Six Steps for Achieving Digital Transformation: Step 6

Does building a digitally capable staff mean significant training? New staff? Reorganization of roles and positions?

It may mean all of the above. You must first conduct an evaluation of your organization’s information technology state before determining how to restructure it. This involves a review of your organization’s:

• User experience and online services, inclusive of its Content Management System, online and e-commerce processes (e.g., event registrations, online store), and overall online user experience for the enterprise.
• Infrastructure and customer support. Evaluate your business support systems, network and hardware, as well as your vendor and project management. Consider help desk and customer support from both an internal and external perspective.
• Business integration and information governance. Review your organization-wide membership and constituent management (e.g., Association Management System and data governance), as well as data quality and integrations (e.g., single sign on to access all systems on any device), business intelligence and reporting, and information asset management.
• Project management office/gating process, such as new product development support and project management resources.

Having a digitally capable staff also requires the right IT leadership. The chief information officer at any association must be seen as an innovation partner. This person must be fast and decisive, viewed as an enabler of progress and change, a great communicator and collaborator, autonomous, and focused on the user experience, customer support and business analytics to help the organization make data-driven decisions.

Also, it’s not enough to have IT-competent individuals on your staff. You must also have talent that fits your culture. You may interview the most talented candidate, but if that person is not a good cultural fit and does not possess the necessary risk tolerance or soft skills, hiring him or her can be detrimental to projects, technology development, and overall organizational progress.

Maybe you already have—or are assembling—the right team. But the right team alone won’t achieve digital excellence. You also must have the right processes, tools and culture:

• Process. This includes areas of project governance and prioritization, as well as assigning lead responsibilities and oversight.
• Tools. Determine whether there are products or services that need to be replaced with newer versions, if any business models need to be re-envisioned, etc.
• Culture. Culture is the foundation for digital excellence. A successful digital culture is one that drives productivity, creates member engagement, and establishes an environment for innovation. A thriving digital culture is one that is agile, risk taking and accepting of failures.

Digital transformation is an ongoing progress. It must continually evolve in order to keep up with what customers need next vis-à-vis amazing services and benefits. Use this six-part blog series as a guide or call upon .orgSource to help you experience digital wins.