Understand now the five bases necessary to succeed and competitive advantage in this Digital Transformation process

Every day we can see how the world is changing and how it is happening faster and faster. “We are on the cusp of a technological revolution that will fundamentally transform the way we live, work and interact. In its scale, scope and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything human beings have experienced before,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive President of the World Economic Forum, on the unfathomable, ambiguous and open future of the Fourth Revolution Industrial. In this scenario, Digital Transformation ended up becoming a new buzzword in the market, in which many say they make this journey of change, but few actually do it efficiently, with a holistic view of the subject. It is noteworthy that some companies were born in the Digital age and in a Digital way, while other companies were born Traditional and are only now trying to migrate to a Digital world. With this, it is not uncommon to see people who have tried to transform traditional companies without success, break away from these corporations and create a new company, now with the digital culture ingrained, since its birth. Therefore, we currently classify companies into two groups:

• Companies that were born in the traditional way and are now trying to migrate;
• Companies that were born with digital culture.

As we have already explained more deeply in a another text here on the blog, we mean by Digital Transformation as a fundamental change in the way the company is organized, using technology, people, processes and business models, in order to be adapted to the a more complex and dynamic universe, where it is essential to focus on generating customer value. This will be decisive in the life of companies: the more digital mindset the organization has, the greater competitive advantage in the market it will have in this new world VUCA. For this change to happen, that is, for the company to leave Traditional and become more Digital, we at Agile.Inc created a model that helps in this migration process. This concept was developed by our team after many studies and daily practice. So we have five pillars for a correct Digital Transformation:

CULTURE

The culture change is the first pillar for the true Digital Transformation to happen, not by chance. After all, it all boils down to a change of culture and mindset. Among the various changes in culture, we can highlight:

• Really put the customer at the center of your business;
• Having a culture of applied innovation;
• Empower teams, but with high alignment;
• Create a culture of “not being afraid of failure” and
• be more transparent in actions, decisions and plans

These are some examples of how cultural change is the primary point of transformation. “You make a lot of mistakes along the way, but that’s okay. It’s okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. (My father and CEO) Vince has an expression: ‘It’s OK to make mistakes, but never make the same mistake twice.’” – Stephanie McMahon, WWE Brand Director during debate, 2018. – https:/ /www.istoedinheiro.com.br/confira-10-frases-inspiradoras-do-forum-economico-mundial-de-davos/

INTERNAL CAPACITIES

In addition to culture, companies need new internal capabilities, that is, teams need to have new skills to solve more complex problems. Among these skills, we can highlight some such as:

• Working with new technologies (Big Data, Blockchain, Machine Learning, among others);
• Agility in product development,
• Lean management in product design;
• Use Design Strategically.

These are just a few examples of internal capabilities that need to be developed depending on the context of each business.

STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE

This pillar consists of rethinking the way the company is organized. Companies that are already digital organize themselves differently from traditional ones:

• How are the areas of the company structured?
• How to break the organization’s silos?
• How is the budget defined?
• How are initiatives prioritized?
• How is work tracking done transparently?
• How to create greater operational efficiency, for example with automation?

Again, these are some examples of questions that are addressed during this transition from Traditional companies to the Digital age, in terms of structure and governance, which vary greatly for each type of business.

PEOPLE

Having the right people, in the right places and with the right direction is critical. In this pillar of true Digital Transformation, we look at:

• Roles and responsibilities (noting that, it’s no use just being defined, but must be followed and monitored in a natural way by everyone),
• How is people’s motivation?
• And which leadership model to apply.

As we think here at Agile.Inc – at the end of the day, it’s always people working with people to create products to other people. But, unfortunately, we still see many companies treating people as resources, in a very “commoditized” way, in which it is enough to just hire employees from the consultancy that is cheaper,for example.

BUSINESS MODELS

The fifth pillar of Digital Transformation is to think of new business models for the VUCA world. The way people buy and consume services is changing and companies need to adapt as quickly as possible. For example, the typical case of a bank that starts charging something without you seeing it and knowing it, is no longer accepted by everyone. If this happens, people will soon go to social networks or complaint sites to talk about it, creating problems for the institution’s image. Thus, new service models appear more frequently, such as Subscription, Freemium, OnDemand, among others, always aiming at the user experience. The work then consists of developing these five pillars for a correct Digital Transformation in organizations. We feel that each company has one of the pillars more or less developed, or with the need to develop a pillar first, etc. However, we strongly believe that some points are levers for transformation, meaning that not everything will happen at the same time. The levers are:

• Developing leadership
• Enabling teams
• Applying Agility Concepts

If we start with these three points, everything else ends up being positively encouraged. Count on us in this transformation process – we increasingly want to bring true digital transformation to companies and people.