Is Your AI and Automation Strategy Right for You?
It used to be that business transformation was something necessitated by a lack of leadership over a significant length of time. From time to time a once competitive business might find itself behind the times, out of touch with its customers in short, no longer competitive and the only solution would be to significantly restructure the company, possibly from the ground up.
These days, it seems as though theres a new disruptive technology storming the business world every other week. With the business landscape changing so drastically and so frequently, even with the best management in the world a company can find itself needing to make significant changes. To make the most of a generally stressful and difficult process, there are a few keys to keep in mind;
- Effective planning
- Effective management of change
- Fostering a change-based corporate culture
Effective Planning
Effective planning for change starts with an accurate assessment of the current state of affairs, including what needs to be changed, and what does not. It is also important to determine, as accurately as possible, what difficulties are likely to arise in making those changes. Armed with this knowledge, it is then possible to map out a course of action with the best chance of succeeding.
Effective Management of Change
Change is often difficult on a personal level, and people have a tendency to resist change rather than embrace it. A business, being comprised of individuals, is often exponentially more resistant to change, and so it is important to approach the often sweeping changes of business transformation in the right way.
To a certain extent, its important to sell business transformation to your employees in the same way you sell your products to your customers. Rather than trying to convince employees that business transformation is necessary, or good for the company, focus on helping employees to understand how the changes will benefit them personally. By fostering personal investment in the changes to come, you put the momentum of the employees behind the business transformation rather than against it. This can not only help make change easier to implement, but help to make them permanent as well.
Foster a Change-based Corporate Culture
Its more and more evident that business transformation is becoming the norm rather than the exception in todays business world. Companies, even very successful companies, are having to reinvent themselves regularly just to stay competitive. Todays winning strategy is, more often than not, tomorrows old news.
By incorporating change into your business methodology, a discipline known as business process management, you can help to ensure that change is more regular and incremental evolutionary rather than revolutionary which also makes it less disruptive, and that can only help your bottom line.
The need for business transformation is often the result of todays rapidly changing business environment. Through a combination of careful planning, employee management, and embracing change as a philosophy to modern business process management techniques, its possible to not only survive that environment, but to thrive in it.
