Why the best digital transformation involves a bespoke process for each company

Jo Debecker

Managing Partner FullStride Cloud, Wipro

Nishant Dwivedi

Country Head (UK & Ireland) FullStride Cloud, Wipro

Terry Leech

Country Manager, Wipro Ireland

Digital transformation is key to preparing businesses for the future. For success, organisations must define their own personalised framework and implement solid change management.

Rapidly evolving technology is forcing companies to rethink and digitalise their business models. “The transformation story is about a business becoming digital at its core — not a business supported by technology,” says Terry Leech, Country Manager for Ireland at technology consultancy company Wipro.  

Businesses must digitalise 

The pandemic and its consequent influence on the office-to-hybrid shift have played a central role in the urgent drive for optimised e-commerce platforms within retail. To keep up with customer expectations across all industries, businesses must embrace digital-driven processes and technology investments. Those that don’t will be left behind.  

“Businesses need to keep pace with changing technology to remain relevant. If people want their businesses to survive, then they must embark upon these processes,” says Nishant Dwivedi, Country Head for FullStride Cloud Services at Wipro UK and Ireland. 

Preparing the groundwork for change 

Companies must view transformation as a journey. Before embarking on this process, however, they need to lay down the groundwork properly to ensure change is managed effectively. That means having a clear sense of why the change is taking place. Leaders need to consider the ultimate beneficiaries of digital transformation (customers, employees and/or suppliers) as well as their organisation’s own digital maturity and economic stage (eg. surviving vs. running vs. thriving and disrupting). 

“The effort it takes to do something like this cannot be underestimated. As a partner, we work with companies to navigate that journey. But there is a lot of work that they need to do themselves, too. It’s not something you can just buy off the shelf,” explains Jo Debecker, Wipro’s Head of FullStride Cloud. 

Businesses need to keep pace with
changing technology to remain relevant.

Nishant Dwivedi

Each digital transformation is unique 

Companies need to define what differentiates them from the rest. Once they know that, a bespoke framework can bring them the digital transformation they want to achieve. It’s not unheard of for companies to try adopting a framework because it worked for someone else — but that’s asking for trouble.  

Similar to how two people would end up building completely different houses to suit their individual needs, a company must create its own model for a successful digital transformation. “It’s an illusion that companies can follow someone else’s playbook and it will all come together and be perfect. That’s a fallacy because every organisation is different,” says Debecker. 

It’s about the entire organisation 

A successful digital transformation needs to include the whole organisation — not just the IT team. “Organisations tend to be more successful when the whole business is aligned. If the change is driven purely from an IT point of view, it can work — but it won’t be as successful as when the entire business is brought in and coordinates together towards the overall change,” says Debecker. 

Strategy and vision are central to this. Above all, communication is key. This may require a change in leadership styles — from traditional to empowered and customer-centric teams. “The people that drive this from C-level must be of a certain mindset. If they’re not, organisations must make changes at that level to progress it. It’s hard news to take, but it’s necessary in the overall scheme of things,” adds Leech. 

Finding the right digital solution provider 

Organisations that take the plunge to digitally transform their business will ultimately be more resilient, flexible and competitive. But it’s not a process to be taken lightly, warns Debecker. Organisations can streamline the kinks in the journey by adopting a one-stop-shop approach to their digital transformation.  

“Companies could self-serve or get several suppliers to help them on their journey; but having one supplier and one point of contact who can do it all is a much easier process. It takes a lot of the legwork and coordination out of the process,” urges Leech.