The starting point for transformation is to define problem statement accurately
Published on : Wednesday 23-10-2019
Digitalisation is imperative but enterprises are still struggling with implementation. How can begin the process?
Nurturing an ecosystem of partners: One way of initiating and expediting implementation is through collaboration with an ecosystem of partners as no longer is a single organisation equipped to solve all problems by themselves. And even if they do have the ability, they may lack the mind-set and agility to bring the required change in time. An ‘inside out’ approach helps deliver on multiple priorities simultaneously with the same rigor through multiple specialist teams working together. Following an agile methodology, the team can deliver iteratively which can help either validate their deliverables (prototype, product, service) or result in failing fast and exploring alternatives sooner.
For many organisations, the stumbling block is the silos, which ironically, digitalisation seeks to break. Is this a classic chicken and egg story?
Resourcing Right: Having a cross functional team set up at the outset of a transformation journey is a pre-requisite for starting a change program of this scale and complexity. Taking a project approach with common outcomes and success metrics to deliver on, helps break the silo mentality with the individual team members. The team should ideally be a mix of existing and new employees; generalists resourced full time and SMEs participating on a need basis; people who have a start-up mind-set, are curios and have a passion to perform. This helps build/evolve a new culture different from that of the legacy organisation. These are the people that go onto subsequently become evangelists and agents of change. This team needs to be given the freedom to take risks and should have an independent mandate, budgets, an agile way of working yet with a strong governance. It should become an aspirational business unit/project team to join for their peers. Over a period of time these resources can return to their business roles and set a new benchmark for ‘business as usual’ and champion working through a collaborative approach doing away with silos for good.
Is joining one of the digital platforms the only way for an average enterprise?
Leveraging Twin Engines of Business: All legacy businesses need to periodically review what business they are actually in. For example, for an automotive OEM, are they in the business of manufacturing cars, which is increasingly becoming a commodity or are they in the business of mobility or autonomous cars which are in fact supercomputers on wheels or a hybrid of some or all of these? Depending on how a business views itself it can architect its right to win by either joining an existing digital platform or in some cases creating twin engines where the first continues with the existing business and the second is potentially a new business model that disrupts the status quo in an allied or adjacent space and fulfils a stated or unstated need that creates new forms of value. For example, the Mahindra Group launched Trringo, which is essentially an Uber for tractors platform business. This runs in parallel to the traditional tractor business. This was a new business model – a first in the Indian market and was targeted at those farmers who couldn’t afford to buy a tractor but were keen to rent a tractor (as a service) on a need basis from their peers.
Often, companies get bogged down in discussing technologies rather than outcomes. How should an effective CTO deal with this?
The starting point for any transformation journey is ensuring that the problem statement has been defined accurately. Experimenting with technology for the sake of technology is the wrong use case to work on. It is imperative that a business problem is identified and once one is sure that is has been framed correctly, potential technologies can be evaluated to solve the given problem statement. Additionally, defining the deliverables and success metrics also upfront plays a key role in ensuring that future dialogues are outcome oriented as opposed to focusing solely or primarily on the technology. For example, when we did consumer research for our auto business one of the insights that emerged was that customers struggle to visualise a vehicle of their choice as all variants, colours and accessories may not be available in the showroom. Therefore, we used virtual reality to give potential customers a near life like experience of the different models, variants with trims and accessories on the cars which helped improve customer satisfaction levels as well as reduced decision making time.
Finally, is multiplicity of vendors creating conflict in the process?
As time to market is reducing and complexity is increasing no organisation has the best know how or the most cost solution for every problem. New value can be created through flexible models of collaboration. It is highly unlikely that there will be a single partner across the value chain. Living in an age of increasing specialisation and the gig economy it will be useful to leverage the right partners across enterprise, startup world as well as through crowd souring and open innovation. The degree to which an organisation opens its boundaries and nurtures this kind of an ecosystem across suppliers, customers, etc., will have a substantial impact on its future success. Managing conflict across these vendor partners can be done effectively through clear definition of roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and deliverables; ensuring a smooth handshake and handover happens from one stakeholder to the next in the value chain and following a stringent governance model.
Namrita Mahindro is a senior strategic executive with CXO level success in leading organisations transform their businesses leveraging digital and technology. A digital evangelist, her forte lies in creating competitive advantage for organisations by re-defining business models, re-imagining customer experiences, re-engineering business processes, building people capabilities and orchestrating shifts in mindsets and organisation culture. With a career spanning two decades, Namrita has been both an entrepreneur and worked with MNCs and Indian conglomerates across sectors – automotive manufacturing and retail, logistics, travel and hospitality dotcom and technology in USA, UK and India.
In her role as a digital transformation leader, she has led Mahindra Group’s multi-million dollar auto digital transformation, created an omni channel customer experience at Taj Hotels, re-imagined the member experience at Club Mahindra and developed the business strategy for Mahindra Logistics to leverage technology to double their revenues in three years.
Namrita is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and a Certified Corporate Director and leverages both capabilities to advise boards on digital, technology and customer experience.