The importance of people in Digital Transformation
As we have already emphasised, people are as important in digital transformation as technology. A decisive factor in the success of digital transformation is the corporate culture and what it offers in terms of learning and development. Not only to drive the digital maturity of an organisation, but also to empower employees for the future. This boost to company culture and employee empowerment should be seen as a long-term investment.
With increasing pressure to improve training and growth opportunities within companies, managers must provide employees with new training methods and opportunities to develop professionally.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7Ko0E3N1k
72% of HR professionals believe that continuous employee training is important to their organisations.
In addition, these 72% of professionals have 46% of human resources budgets dedicated to training and skills upgrading projects.
But how do companies drive the "people" side of digital transformation?
There are 3 essential tools for this:
- Internal Communication and Digital Workplace
- Digital Employer Branding
- Training and Digital Literacy
Internal Communication and Digital Workplace
When we talk about the digital transformation of the workplace, employers often focus on the business or technical aspects: supply chains, artificial intelligence and other ways to gain efficiencies through new technological advances. However, some leaders seem to forget those most affected by digital transformation: the employees.
When the employee experience is not part of the digital transformation journey, the entire initiative is at risk. Therefore, the best practice for success is to develop a framework that takes into account two main factors: internal communications and the digital workplace.
Internal Communication
There are several factors that condition the success of any digital transformation strategy in relation to internal communication:
- Are employees motivated and empowered to deliver? If most employees feel disconnected from the business and do not understand why some decisions are made, the organisational programme is likely to fail. This is why internal communications are essential. If employees do not get relevant information, they may not understand or know the company's objectives. Ultimately, good internal communications support employee participation.
- Internal communication drives and sustains change, but to do so effectively it must do so in an integrated way. That is, communication must convey both the company's business objectives and the changes involved in digital transformation, all while taking into account the lived experience of employees, to facilitate transformation across the board. Ideally, an internal communication programme should be established that brings everything together, a comprehensive communication strategy that explores and measures communication data among employees with the help of detailed metrics and feedback.
- The ideal way to create appropriate communications is to engage employees in the company's story: What is its background? What has its past been like? How has it interacted with its social or environmental surroundings? Has it done "good" things? If we can position employees in the company's story, they will become actors in that story, so they will become stakeholders in the success of the digital transformation initiative.
- What communication tools are to be used? Of course it depends on each case, but some tools may not work well, such as email or even social media. Organisations that use well-integrated communication platforms and can offer a single multi-channel publishing tool, together with a solid communication strategy, will really reach all employees to drive the desired transformation.
Digital Workplace
The Digital Workplace represents a radical change in the mindset of an organisation. It is a change in business culture. It is understood that the way businesses work today is different from the way they worked when the term "workplace" was first conceived, and that difference is driven by the evolution of digital technologies.
It is understood that work is no longer a place to go to, but a location-independent event that can happen at any time of the day using any connected device. The digital workplace is the very technology that is transforming the way employees do work, as well as where and how work is done.
What are the benefits of the Digital Workplace?
When properly executed, the digital workplace:
- Increases interaction
- Increases employee engagement
- Enhances employees' digital experience
- Improves efficiency
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFLrybI4038
The Digital Workplace provides all the tools employees need to perform their tasks, while opening up existing silos.
In addition, it is also an inherent collector of data. It can, and should, make constant use of the data collected to provide measurable results and actionable insights.
Digital Employer Branding
Employer Branding is the image that employees have of their own company. More and more companies are aware of taking care of their Employer Branding, as it is an important factor for competitiveness and attracting the best talent.
Mastering these elements that affect the employee's perception of the company will make a difference and the company will become a reference for future candidates. All companies have Employer Branding, and it is in their hands to take care of it in order to attract the best talent.
Nowadays, it is essential that Employer Branding also involves the digital environment and, in particular, social networks. A corporate channel on YouTube or pages dedicated to the firm on LinkedIn and Facebook are simple and convenient examples.
On the other hand, internal communication practices and tools such as magazines or newsletters, as well as the planning of team-building activities, are still very important in conveying information about the company to employees.
A well-known example is Google, which, unsurprisingly, devotes a significant part of its efforts to corporate communication and talent recruitment. It has been considered for several years as the best company in the world to work for and has a strategic plan for this, where flexibility, comfort, technology and innovation are central concepts.
Digital Employer Branding is still an unfinished business for many companies. Using "employees as a brand" requires new innovative formulas that interact directly with today's digital environment.
However, year on year, an upward trend can be noted in terms of Digital Employer Branding in companies. It is estimated that 42% of companies are using the potential of available digital tools to attract talent. However, only 28% of companies have adapted an employee recruitment portal on their websites and only 8% are really taking advantage of the role of employees as "brand ambassadors".
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zka9sbktfV8
Attracting talent through the use of new digital tools is still a pending task for many organisations. The vast majority of companies do not have an Employer Branding strategy or content adapted to new digital trends to attract talent. However, more and more companies are making use of social networks, particularly LinkedIn, to attract and recruit talent.
Digital Transformation for Managers
Businesses need leaders with relevant digital skills. However, many managers and CEOs of SMEs and large companies still lack digital leadership skills. Many companies invest large sums in training their employees, but forget to train those who are most relevant to the company: the senior management.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au7S9zadnuw
Faced with a digital transformation process, managers:
- They must train and involve their employees actively in the transformation process.
- They should be aware that their perception of the company's and people's preparedness may differ from that of their employees.
- They must be ready and prepared to embrace change.
But which digital skills are the most important for managers?
1. Integrating the online channel into the overall vision
It is important to understand that the Internet is the main communication and sales channel today. This is why it is necessary to integrate the online channel into the business strategy and to know how to coordinate and combine the activities of online and offline channels.
2. Digital customer orientation
Today, the customer searches, compares and buys through mobile devices connected to the internet. It is important to understand that companies are no longer selling products or services, but rather fulfilling a customer need. To understand customer needs, it is important to work on specific processes in the digital environment such as website development, new digital channels, browsing experience, product personalisation, etc.
3. Internet communication: SEO positioning
If we talk about visibility, positioning on the internet is key. Therefore, writing correctly for Google is fundamental. Understanding and implementing online SEO strategies will allow the cfompany to be placed in the first pages of results, thus obtaining more visits and customers.
4. Personal branding and corporate branding
A management team with a good personal brand helps considerably in the online consolidation of the brand and the generation of new customers. Every manager should see themselves as a standard bearer for their company and promote both the personal brand and the corporate brand.
5. Presence in social networks
Few managers invest efforts in their own social media. However, social media is a valuable source of information and a vehicle for attracting potential customers. Therefore, it is important to know how to communicate and influence users through social media.
6. Strategic decision making: Identifying KPI indicators
For decision-making, the key lies in knowing how to identify the different metrics and KPIs of the digital environment. In large companies, big data is considered a fundamental channel on which to base the digital strategy. However, for an SME with fewer resources, the correct identification of metrics will help managers with decision-making.
7. Knowing technologies from a business perspective
Executives and middle managers in organisations must be aware of the usefulness of technologies in order to be able to assess their implementation along strategic and operational lines.