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Business transformation steps are essential for achieving digital growth and meaningful change. Business transformation doesn't happen overnight; it is a strategic and well-planned process that leads to significant and lasting improvements. In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, companies must continuously adapt to stay competitive.
Successful transformation involves various subtypes, each addressing different aspects of a business, from its organizational structure to its cultural values. By understanding and implementing these steps, businesses can achieve their strategic goals and drive growth.
DIFFERENT STYLES OF BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
Within business transformation, you’ll find many different subtypes. It can involve improving and expanding the sales and services offered, changing business models, implementing new digital technologies, realigning a company’s values and mission, and other aspects aimed at different types of transformation. Types of business transformation include:
- Organizational Transformation: Restructuring the company’s operations and organizational structure to create a more efficient and responsive organization.
- Management Transformation: Reshaping management hierarchies and how employees are managed and led, focusing on developing new leadership styles and management practices.
- Cultural Transformation: Changing a company’s attitudes, values, and mission to create a corporate culture that supports innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Information Systems Transformation: Implementing new digital technologies to enhance the company’s capabilities and efficiency, enabling businesses to leverage data and technology to drive growth.
- Business Process Transformation: Replacing old, inefficient processes with new ones that can significantly enhance efficiency and effectiveness, streamlining operations and removing bottlenecks.
By looking closely at and providing examples of business transformation outlined in seven steps, you might begin to form your own business model and steps toward transformation. Laying this foundation is critical to achieving the desired lasting change.
And if you’re curious about where you stand in terms of planning your business transformation, the experts at Standley Systems can help you plan a transformation project, especially digital transformation, aimed at effective and lasting change.
THE SEVEN STEPS OF BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
STEP 1: SETTING STRATEGIC GOALS AND WORKING BACKWARD
Establishing S.M.A.R.T. goals is crucial for successful business transformation steps. Goals should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Knowing a desired result and achieving it are two different things. But even the “knowing” aspect takes some planning. Goals should be thought out and S.M.A.R.T, meaning:
- Specific: Clearly defined and unambiguous
- Measurable: Quantifiable to track progress
- Achievable: Realistic and attainable
- Relevant: Aligned with broader business objectives
- Time-bound: Having a clear deadline
For instance, an office furniture retailer might aim to increase online sales from 10% to 50% within two years. This S.M.A.R.T. goal provides a clear target and a timeframe, making it easier to plan and implement the necessary steps to achieve it.
STEP 2: DETERMINING STAKEHOLDERS BEHIND A GOAL
Successful business transformation should involve everyone. Key stakeholders can be broad and include:
- Business leaders
- Management
- Employees
- Customers
Change isn’t solely up to leaders, even if they’re the ones who get the ball rolling. Customer and employee feedback is essential for realizing the need for change to meet demand in a new market. Feedback can be used to make sure goals are realistic and achievable, while management and leaders shape the plan to meet those goals. By involving all stakeholders, the transformation process becomes more inclusive and more likely to succeed.
STEP 3: GOAL-SETTING SESSIONS
Defined goals should be broken down into smaller objectives. Employees and customers play a vital role in shaping these goals. For example, employees can use their knowledge to feature the right products and select suitable digital tools. Customers, meanwhile, can provide crucial feedback to ensure new products and services will be desirable. In the case of the furniture retailer, employees can:
- Use their product knowledge to determine which products to feature
- Provide input on selecting and using digital tools to manage online sales
- Inform customers about the retailer’s growing online presence and ability to serve non-local markets
Business leaders and management can:
- Break down sales goals and transformation efforts into smaller time frames, such as quarterly and monthly goals
- Select digital tools needed to manage increased online sales and digital capabilities based on employee feedback and preferences
- Look at employee skill sets to determine who can be tasked with managing online sales, communication, and other new tasks resulting from growth
As plans take shape and business goals become refined, be careful not to put up silos. Silos occur when departments or teams operate independently and don’t share project insights and tasks. In the case of business process transformation, silos can be prevented by involving everyone — leaders, management, employees — throughout the transformation project. This way, everyone’s included and aware of changes.
STEP 4: SETTING PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Performance benchmarks vary but are essential for measuring success. For a furniture retailer expanding its online market, benchmarks could include:
- Aligning business transformation and digital transformation, meaning that digital technologies are implemented to carry out the broader goals
- Seeing defined increased traffic to a website or online sales portal
- Setting outreach goals to inform customers and potential new clients about expanded sales and online distribution
- Tracking sales over a defined time to indicate increased online activity
- Shifting a percentage of existing clients toward using an online sales platform
Each of these benchmarks has easily defined metrics that can be used to quantify benchmarks and indicate completed objectives and business goals.
