Digital transformation means using new digital technologies, which change rapidly and frequently, to solve business problems and drive growth. The challenges brought by this kind of approach are many and involve technological aspects as well as business and process considerations: introducing innovation can mean working on internal balances that have been established over time and are not always easy to change.
Over the years, we have faced and overcome countless obstacles in this context, carrying out rather complex digital transformation projects. Along with our clients’ satisfaction, what we have learned from these digital transformation projects has become one of the most important assets in SparkFabrik’s heritage.
Here are four steps that we believe every company preparing for digital transformation must take.
1. Involve the stakeholders
Digital transformation works when it touches all aspects and needs of business life. The first thing to do is therefore to involve the heads of the various company departments to define the company’s needs and priorities. At SparkFabrik, we use the Agile methodology (which we will discuss shortly) and, for this particular step, User Story Mapping.
This is an internal company workshop, with all business stakeholders, during which we facilitate co-analysis, co-definition, and co-design activities that form the basis for defining the requirements of an Agile project. User Story Mapping is based on the concept of User Story, a complete and expressive format for defining web product requirements from the end user’s perspective: it is an iterative process whose ultimate goal is a shared understanding of what is desired.
In our view, this is a fundamental step in every digital transformation project as it allows you to build consensus and trust within the team involved and to bring to light knowledge specific to the various levels of the organisation, thus identifying dependencies, constraints, and internal needs.
2. Carefully evaluate technological solutions
Over time, we have learned that the best approach to choosing a technological solution varies case by case: a top-down decision is not necessarily the best one. In our opinion, it is necessary to work with the company in a consultative manner, reasoning together about what needs to be done and listening to the needs and suggestions of different voices within the company.
If defining objectives, as we saw in the first step, is essential to kick off digital transformation in a company, the choice of technologies plays an equally central role, because it then determines the project’s evolution and largely its chances of success.
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3. Be prepared to face potential problems or unforeseen events
Nothing goes as planned: this is a fact of life before it is a rule of business. In the past, when technology maturation timelines and market evolution were much longer and still allowed a “waterfall” approach, it was possible to design all specifications upfront and then strictly follow the execution roadmap.
Today, this is no longer the case: technologies change very rapidly, innovative new competitors emerge almost every day, and our interconnected world is increasingly sensitive to global events, as the Covid-19 pandemic has amply demonstrated.
Embracing digital transformation means using a methodology designed to be highly efficient but also highly flexible and responsive to external changes. This is the Agile methodology. Working in an Agile way means evolving the process gradually and always adapting it to the context in the best possible way, following a logic of continuous improvement. Having a transparent, inspectable approach designed to evolve also helps in change or pivoting processes and in change management in general. In fact, it works well in software, but it is an approach that can be applied at every level of the organisation.
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4. Understand that the project is never truly finished
Working on large-scale digital transformation projects requires the ability to take responsibility for your own work and be constantly available to listen and modify what has been done: there will almost certainly be fixes and improvements to be planned. And not only that; often, to actually reap the benefits of the work carried out, it is necessary to invest in staff training so they are able to operate with the new technological solution.
That is why for us it is crucial to always stand alongside the company to constantly improve the web product developed and to support team work through training.
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Who has already benefited from this approach?
Following the steps outlined above, we have helped numerous clients set up and implement a digital transformation journey. For example, we built a multi-cloud infrastructure based on Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud to optimise the digital presence of Caleffi in China: this way, the experience of the corporate website in China became equivalent to that of other countries around the world. We also redesigned the way the websites of the Zambon web ecosystem are built: a single Design System for building and managing multiple sites and a multi-cloud infrastructure spanning East and West. Furthermore, we helped the Italian Revenue Agency rethink FiscoOggi to make a historic and authoritative presence in Italy’s fiscal publishing landscape modern and universally accessible.
