How to develop the Vision for Digital Transformation?

Digital Transformation is now a number one priority for many businesses. Over the past two years, businesses have put increased focus on digitally transforming their brands from the inside out.

It is an ongoing process of change based on the market and needs of the customers. To deliver this change successfully, there is a need to establish a clear vision with objectives & expected outcomes.

Simply put vision is a picture of how the organization will look like after stipulated time.

Importance of Vision:

·      Provides the big picture and clearly describes what your organization will be like in several years

·      Clarifies the right direction of change to ensure that everyone is moving forward

·      Inspires everyone to take action in set direction

·      Synchronizes the action of different people. It provides self-sufficiency to individuals and teams while reducing conflicts.

There are some do’s & don’ts for setting up a vision:

Do’s:

·      Develop a Vision that is in line with company growth strategy.

·      Connect with partners who support your vision, not only third-party technology vendors but your own customers and employees

·      It should create the sense of urgency

·      Link vision to specific goals in future

·      Describe how the company will actually change

·      How will you engage differently with customers?

Don’ts:

·      It remains only as floor branding and marketing

·      Restricting the employees with set vision & its boundaries

·      Vision is way too complicated, vague and lacking actionable initiatives

·      Poor communication of the vision beyond the involved few stakeholders

·      Setup the vision before analyzing current systems and operations

Vision brings in the cultural change that is required for Digital Transformation. People are extremely important in this roller-coaster ride. 

When the digital vision is not clear, that affects the speed of adoption of both senior management and middle management. People will not act just because technology is ready. 

Some successful vision statements, which helped companies in their digital transformation:

Google - To provide access to the world’s information in one click

Amazon - To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online

Walmart - To be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of consumers and employees

GE - To become the world’s premier digital industrial company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive

Ikea – To create a better everyday life for the many people

Southwest Airlines - To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline

A top-down vision is a cornerstone & catalyst for digital transformation. These and many companies have created great vision statements to survive in this digital age.