Processes: the foundations of your digitisation project
" On average, it takes French companies 15 months to change their processes", is the finding highlighted by Teradata in a recent study. The main reasons for these delays often lie in the inertia inherent in large companies, fuelled by ageing technologies and cultural barriers.
So how can you accelerate change and make a success of your digitisation projects? One answer is to capitalise on what the company already knows: its know-how.
1. Taking stock
In 2019, Teradata's " Adapt or disappear: the new reality of a hyper-digitised world" survey of IT and business decision-makers in organisations with more than 1,000 employees revealed a mixed global picture of the level of digitalisation of businesses. In fact, only 10% of them claim to have fully digitised their activities ( source).
However, companies are aware of the urgent need to become more agile in order to remain competitive in their markets.
Requirements gathering and audits
Wherever your journey takes you, you need a starting point. The first building blocks of your digital empire are based on listening, observing and transcribing how your business works.
Conducting interviews with employees, observing how information is managed, asking customers about their expectations, commissioning an external service provider to support the process. There are many ways of taking a step back and looking at your organisation.
Mapping the company
It is impossible to start transforming your business without a complete map of activities, players and data.
If there's one thing that companies have mastered perfectly, it's their know-how. It is therefore essential for chief digital officers, digital transformation managers and all those involved in the success of the project to draw up this map in order to propose appropriate solutions.
In addition, the tools, suppliers, customers and all external stakeholders will also need to be included. The aim will then be to list the interdependencies and measure the impact of future changes.
2. List priorities and objectives
Prioritisation is one of the keys to the success of your transformation. If, in your assessment, you have identified the main hotspots and therefore the first milestones to be reached, you are on the right track. Let's face it, your transformation is not going to work with the classic pattern of consultant, specifications, IT services company and delivery of the solution 12 months later.
Prioritise today so you don't repeat tomorrow
As the saying goes, don't put the cart before the horse. To get your teams on board with your projects, you need to be able to achieve results quickly.
One of the big mistakes in digitisation projects is to want to digitise the whole organisation at all costs. We have found that "gas plants" tend to demotivate the troops.
Concentrate initially on recurring activities that are considered to be time-consuming. Set yourself short-term objectives that make day-to-day life easier for operational staff.
Don't overlook the cultural barrier
The cultural barrier is by far the most common and the most difficult to overcome. There are no "ready-made" solutions to help you, apart from communication and collaboration. Change management must be an integral part of your plan.
Many ideas have come to light as a result of these consultation stages. Your employees are also your customers, and their digital culture can help you find solutions.
A number of companies have turned to technologies considered to be mainstream on the recommendation of their employees. One example is Skype, which was used for a long time by friends and family, but over time has found its way into the workplace.
3. Choosing the right players for success
The key role of digitalisation
Not all businesses are fortunate enough to be able to call on the services of large consultancy firms to support them. Nevertheless, it is possible to assign new missions to one of your employees with a detailed knowledge of the business.
In recent years, a new profile has emerged: the Chief Digital Officer. Responsible for establishing the company's digital strategy, the Chief Digital Officer acts as a liaison between the business lines, IT and senior management. He or she has in-depth knowledge of technological innovations and is the guardian of successful projects.
Management
Senior managers also have an essential role to play. They must drive change and set the course. Unlike the teams on the ground, who often have their heads in the sand, management must provide a strategic vision and visibility of the future organisation.
It may seem like a trivial question, but why do you want to digitise your company's activities? The answers to this question need to be shared with the rest of the company if you want to get your employees on board.
Software publishers
Often seen simply as a supplier, software publishers can also play a significant role in the success of your project. They are experts in their field and have the advantage of a wealth of experience thanks to their customers.
The more your supplier knows about your organisation, the more solutions they can provide.
At Iterop, for example, we found that 42% of our prospects had not formalised their processes. As a result, our position as a software publisher has evolved, and today we are involved upstream of integration.
To help us provide a framework for this support, in partnership with the École des Mines d'Albi, we designed the SESAME method, which stands for Structure d'Évaluation et Solutions d'Amélioration de la Maturité des Entreprises. This audit tool helps to diagnose a company's level of maturity when it comes to digitising its activities and, above all, offers recommendations tailored to its objectives.
💡 Case study:
The Airbus Executive Committee was one of the first to try out the method. Based on their initial situation established via SESAME, the purchasing team was quickly able to put in place the roadmap to follow to increase its level of digitalisation. Today, all purchasing procedures are digitised.
4. Coordinate Business and IT
Appoint a pilot with two hats
It can be difficult to find people who understand both the business needs and the technological solutions to meet them. Companies often turn to an in-house expert who can be trained in the new technologies.
This new digital pilot is the guarantor of projects and the preferred intermediary for both operational staff and management.
Co-construct to innovate
Employees are at the end of the chain, and if you spend time developing new career paths or choosing new solutions without taking their habits into account, your fine technological innovations are likely to flop.
Whatever you want to do, you need to take advantage of the know-how of your teams and draw on their experience. All you need to do is find a simple co-construction tool that allows you to sit down around a table and create your future innovations together.
5. BPM: the co-construction tool
Paper processes VS automated processes
Unlike ERP systems, which are often considered too rigid, or in-house solutions developed by IT experts, BPM (Business Process Management) software is a genuine collaborative construction platform designed to move from a paper-based process to a fully automated one.
The BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) 2.0 standard was created so that a non-IT specialist can easily read and understand an activity diagram. It is thanks to this business/IT language that many teams have been able to collaborate on new circuits within their company.
The benefits of BPM
Long confined to the field of quality, Business Process Management (BPM) is gradually winning over the hearts and minds of other teams.
In the short term, this approach brings transparency, legibility and harmonisation. In the medium term, you gradually computerise the paper mapping of your processes, with the associated players and data. In the long term, you facilitate the ongoing digitisation of your know-how and processes.
Rapid evolution and autonomy
The biggest fear for companies is being left behind when competitors are offering ever more innovative services to ultra-connected customers. With BPM solutions based on your processes, you can evolve your activities on the fly or on the fly according to your teams' analyses, customer needs or regulatory requirements. You are no longer limited by your tools: it's up to you to decide on the customer journey, for example, and how you want to digitise it.
Conclusion
To sum up, the success of a digitisation project hinges on a sound understanding of the company's processes, the stages of co-construction with the teams, the identification of roles and responsibilities, and the development of a clear vision.In short, the success of a digitisation project depends on a good understanding of the company's processes, the stages involved in co-construction with the teams, the identification of everyone's roles and the anticipation of future needs (your ability to integrate innovation on an ongoing basis).
Processes are the foundations of your future innovations, because if they are well mastered, they will guarantee your long-term survival in the market. Ultimately, you will be able to develop your business not in 15 months, but in 15 days.
Article translated from French