Digital Business Transformation

investing in competitiveness

Business first, technology follows

In our companies, projects aimed at digitizing processes are carried out daily. Paper is slowly becoming a thing of the past (though there are places where parting with it seems particularly difficult). Meanwhile, during digital transformations, the main challenge for most companies is to focus on the business rather than IT. Every technology should serve the strategic direction set by the organization. However, discussions about digital systems often focus on technical nuances rather than on what is important for the customer and the business. In digitization processes, it is worthwhile to spend time building a common understanding of what we want to achieve as a business before focusing on technological possibilities.

Project design and acting

People can use project thinking and acting skills to create digital systems—first thinking, then acting. One without the other is not enough. Project thinking and acting is a competency based on the assumption that every system (including digital ones) operates in a specific environment. We design a house for specific people on a specific plot. Similarly, digital systems are created for specific organizations operating in specific markets. Once we can describe such a market and understand its characteristics, it's time to ask what functions the system should perform for the user. Here, three types of functions can be distinguished: essential (e.g., storing data for 20 years, the ability to edit data, etc.), recommended (searching data by any criterion stored in the database), and nice-to-have (the system measures the time we spend in it).

Modularity as a source of resilience

We get frustrated when a digital system doesn't work or lacks a feature that would allow us to add extra value to the customer's world. Then, making changes becomes a challenge. The service provider often hesitates because they have other orders on the horizon or expects a fee that makes CEOs fall off their chairs. When the business environment changes, modularity becomes a crucial element in building systems, allowing for expansion, change, replacement, reduction, etc. It's analogous to building houses. If a house is built using modular technology, it can be altered as needs change, for example, when triplets are on the way :)

The ability to change and adapt is what determines a company's competitiveness today. You can start by:

building awareness in the organization that business takes precedence over IT,
developing project thinking and acting skills,
designing systems using modularity.

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If you are interested in the topic of digitization or project thinking and acting, I encourage you to consider training sessions for managerial staff in this area. Please contact us at: kontakt@larkbc.pl