Digital Transformation, Agile, and Productivity (Part 2)

2022-06-06 10:32:36
ZenTao
Original 521
Summary : In the past, there was a lot of emphasis on how to do a project well and how to deliver a project, but when we really get into the digital transformation, one of the problems people find is “we don't know what we don't know”. What does it mean? No enterprise can predict the direction of its digital transformation, which is realized in the process of continuous exploration, continuous progress, continuous iteration and continuous correction.

The following article is from CIO Development Center.

CIO Development Center:
By building online and offline communication platforms, CIO groups can promote the exchange of experience in enterprise management, IT strategy, informatization practice and enterprise digital transformation, so as to enhance enterprises' cognition of the role of informatization on the whole, drive the overall improvement of enterprise informatization level and accelerate the pace of enterprise digital transformation.


Click here to review the Digital Transformation, Agile, and Productivity (Part 1).

Deep Conversations


Source: Freepic

Reporter: It can be seen from the CEO survey that the CEOs are recognized by the digital transformation, but there is still a gap between reality and assumption. How can the CIOs make the CEOs continue to invest in the digital transformation?


Daniel Sun: In the information stage, OA, paperless office, or E-mail implementation has more than 90% success rate. In the digital stage, the success rate of ERP, CRM and other implementation can reach 70-80%. However, in the stage of digital transformation, enterprises often survive by a narrow margin, with a success rate of 30-40%. How to measure "success" in digital transformation? It depends on whether each business of the enterprise brings business value. For the CIO, the first step is to break away from the traditional IT mindset, that is, the project developer mindset.


A successful CIO is a Top sale. He makes a good relationship and cooperation with many internal departments to sale his idea, meanwhile, he gets closed integration with the business department.


CIOs drive digital transformation with two key words: 1. Get closed integration with the business department. He doesn’t need to know all the business, but he needs to find at least two key "internal allies" 2. Being fast. The greatest feature of Agile and product centrality in digital transformation is increased efficiency and speed of delivery! Continue to work with business department during delivery, trial and error quickly and iterate quickly. In addition, the key to CIO's perspective is to develop business value oriented. 


Reporter: At present, large enterprises are in the exploration stage of digital transformation. What stage do you think the whole industry is in? What is the status of digital transformation?


Daniel Sun: Digital transformation is at very different stages of development in different industries. Specifically, in China's financial industry, the digital transformation of enterprises represented by banks, insurance and securities brokers has been at the forefront of the industry. The reason is that these industries have clear business demands for digitalization, and even the opening of these industries cannot be separated from digitalization. However, for other industries, such as heavy industry and mining, their demands for digitalization are relatively low, so the degree of digitalization transformation is relatively low.


Digital transformation has different characteristics in different development stages, including three points: First, the initial stage of digital transformation takes technology as the cutting point. In the past, many companies have shouted the slogan ABCD. "A" is AI, "B" is Blockchain, "C" is Cloud, and "D" is Data. In the initial stage, enterprises should promote digital transformation, and promote digital technology first. In the middle of digital transformation, scenes need to be introduced to make the deep integration of business and IT. Now many enterprises have begun to implement "product manufacturing", in which business personnel and IT personnel of enterprises mix and match to form development teams and promote the design and implementation of digital products. In the mature stage of digital transformation, IT and business collaborate to realize business innovation with digitalization as the driving force. The emergence of new business creates new business models and new income channels. 

Source: Freepic

Reporter: You talked about the difference between project thinking and product thinking. Can you specifically introduce the CIO's implementable suggestions in the process of changing thinking?


Daniel Sun: Take the transformation of the whole operation model as an example. If the development mode is changed from the original "project system" to "product system", there will be a lot of changes to be made.


First, talent, or team building. Is the team the same as before? Do I have to develop new people who think about products, not projects?


Second, the integration of business and IT is very important. In the past, business and IT worked separately, but now IT requires close integration. I need to know in real time whether what I do meets the needs of the business side and whether IT has business value, or promote "same-floor office" or "collaborative office".


Third, retain talent. For CIO, this is a question to ask every day, in fact, he can consider performance assessment model change. There must be incentives for internet-minded people, the so-called "internal patent" policy. Apply for corporate patents and assign them to relevant responsible persons and contributors.


Fourth, development decisions. If I were the model of product making, who would decide whether to develop, how to develop and the direction of future development, now IT is the joint decision of IT and business.


Fifth, the budget model. Compared with the project-based budget, the first phase of the product may find that the market response is very good, and two or three different functions may be added, so the budget needs to be adjusted dynamically.


Sixth, corporate culture. For CIOs, the most important thing is to communicate the high level of digitalization internally to the top of the organization, which requires a change in the culture of the organization. For example, accountability change, the success rate of digital transformation is about 30-40%, which is low. If every practice of digital transformation is held accountable, it is not in line with the trend of digital transformation. So at the top, encourage trial and error and a spirit of exploration.


Seventh, governance mechanism. "Third-ranking companies rely on individuals. Second-ranking companies rely on teams. First-ranking companies rely on governance." All internal compliance control and business orientation, including agile mechanism, development goal and enterprise development goal, are determined not by one person or one team, but by the enterprise's governance mechanism. What is "governance"? Governance at the corporate level is accountability to shareholders; governance at the enterprise level is the behavior that the executives take responsibility for the growth of the enterprise. Therefore, CIO should get more involved in the governance to ensure that IT and information governance in line with the long-term stable development of enterprises, for the long-term viability of the enterprise escort.



Read more about Digital Transformation:


What are the Reasons for the Failure of Digital Transformation?

What role do the tools play in the digital transformation?

Five principles help agile digital transformation

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