Speak to the CEO of a technology platform today and they will tell you COVID-19 has accelerated their business years ahead in less than two months.

 For those of us not in the technology platform business today can really feel overwhelming.

The combination of challenging business issues, your people, and even simple things have created an environment that is different.

 As the simple becomes complex, is there a way you can transition to a New Easier Normal?

I think there is.

Digital Transformation is possibly the most overhyped topic since Y2K. For those of you who don’t recall Y2K the big IT Consulting houses made Billions by projecting doomsday predictions about what would happen the moment the world crossed into the new Millennium. I recall a hotel chain CEO telling me he needed to replace every alarm clock in every room in the world because they would all magically stop working at the stroke of Midnight as we entered the year 2000.. Fortunately, Y2K did not turn out to be the end of the world and we were all able to continue flying without planes falling out of the sky or our bank accounts disappearing.

 I think Digital Transformation is similar and You can do it without having to trash your company or eliminate all your customers. What you need is a roadmap.

 One of the most important components to any Strategic change is that it must start from inside your company. With your people and their thinking. The outside advisor who claims they can bring in the change on their own is rarely able to do so. This is the reason more than 80% of Strategic Change programmes fail. An outsider provided a very beautiful (and often expensive) powerpoint “deck” which somehow your managers were supposed to implement.

 My team and I have proven repeatedly over the years there is a better way. Increase the Strategic Capabilities in your own team and work together to confront the big challenges. Talk openly about which customers you should serve and what the largest priorities are. Systematically identify where your Industry is moving and how you can be ahead of the curve. Develop the system to sense what your competitors are changing, what your customers need, and how you can read the “Weak Signals” that change your products, markets, and require new capabilities.

 The “New Normal” is about thinking differently and we can use new approaches. For example, a blended approach to Strategy that includes personal work with our Global Partners, access to a Digital Academy, and where you need it access to the best experts in the world to have open discussions with your people. Not discussions to sell you new services and rather the confrontation you want to develop the next idea big or small.

 The best advice I have heard and seen work well for Digital Transformation projects are to:

1. Look for the quick wins
2. Focus on Smaller Projects first
3. Identify the Specific Pain Points your customers are feeling and fix them
4. Invest in Training, in Process, as opposed to asking an outside agency to give you a solution
5. Develop Your Internal Capabilities

It is a very exciting road ahead and while it looks incredibly challenging today I believe with our resilience and global collaboration we can manage this shift to something exciting and better.

 I invite you to visit our joint partner Digital Academy with Strategic Partner Strategy Tools and test out one of the complimentary programmes or enroll in something even more exciting. You can get your access here: https://academy.strategytools.io/?ref=6d4d5b