This is the first entry in a six-part blog series about achieving digital excellence. Here, we focus on how to create a digital strategy.

They wrestle with managing the risk of growing volumes of content, transforming content-intensive business processes, using content to better engage customers, employees and partners, and gain business insight out of the plethora of information being gathered.

So, how can associations achieve digital excellence? If you answered “through technology,” that’s only partially correct. While it’s true your organization won’t be able to take the digital leap without the required technological tools, it requires much more. It requires big picture priorities and supporting structures and processes. It requires strategy.

In today’s .orgCommunity webinar, “Achieving Digital Excellence: Creating the Right Approach to Transform Your Organization,” we discussed what goes into a good digital strategy. Some considerations:

  • Identify business drivers. Assess whether you are more focused on technology operations or business innovation, and where you lie on that spectrum. Rethink your operations from people, process and technology perspectives and consider inefficiencies in your business processes.
  • Establish digital vision. You need a strategy that is embraced at the top of the organization, aligned across the business for effective execution, and a recognition that digital strategy is not simply technology or marketing but a new way of doing business.
  • Assess current alignment and/or gaps. Outline what technologies are needed and ensure the workforce is trained in the required skills to implement those technologies. Are there skill gaps in your association that could be filled through training and development of talent? Is your IT department comprised of not only technology enablers, but strategic visionaries, entrepreneurs, project planners and individuals who are agile?
  • Evaluate and prioritize IT initiatives. Is it investing in people to improve internal processes? Enhancing technology or project management standards? Improving member satisfaction and the value of membership by delivering the right products, services, messages, and experiences?
  • Adjust IT strategy as necessary. Finally, associations must recognize that a digital strategy is an ongoing process. With a rapidly changing field like technology, priorities are likely to change—sometimes often. Smart organizations recognize this and adjust their digital strategies as needed over time to respond to the inevitable changes.

The benefits you’ll reap from a good digital strategy are a better digital workplace and an increase in stakeholder engagement. This is possible because of your proper planning for growth and innovation, customer value and operational efficiency.

As your association begins its digital transformation journey, be sure to start with a good strategy. For assistance, call upon .orgSource (www.orgsource.com), leaders in IT and digital strategies for more than 10 years.

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