Amit Lal Singh, CEO at ADI Group
Digital transformation is a hot topic — it has been widely discussed for a number of years now. People correctly say that digital transformation was already vital for businesses to survive in the ever-changing economy even before the particular pandemic, but the changes to the environment which have already been driven by COVID-19 made business transformation more relevant than ever. The increasing customer expectations coupled with tough competition force companies to spend millions on developing and implementing electronic products, infrastructures, and brand push.
And it is not only big businesses that find themselves under the pressure to undergo digital change. SMEs in the food and beverage, fast-moving consumer goods, construction, logistics, retail, wholesale plus travel industries are also within the same circumstances, they need to adopt new technology in order to survive. SMEs face a range of multiple challenges related in order to customer expectations, to which these people need to learn quickly. For them digital transformation through technology adoption is both an urgent need and an untapped opportunity.
But what is electronic transformation? As more plus more individuals talk about digital modification, acknowledging its importance, the particular term is increasingly used for different purposes and even misinterpreted. There are many ways to define it, yet generally digital transformation refers to the adoption of electronic processes and tools to achieve strategic business goals. In most cases it is used to improve, modify or create new products, processes or client experiences. It’s a complex, multifaceted process that will represents a massive cultural shift in the workplace plus changes that affect every part of an organisation.
The main reason why the particular term digital transformation creates some confusion is because technology will be such an important part to the process. We often hear about companies undergoing digital alteration, but what they actually do can be more accurately called digitisation. Digitisation refers to more modest initiatives, such as putting services online or even plugging the new technologies into a legacy company model. Yet a real digital transformation is much more than just using digital technology — it is a change which usually happens not on the IT level, it involves major shifts upon the organisational level, change that generates breakthrough value.
This is usually the part which many people get wrong. They think that customer-focused electronic transformation is about technology, whereas in reality it is regarding people. Ultimately people in the company create the customer experience, and people are responsible with regard to driving change for better in businesses, not technologies. Failure in order to acknowledge this fact is exactly what leads to so many failures in digital transformation attempts.
The inability to get the people component right is the particular cause of numerous fails. Not because of innovation or technological problems — it really is that will companies cannot get the right talent onboard. Success in electronic transformation depends on the perfect balance of skills, experience and personal traits. People are the key to successful digital transformation — people with correct digital abilities, but more importantly, the particular mindset. These include digital leaders, tech architects and data scientists: people who can amplify a company’s assets, leverage the full breadth of skills available to them and mobilise teams via leadership or subject matter expertise. Hiring the right individuals makes a huge difference to electronic transformation success.
But these professionals are usually not always easy in order to come by. Because more plus more companies are digitising their workforce and processes each internally plus externally, the total market regarding hiring tech talent is growing at a much faster pace compared to during pre-pandemic times. There is a growing need for experts in digital technology: from security experts to software developers. Digital shift creates unprecedented opportunities for IT professionals, meaning competition for that talent is definitely high. However , many associated with these opportunities remain untrained due in order to the lack of market awareness about all of them. In the current climate of skill shortages, organisations need a good effective talent acquisition strategy.
This strategy should involve several key components. The first one is internal development — what the organization can offer, both in terms of job and corporate culture as well because an attractive package of benefits. Professionals need to become enumerated competitively and the salary is still important, but other elements are too, for example , career advancement opportunities, work flexibility, interesting tasks, etc . The second component can be external — compelling work offers not really only need to be developed, but also effectively communicated to potential applicants. Otherwise, how would they know? This external component involves building relationships with outside stakeholders which are crucial for the recruitment process. They include HR business partners, consultants, vendors, trainers etc. The particular role of these external stakeholders cannot end up being overestimated, they will be the ones responsible for engaging with applicants and making sure that the procedure of digital transformation will be effectively equipped with the right manpower.
I can tell from my own experience — and our company has been providing passionate professionals to a large number of companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam — that getting the people part right is the most important aspect of digital improvement. From placing the advertisement, screening, testing plus reference checking towards the final selection, each stage is usually vital and cannot be left to chance. This is the particular principle on which we run our own company, and we know that it works. By relying on tested recruitment processes, professional experience and talented people, all of us not just support companies within their electronic transformation by providing them with access to the people they need, but we all also help people who are usually looking to enhance their lives — looking for better jobs, better earnings, better career opportunities, better skills matrix and training provided, and so forth In the particular end, the results of getting the right people for digital transformation advantages everyone: employees get better work, companies obtain better staff, clients improve customer experience and the economy grows.
