — depending on where it is starting from (its starting cultural and digital maturity) and how fast it is able to assimilate digital mindsets, dispositions, practices, and capabilities.   The shortest time might be for example one year for a smaller and more nimble organization, while the longest time could very well be three or four years for a larger, more traditional industrial-era organization.   However long it takes, we will be here with you to walk the journey together — and achieve success together.   The good news is that your organization should be able to enjoy select benefits relatively quickly.   We can prioritize where our efforts are focused to achieve benefits in the most strategically important areas first.

Drop us a line to talk about your organization's Digital Transformation.
Understand the Future
Learn how to think properly about the future
Develop a Future Fit Mindset
Weave this mindset deeply into your organization
Own Your Destiny
Show your organization how to own its future
Activate Powerful Strategies
Pursue long term strategies with deep impact
Develop Innovation Capabilities
Develop the capacity to be the innovation pacesetter
Dominate Your Markets
Become the real driving force in your markets
Reinvent Your Culture
Cultivate a new culture that can go the distance
Become a Digital Powerhouse
Go deep on the journey of digital transformation
Become an Iconic Organization
Achieve outcomes & results that legends are made of

Engage Us

Your challenges are complex.   Working with us shouldn't be.   We work hard to explain and simplify each step along our collective journey… what we'll be doing, how undertaking that step will work, how long each step or phase is expected to take, and the mechanisms by which each step or phase will succeed in achieving your organization's unique goals and aspirations.

At the end of the day, we want to ensure you're confident in our journey ahead — and that our work will deliver for your organization the outcomes and results – and impacts – needed for it to be able to own and shape its future.   That's why we're here.

01. Conversation
Real change starts with a conversation.   Here, we sit and talk with you about your organization and its needs & aspirations going forward.   This is a no-judgment / high-aspiration zone – and so we're completely open and honest here… nothing's off the table… everything is fair game.   We want to know the whole story… where you've been, where you presently are, and where it is you want to go.   That gets us to Step 2.
02. Proposal
Understanding both your present situation and your future aspirations, we prepare for you a Proposal detailing exactly what course of action we intend to undertake with your organization – in this case that revolving around Digital Transformation.   Documenting this plan of action and its expected outcomes puts us all on the same page with respect to our collective gameplan and its goalposts. That gets us to Step 3.
03. Execution
At the agreed-upon date, we engage with your organization and begin working together to execute the plan.   This requires a firm commitment from both sides to do all the hard work needed to achieve success.   Together, we work the plan methodically and systematically — checking in at numerous points to ensure that our efforts are in fact achieving their intended outcomes and results (if not, we circle back and either reinforce an effort and adjust the plan – always in tune with how your organization is responding).   Our goal is to fully achieve the engagement's expected outcomes, results, and impacts.
04. Follow Up
Because not all outcomes and results can be known immediately, we follow up with you over the course of several months – even years if need be – to ensure your organization is remaining on course with our interventions and in fact achieving its intended outcomes and results.   In most cases it will be.   But if for some reason it's not, then we'll still be here to help it get back – and remain – on track — ensuring that it continues achieving the needed outcomes, results, and impacts over the long run.

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