Digital transformation beyond Covid: what to keep and what to give up?
As days and nights have blended and the boundaries between home and work have dissolved, it’s no surprise that many of us have felt disarmed during the lockdowns. Experts have called the phenomenon “temporary disintegration,” where we become dislocated from time and lose our sense of continuity.
One facet of life where everything seemed to be speeding up was in the digital realm. As our physical lives slowed down, the only way for businesses to keep running was a frantic pivot to digital. If organizations didn’t have remote policies in place, they certainly felt it when the pandemic hit, as they raced to build the kind of infrastructure that would allow our working lives to continue.
Often that meant sloppy solutions: attaching a bit of Zoom here, a touch of collaboration software there. It’s understandable that companies chose their digital technologies in haste – but it’s also the reason why these hastily devised methods can fail in the long run.
Ad hoc approaches are generally neither strategic nor sustainable. Now that this period of temporary disintegration is coming to an end, it’s time for businesses to reflect – making the most of pandemic-era solutions, letting go of what wasn’t working, and developing a plan to be more deliberate from now on. .
Make sure your systems and processes are efficient before digitizing them – you don’t want to digitize an unnecessary process
Tools like digital whiteboards and collaboration platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams make the difference. According to the Chartered Management Institute, over 80% of all businesses are expected to maintain some form of hybrid working arrangements, this type of connectivity is here to stay and with good reason.
“The pandemic has drastically changed the way most businesses work, so employers need to maintain some of the changes to meet the needs of modern employees,” says Ulla Riber, Group Workplace Management Manager. , ISSGlobal.
While statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor reveal that the big quit is still in play, it’s critical that employers take stock of employees’ expectations for flexibility and where they work, Riber said. Even if the restrictions are lifted, Riber notes that ISS monitoring has revealed continued demand for pandemic-related technologies, such as office reservation systems. Collaboration tools are a clear path to engaging a dispersed workforce.
And as the workforce became more widely distributed, the remnants of traditional perimeter protection such as cyber defense also faded. Organizations have had to realize the vast expansion of potential attack surfaces; not to mention the importance of educating individual employees about safety.
Meanwhile, staff wellbeing should always have been a priority, but at the height of Covid-19 it became a more pressing concern – as you would expect in a pandemic. Surveys have shown that HR automation has increased dramatically over this period, not only with performance management tools, but also as a way to measure staff sentiment and well-being. Technologies that help staff stay healthy, be productive and secure team organizations with a set of digital tools that will be vital no matter the big picture.
While the pandemic era has undoubtedly proven the value of digitalization, there can also be a tendency to see “going digital” as a catch-all solution to all sorts of problems, be they encouraged by sellers looking for an easy sale or following organic hype. According to Richard Jeffery, national director of social enterprise The Growth Company, this attitude can easily put companies in a sticky spot, with disappointing implementations often discouraging organizations from digitalization in general.
“I’ve seen a lot of companies buy software or hardware because they heard they needed it,” he says. “But when that fails, it becomes a major barrier to digital adoption.”
Another issue during the pandemic was accessibility, adds Jeffery. All the latest technology in the world is of little use if people are left behind due to non-localized infrastructure, lack of education, or poorly applied technology that is not user-friendly.
And, with all of these changes, the cultural hangover can be the hardest symptom to cure. One of the results of this temporary disintegration was long hours and a kind of virtual presenteeism – where staff, knowing they could be online at all times, felt compelled to show their faces for the sake of doing so. .
“The pandemic has helped us start to question the principle of presenteeism,” says Ita Waller, group human resources director at integrated marketing agency Unlimited. “But going forward, it’s important that working hours are respected, especially when working from home when it’s easy to stay online.”
I’ve seen a lot of companies buy software or hardware because they heard they needed it.
