FACT CHECKED
Digital transformation is crucial for enterprises to stay competitive in the modern market.
The growing pace of technological progress is embedded into our lives. It dictates that companies need to adjust to these trends and implement new technologies.
According to Forbes Contributor, Joresa Blount, the majority of these technologies are enterprise-oriented. The IT sector has developed solutions that can help companies with everything, from data analysis and storage, to investment planning and corporate training.
So technological implementation is about more than just catching the wave of new trends. It’s about becoming more productive. It’s the digital transformation manager’s job to see all this through.
Technology adoption doesn’t equate to digital transformation but it is an important part of it.
Digital transformation describes all the transitional processes when a company adopts technologies and digital-oriented business models or changes its work-culture. It’s a continuous complex process that will fuel the growth of your enterprise.
Your digital transformation manager is the supervising member of the digital transformation ecosystem. They coordinate all aspects of digital adoption, look for the best and most efficient ways to implement the transformation, and consult your clients and partners about more profitable digital solutions.
In this article, we’re going to explore 4 common roles of the digital transformation manager.
4 roles of a digital transformation manager
1. Leader of a company’s digital transformation
Digital transformation begins with strategy — it’s where the whole process starts. This usually includes not only forming benchmarks and milestones but also budget planning.
However, the transformation process will more or less touch every department in your company. The digital transformation manager is to oversee every aspect of it in a leading role.
They must manage the processes and advise other employees and executives on upcoming innovations. Another crucial element of his or her job is to be flexible in delivering the digital transformation plan.
2. Manager of major digital infrastructure projects
The digital transformation manager is not just a tech-savvy person in the company. However, they must have a keen understanding of the most relevant technical solutions.
They must be responsible for leading the digital adoption of major infrastructure projects. They must be capable of introducing innovations to their enterprise.
A lack of understanding about digital transformation by employees is one of the major issues why companies fail at it. The majority of enterprises, in their rush for innovation, think it’s enough to simply implement new software and move on.
However, this is only the start of a longer journey of digital adoption.
Here is where the digital transformation manager comes to the rescue. They will manage the whole process from both the technical side and also the human perspective, including resistance to change.
3. Researcher of new tools for the company
Your digital transformation manager should always be in an active search for new digital solutions. The modern market is so saturated that it presents new digital tools almost monthly. So the lifespan of technology solutions nowadays is short.
However, it’s important to remember that not every new solution is a good one or applicable to your corporate system. That is where the digital transformation manager will seek a middle ground between staying up-to-date, relevant, and productive.
4. Consultant to other company areas
Successful digital transformation strategy involves the implementation of specific tools and solutions for each functional area of an enterprise. That means the digital transformation manager needs to get involved in all of your company departments to identify possible opportunities for digital upgrades.
For instance, they could research the marketing and sales teams to understand whether there are any problems with UX on websites, apps or other tools used by customers. After that, they would create an optimization plan to boost user satisfaction, etc.
The Image Of A Proper Digital Transformation Manager
On top of being tech-savvy and up to their elbows in your company’s nuts and bolts, a good digital transformation manager needs to have outstanding communication and negotiation skills.
Technological solutions require an understanding of their benefits for each user. Therefore, it’s the manager’s work to convey this important message to the enterprise’s employees, clients, and partners.
Every digital transformation manager knows how fragile and complex the process of technological transformation is; however, there are some key principles to stick to in order to reduce all risks to a minimum.
● Strategy. Any significant change in an enterprise starts with creating an implementation strategy. Digital transformation isn’t an exception, even more, here strategy plays an essential role and is often referred to as the digital transformation framework.
● Agility. Even if you implement the simplest software, chances are that something will go wrong. Therefore, you have to be flexible enough either to return to the previous state of things or to react with a new solution. New, more beneficial opportunities might appear annually and your digital business strategy has to be agile enough to upgrade quickly and without fuss.
● Analysis. Collect data about the whole digital transformation process and analyze it carefully, because it’s the only way to spot issues before they become fatal errors.
● Meaningfulness. Keep direct users of new solutions in mind when introducing any upgrades. Whether it’s your employees or clients, always step into their shoes and consider their possible concerns and reservations. Do your best to communicate the technological benefits and the ways to use new technologies to potential users.
● Digital Adoption Solutions. An irreplaceable tool for digital transformation, DAS help enterprises adopt new technologies by optimizing workflow processes, providing training and useful insights.
Now you know how to spot a good digital transformation manager, you should have no troubles on your transformation journey!
