There are a lot of different “digital” themes getting buzz these days: “Digital Transformation”, “Digital Workplace”, “Digital Optimization” – just to name three.
Perhaps your organization is all wrapped up in the first of the three – digital transformation.
Maybe your organization would have done better moving forward on a digital optimization effort. Digital optimization is all about getting more out of your existing digital plant, meaning the stuff still running in your data center – SharePoint Server, IBM Connections, Documentum, Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, SAP & more.
You’re not likely to point to any of these packages as examples of how your department (or even the whole enterprise around it) has transformed manual processes into digital ones. Why? Because top management is calling for “digital transformation”, driven by the “fear of missing out” (FOMO). Shareholders are looking over their shoulders at your business’ “born digital” competitors and demanding senior management light a fire under every department to get on board with next-generation digital platforms.
But if, as I mentioned at the top, the sledding has gotten tough, shareholders and management might want to take a look at just how much of your organization’s resources have been sunk into the effort. Armed with this information they might actually start flashing the amber warning sign. Digital transformation is not an inexpensive undertaking. Success usually depends on an even more costly adjustment – change management.
Once you see the amber light you have a perfect opportunity to recommend pivoting the project and calling it “digital optimization”. The driver is saving resources - human and financial. You and your peers can get more value out of the existing digital plant. Personnel were slow to adopt SharePoint Server before the decision was made to move to Office 365 and SharePoint Online. So the real need is to empower personnel with the information they need to get more out of SharePoint Server 2016, SQL Server, IBM Connections, Oracle Financials – you name it.
You should care about the notion of digital optimization because it’s going to be a lifeboat you can use to help your enterprise-class business stop bleeding resources on a project not likely to succeed. You know it will work because you have an ace up your sleeve - VisualSP. VisualSP has provided a digital adoption platform for SharePoint Server on-premises since 2012 – 8 experience-rich years.
Over those years we’ve learned why, for instance, a tips campaign is a great way to take the “words of wisdom” of well known people within your organization and to promote them to the rest of personnel. Once everyone else in the organization has been empowered with the knowledge they need to use proven methods (like custom workflows built with complex forms, or an intranet with a lot of features) they become more enthusiastic about their work experience and, thereby, the "legacy" work experience becomes less costly for the overall business.
What do you think about shelving tranformation and replacing it with optimization in your digital plan? Can you afford to miss an opportunity to shine? Let us know what you think. We're here to help.
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