Likewise, Waller adds, maintaining a balance between true flexibility is crucial because, according to a Microsoft report, 67% of staff want After in-person work, no less – in order for companies to shift to hybrid working or reduce office space, they need to be aware of the needs of all staff, not just the loudest ones. “Making the office accessible so people can collaborate in person should be as encouraged as respecting people’s decisions to stay home,” Waller says. What form this will take is undetermined, but it will require careful balancing of digital technologies and physical spaces.
Digitization is a process, so companies that have managed to leverage the anomalous conditions of the pandemic era to their advantage should not rest on their laurels.
Instead, they should try to capitalize on the existing momentum. For businesses, at any stage of the process, it requires stepping back — going back to basics, planning, and focusing on desired results, says Jeffery of the Growth Company. Times may have been strange, but rudimentary principles like being mindful of things like sourcing remain. “Companies should figure out what they want to achieve with digital,” he says. “Look at what digital can do to change your vision – can you achieve faster, more holistic change? Make sure your systems and processes are efficient before you digitize them – you don’t want to digitize an unnecessary process.
Meanwhile, Unlimited’s Waller notes, technologies such as robotic process automation should be used to automate daily tasks; it’s not about replacement, it’s about efficiency and giving employees time back — to help alleviate such pandemic monsters like long hours and poor work-life balance.
Hybrid working has empowered employees, she says, and having an open approach to hybrid working, while constantly evaluating and adapting working practices and technology, will ensure businesses on all sides get the most out of digital, whether with future disruptions or – knock on wood – functioning in the old normal.
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How about a digital transformation plan?
There digital transformation and the implementation of new technologies has arrived so that SMEs and companies can better develop their processes and be more efficient. However, it is a process that must be developed over a long period of time, since it may imply structural changes in organizations. For a good execution, we have developed a guide on how to create a digital transformation plan for your company. Are you interested? Keep reading.
It may interest you: Master in digital transformation
What is a digital transformation plan?
As customer habits change, so does the way successful businesses operate. They innovate, change operating and business models, and take advantage of emerging technologies.
AN digital transformation plan It is a strategic plan with a long term that focused on the implementation of new technologies and forms of digital work. The task is to define a strategy to be competitive in the market, improve efficiency, maximize revenue growth and reduce operating costs.
The 6 keys to digital transformation
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Stages of a digital transformation plan
#1 Define the goals
AN digital transformation plan It must propose a clear understanding of the objectives that are sought to be achieved and the steps that must be carried out to achieve that goal. To do this, you can take into account the following points:
- Make a analysis of the needs of your company to prioritize the areas with the greatest optimization potential.
- create goals specific and medicinal in the time.
- Define the KPIs through this form you can mediate the effectiveness of your digital transformation plan.
An example of this may be “reducing the response time in the delivery of an order”. If you set it is an objective that is not specifically digital but that through the implementation of a specific technology can solve it.
#two. Know the current market
When you organize your digital transformation plan It is important to take into account the vision and needs of the client. On many occasions, the objectives of the organization are not aligned with the client it is looking for and this generates those investments made in new technologies that will not bear fruit.
It is important to understand where is the commercial value of your company, and for this it is very useful to carry out an analysis of the competition and current market trends. This way your whole plan will be pointing in the same direction.
#3 Analyze your resources and make a budget
It is very common to find companies that abandon their digital transformation processes due to lack of budget. Therefore, it is very IMPORTANT —after defining your priorities and objectives— will establish the value that will be allocated for each share.
Think that a stagnant project will not add anything of value and if it will make your company lose money, so it is ideal that you be realistic with the budget.
#4 Envelope and capacity to your team
For a digital transformation plan to be successful, it is necessary that all parties involved are aware of the changes to be carried out and responsible delegated. Likewise, there must be a mentality open to change and innovation in order to come to fruition.
Staff must be given the necessary training and education. to adapt these changes and correctly execute all processes. In this way, the gains will be even greater in efficiency, precision and profitability.
