Why is having an up-to-date and relevant Digital Transformation strategy so important?

The purpose of a digital transformation strategy is increasingly questioned as agile delivery practices become more popular, but we believe a strategy remains incredibly important for several reasons. In the following blog post, we discuss why we believe it remains important and how it can enable organisational agility rather than hinder it. 

Just having a strategy and putting the right framework in place to follow it can be a game-changer in itself. We see strategies of all shapes and sizes in the work we do, but it’s those organisations that have thought through, written down, and secured buy-in from all stakeholders is where effective change is happening. However, having a strong strategy that has:

• Been aligned to the needs, aims, and objectives of the organisation
• Has buy-in from both technical and business stakeholders at all levels of the organisation
• Is discussed and updated by the right people at the right time

We believe doing this:

• Focuses delivery teams to achieve what they are aiming for and striving towards
• Saves time, stress, and money from delivering something that isn’t providing value to the organisation
• Can help act as a baseline for continual effective delivery to take place

Against the backdrop of combining complex transformational change with keeping the lights on, it’s easy to see why projects get lost in the day-to-day and transformations fail. One of the reasons why transformations do struggle is when strategies are seen as a one-time event. Often, we hear, “we have a 3-year strategy, and we will revisit it in 3 years”. Something that is a tick in the box, done that, got a strategy!

However, we believe that if a strategy is to be used properly, it should be something that you continually return to, reference and check. Just as a business has a business plan that is continually checked against KPIs, market changes, etc., a good digital strategy also needs to be continually assessed against its aims, objectives, and technology trends. Each month or each quarter, we believe the strategy and the strategic plan for the business should be checked, and the following questions posed:

• Have business priorities changed, and if so, how are they currently impacting the services we deliver or need to deliver in the future?
• Has the business strategy changed, and if so, what will this mean for the current strategic initiatives in the plan?
• What is missing from our digital transformation strategy to ensure the desired business outcomes are achieved?

We believe these questions should be continually asked; challenging whether your digital strategy is fit for the purpose. Historically, we believe organisations have been scared to change a 'signed off’strategy as it was deemed as something that is set in stone, but it’s really about how it is positioned within your organisation. At CoStratify, we recommend that adaptive strategies be the approach, set within a framework to continually drive value from the strategy and flex to the business needs, aims,  and objectives. Clearly, there are limits to flexibility before continually changing the strategy becomes a burden, but we recommend using strategies as an overall direction or intent to aid in continually adapting digital and technology performance to meet the business’s desired outcomes.

It would be interesting to understand how many organisations have revisited their digital strategy in the last 12 months. If your strategy hasn’t been reviewed and is sitting on the shelf, we strongly recommend revisiting it and remapping it to align with the business’s priorities. 

We’re seeing more and more companies seeking help from CoStratify to provide independent guidance to realign strategies. We’d welcome your thoughts, and if you would like an independent review, then of course get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

CoStratify 100% Independent and Ethical consulting – creating strategic direction, forming strong evidence for change with no hidden agendas.