Most digital transformations start with high ambitions for a gradual change in performance. Most companies never get around to achieving these ambitions.
They move through the three key phases of the high-level strategy project:
- the initiatives and the minimum achievable products are activated
- the objectives within the organisation are downsized
- they face a reality that does not satisfy their hopes.
The disappointment can be traced back to insufficient accuracy in defining the digital strategy during the first phase. Very often organisations do not have a clear vision of both key opportunities and threats.
SOME EXAMPLES
Lack of a holistic view of what digital could mean for your business, at both a strategic and technical level;
Insufficient clarity on the evolution of the digital economy and its significance for competitive advantage
Underestimating the scale and the momentum needed for a disruptive digital impact.
Without that strategic context it is easy to fall into the trap of creating small, foolish and shortsighted ambitions, and also creating financial ambitions on a vast range of initiatives as opposed to some large cross-functional and critical.