#5 Come up with the right technology
Implementing digital transformation in your company does not imply resorting to all existing technologies. Select the one or those that support the plan you have been working on and that helps you meet your goals.
Master in Digital Transformation
Transform your organization’s culture and technology
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Do you want to standardize processes? Improve your customer service system? Estimate the time that different activities take in your company? Each answer indicates the implementation of a concrete tool that emerged again, from your objectives.
As an example, you can use technologies that allow interaction with the client such as the implementation of a CRM, analysis through Big Data or chatbots.
#6 Execute your digital transformation plan by iterations
After having planned each stage, it is time to start it. he remembers that this is a simple roadmapdo not maintain that everything goes to the letter, it is more, it is likely that there are different stages that must be modified or divided into small parts to carry out this construction in the company.
We recommend you implement a schedule based on it iterative sprints (flexible). These allow each part of the plan to vary in the time it takes to work on the tasks that they create in order to carry out each objective.
At the beginning of each week, the different stakeholders meet and Analyze the status of each task, check if there are obstacles to continue and possible measures to solve it. Then adjust your plan.
#7 Middle of the results
Analysis of the results that the implementation of your digital transformation plan is having, following the KPIs planted in point one. remember that It is a process that is in constant construction. so you can go back and resort to improvements in future processes.
The role of the Chief Digital Officer in the digital transformation plan
The Digital Main Office (CDO) or Digital Director is the person who is in charge of creating the digital transformation plan. His functions within the restructuring of the company on the way to digitalization are:
- Cooperate with the CEO to define budget and priorities of the transformation plan.
- define the view of the company in 5 or 10 years at a technological level.
- Make sure that all objectives set are focused on satisfying the interests of the client. To do this, it conducts detailed research on consumer behaviors and their pain points.
- take decisions about technology projects being implemented to know which features should continue and which features should be abandoned.
- Have direct communication with each team manager to communicate their knowledge are the specific objectives to work together, answer questions and solve possible problems.
Digital transformation is a continuous process based on constant tests. Companies cannot be celebrated after implementing an innovation, from now on they should be in progress all the time. On the contrary, it will be difficult for the business to achieve a long-term effect.
We hope that this article about how to have a digital transformation plan has been useful. If you don’t want to be left behind and you want to know the technologies that will help your company become a benchmark for digital innovation, you invite us to participate in our Master in digital transformation . What are you waiting for! Enter and know everything that the study plan has to offer you.
Master in Digital Transformation
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Why digital transformation is essential for all pharmacies – Digital Pharmacist Blog
Today’s customers want to be able to interact with the companies they buy from as easily through online channels as they can in person. And as they become more dependent on technology, they also seek convenient digital solutions that will simplify your lives.
Essentially, digital transformation leverages new technologies to support a customer-centric approach and overall business growth. Can help pharmacies offer more personalized attentiondevelop multiple streams of revenue, increase sales and efficiency, and equip them to compete with big box stores.
How digital transformation is affecting healthcare
The healthcare industry has faced a discouraging couple of years, battling a global pandemic while trying to care for socially distant patients. In many cases, outdated technology has led to a breakdown in the infection registry and response capacity. Healthcare facilities and hospital systems are turning to creative digital solutions like ppatient access tools, telehealth servicesY contactless payments so they can deliver quality care and stay afloat.
As pharmacies began to offer COVID-19 tests and vaccines, large chain pharmacies adapted with digital strategies to meet changing needs. Solutions like online shopping and delivery, virtual check-in and secure messaging have allowed pharmacies across the country to adapt to a new way of doing business. While COVID-19 is more under control today, the digital advancements that came with the pandemic are going nowhere and to keep up with the competition, continued digital innovation is imperative.
Starting your transformation journey
Digital transformation isn’t just a survival tactic for an unprecedented couple of years, it’s a long-term process that will help your business succeed in a future of digitally focused pharmacies.
Here are a few ways you can start incorporating digital tools into your daily pharmacy workflow: