The Five Principles of Agile Digital Transformation
“We want to take the Agile approach to deliver”
This is a slogan often used by companies when they participate in dynamic digital transformations. Over the past 15 years, “Agile” is one of the most-used terms in the corporate boardrooms of software companies. Agile is a popular concept that encourages project teams.
Digital transformation can be a challenging transition at any stage. It is big, complex and has numerous structures and departments. Couple this with the age-old statistic that 70% of the corporate reform programs fail, and you might just want to run for the hills.
Fear not, there’s light at the end of the tunnel and it’s called smart and effective Agile management.
Many digital transformation projects have failed because there is no change management plan in place, let alone be an effective one. That is where the agile approach to handling change comes in.
What is agile?
In short, agile is a project management approach that breaks down tasks into short, iterative phases known as sprints, believing that needs and priorities can change during the process. You’ve probably heard agile news about software development since its early proponents were software developers, but its methodology has spread rapidly to all forms and sections of an organization in recent years.
Agile is based on 4 key values:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Progress over perfection
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
Agile helps you create multidisciplinary “self-managed” and “customer-focused” teams. In addition to growing profitability, Agile is producing a new generation of professional managers and capital.
The 5 Principles of Agile Digital Transformation:
Have a strong Transformation vision
The latest estimates from Gartner show that 63% of companies do not have a good understanding of the potential of emerging technologies. The explanation is clear. These companies lack a vision for digital transformation and a proper plan to implement. Senior management needs to establish a clear digital transformation vision and share it with all levels in the organization. Any leader must be able to make the vision compelling and enticing from the bottom to the top executives.
Support digital customer engagement:
Digital technology is designed around the experience of the consumer. Customers like to receive product/services updates, feedback, demonstrations through all platforms they use. Having products and services available on digital platforms is not enough. When innovations happen, the company needs to be able to absorb the changing trends. Being agile makes you understand how digital consumers adapt to their products and services.
Never ignore the role of Analytics in Agile
The role of data in digital transformation should not be overlooked. Data from various sources must be evaluated to produce valuable information to help both the company and the customer. The best way to exploit data intelligence is to use techniques such as data analysis, infographics, dynamic maps, etc.
Welcome Digital Agility
Traditional business models run project lifecycles for months without making time-bound adjustments. By the time the project is finished, consumer requirements would have changed. This leads to a bad ROI. Hence, it is advisable to embrace “adaptable differentiation” to prevent such problems. This ensures that the company has to make regular changes to respond to the consumer demands of emerging technology. Each agile sprint will allow you to constantly experiment and adapt. Your ability to learn, deploy, re-learn, and re-launch will decide your performance in the digital age.
Build project teams that are representative
Your core digital transformation team should be made up of people from all the major divisions of your company and be sure to include individuals with different expertise and perspectives. Digital transformation affects every part of an organization, and conventional organizational silos will inhibit your development. You need to bring a diverse team with new ideas and strategies to the table to defend against this.
Conclusion
There are several barriers to Digital Transformation. Numerous internal and external considerations, including the stakeholders, networks, designs, structures, geographical management, risk reduction steps, governance structure, and other organizational mechanisms, should be considered when executing agile digital transformation drives. Good executive leadership, along with staff, systems, technology, culture, training, budgeting, and relationship management, are essential elements of enterprise agility. Organizations can withstand transition only when they begin to “being agile” instead of “doing agile.”
AFour Technologies design personalized software applications that are carefully tailored to the needs of our clients. Our Agile methodologies ensure that business processes are made more effective and secure for a promising future.
Contact an expert today for a safer and better tomorrow!