STEP 5: LAUNCHING TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS
While planning and goal setting may be the first steps of successful business transformation, initiating tangible steps is always exciting. In cases where digital transformation and business transformation overlap, as with the hypothetical furniture retailer, the first step may involve successfully deciding on and installing a CRM or similar digital platform to help manage goals and online sales.
Even a first step is still a long way from fully realizing transformation efforts, but it can’t be emphasized enough that the right foundation and business strategy must be in place for these further goals to become reality.
STEP 6: TROUBLESHOOTING BUSINESS PROCESSES
Problems will happen. It’s inevitable. Unlocking the potential behind a plan, however, means overcoming problems. Doing so necessitates flexibility. Expanding a furniture retailer’s online presence might require a larger marketing plan than expected to get the word out. Or, perhaps online demand was growing but was still over-anticipated.
Rather than establishing new S.M.A.R.T. goals and plans, look at how existing goals and benchmarks can be modified. Successful business transformation can happen, it could just take longer than was expected. In many cases, digital transformation challenges can be overcome by ensuring skills and knowledge are in place beforehand to manage digital tools and leverage data and capabilities.
STEP 7: REASSESS, MONITOR, AND MOVE AHEAD
Constant monitoring and reassessment are necessary. Fundamental change to achieve the desired outcome means reshaping business models. For any business, such disruption takes time, effort, and rethinking. Your S.M.A.R.T. goals and other objectives can guide your path forward, but be flexible enough to change strategic goals when necessary.
Step 7 truly never ends; you’ll have to constantly monitor and reassess progress, even when goals are met. But think about the competitive advantage denied to stagnant companies. Successful business transformation isn’t easy, but for many companies, it’s essential.
THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN BUSINESS SUCCESS
Digital transformation is a critical component of overall business transformation. It involves the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how the business operates and delivers value to customers. This can include adopting cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics to improve efficiency and customer experience.
Digital transformation can drive business growth by enabling better decision-making, enhancing customer engagement, and creating new revenue streams. For example, by implementing a robust CRM system, businesses can gain deeper insights into customer behaviors and preferences, allowing for more personalized marketing and improved customer service.
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
Cultural transformation is about changing the corporate culture to support the new direction of the business. This involves redefining the company’s values, attitudes, and behaviors to align with its strategic goals. A successful cultural transformation can lead to increased employee engagement, improved customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.
Businesses need to foster a culture that encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. For instance, a company that promotes a culture of continuous learning and development can better adapt to changes and innovate more effectively.
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TRANSFORMATION
Effective management transformation requires developing new leadership styles and practices supporting the company’s strategic goals. This can involve training and development programs for managers, restructuring management hierarchies, and implementing new performance management systems.
By reshaping how employees are managed and led, businesses can create a more motivated and productive workforce, which is crucial for successful transformation. For example, adopting a more agile management approach can help businesses respond more quickly to changes and challenges in the market.
ENABLING SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION
Information systems transformation is about leveraging new technologies to improve business processes and decision-making. This includes adopting advanced software solutions, integrating data analytics, and automating routine tasks.
Successful transformation in this area can lead to significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and overall performance. For example, implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can streamline operations across different departments, providing real-time data and insights that can drive strategic decisions.
BOOSTING EFFICIENCY WITH BUSINESS PROCESS TRANSFORMATION
Business process transformation focuses on redesigning processes to eliminate inefficiencies and improve performance. This involves analyzing existing processes, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing new workflows and technologies. Effective process transformation can result in cost savings, improved productivity, and better service delivery. For example, automating repetitive tasks such as data entry can free up employees to focus on more strategic activities, thereby enhancing overall efficiency and output.
WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN THE TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY?
The transformation journey involves setting goals, identifying stakeholders, goal-setting sessions, setting performance benchmarks, launching efforts, troubleshooting, and ongoing reassessment. Each step is crucial for ensuring that the transformation process is comprehensive and aligned with the company’s strategic objectives.
WHAT ARE THE 4 R'S OF BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION?
The 4 R’s of business transformation are:
- Restructuring: Changing the organization’s structure to better support its strategic goals.
- Reengineering: Redesigning business processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- Revitalizing: Renewing the company’s mission and values to align with its long-term vision.
- Reframing: Changing the company’s outlook and strategy to adapt to new market conditions and opportunities.
NEED HELP CREATING YOUR BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION STEPS?
Standley Systems can help you navigate your business transformation steps. Whether you’re starting or in the middle of your transformation project, our experts can guide you. Contact Standley Systems to learn more about our services and support for your business transformation journey. We offer comprehensive solutions that address all aspects of business transformation, from strategic planning to technology implementation and cultural change.
By partnering with Standley Systems, you can ensure that your business transformation efforts are well-planned, effectively managed, and aligned with your overall business objectives. Our team of experts will work with you to identify the best strategies and tools to drive your transformation, helping you achieve lasting success in today’s competitive digital landscape.
