The importance of cultural change in digital transformation

More and more companies are looking to digitally transform their organizations to meet the increasing demands and expectations of the modern and technically sophisticated customer. But few are prepared for the internal disruption this causes across the company, which is why culture change and change management are so important.

For digital transformation to be successful, companies must adopt agile methodologies, processes and work practices. Becoming an agile business requires a cultural change. Similarly, as digital transformation is largely driven by changing customer demands and expectations, customer-centric strategies are imperative and the successful development and implementation of these new approaches requires a more integrated and fluid organization.

Laying the foundations for digital transformation

Companies whose digital transformation projects fail are often guilty of not laying a solid foundation:

• Agile

• Customer centric

• Omnichannel experience

Laying this foundation requires a major cultural shift within the organization, and managing this process is challenging. Unfortunately, if your organization wants to be successful, it is inevitable.

Culture change

Due to the ever-changing and ever-evolving nature of the modern world, companies must cultivate a culture of perpetual revolution.

The days when companies would establish a strategy for the next 5 years and then wait for the company to execute that strategy are long gone. Establishing a 5-year strategy is still important, but the need to be able to quickly turn that strategy around at will is fundamentally important to the long-term strategic success of the company. Most companies, especially large and established companies, are difficult to convert and this is why aggressive new entrants to the market can digitally penetrate and disrupt industries, markets and supply chains. Established companies are too slow to respond, and by the time they have gotten a meaningful response, the new entrant has established a solid position in the market and is nearly impossible to eliminate. Companies must be able to turn quickly to respond to new market entrants and changes in the competitive landscape.

Similarly, as new technologies emerge, the demands and expectations of customers and other important stakeholders change. The innovation roadmap you are following today could prove redundant in weeks or months. Agility enables rapid turnaround of development roadmaps, rapid transformation of customer-centric strategies, and reengineering of customer experiences across channels.

All these cases cause disruptions throughout the company and with the frequency of these disruptions increasing, a culture of constant change and revolution is imperative.