Digital transformation: Getting executive leadership on board

In order to remain competitive with the best in any industry, leaders need to recruit top talent, stay up to date on the latest trends, and support the development of new technologies. Much like how the internet changed the landscape of business, advancements in technology such as cloud computing, have shifted how organizations operate effectively. The conversations around the cost and benefits of digital transformation are becoming more common within companies every year. In fact, International Data Corporation (IDC) has forecasted that global spending on digital transformation will reach $6.8 trillion by 2023.

But, as with any sweeping change, you have to convince your executive team who may be reluctant to big transformations especially if they don’t have all the specifics. So, it’s up to senior management and IT departments to share their wisdom about digital transformation – including why it’s needed, the cost, the timeline, and how it affects the organization in the long run. Here, we break down the most attractive benefits that will help sell a digital transformation initiative to your executive team.

1) Digital transformation boosts employee retention

According to Guy Berger Ph.D., principal economist at Linkedin, the number of companies that recent grads have worked for in the first five years after college has doubled over the past 20 years. This is largely because they’re in search of the perfect fit – a company with not only competitive salaries and benefits but also a positive work-life balance with flexibility in schedules and remote or hybrid workplace options. A recent study highlighted that 62% of workers ages 22 to 65 claim to work remotely for at least a portion of their week – a number that is sure to be on the rise with the adoption of remote work. Forbes also ranked hybrid work as their number one trend to watch out for in 2022. Digital transformation makes asynchronous and collaborative work possible and attracts greater talent that is most likely to stick around.

2) Digital transformation allows you to stay ahead of the game

According to a CNBC report, two-thirds of companies recognize that they must digitize in order to stay competitive. But Keith Kitani of CNBC identifies that despite many companies’ initial efforts to digitize, “failure to effectively communicate their goals, strategy, purpose, and outlook” is a key factor for their shortcomings thus far. In order to avoid such shortcomings, teams must plan healthy, goal-oriented conversations with their executive team early on in the digital transformation process. These early conversations are essential to the success of your organization. After all, the sooner you talk to your executives, the sooner you can respond to the market’s demands and gain access to more robust data – making you more competitive than your counterparts who haven’t made the switch yet.

3) Digital transformation allows enterprises to set trends for the next generation

The opportunity to define the industry standard doesn’t come often. Organizations at the forefront of the digital transformation initiative have the power to set the best practices, technologies, and workflows that can echo through the next generation of enterprise. Companies that undergo a digital transformation can also release features, products, and internal practices that could become the gold standard for other companies – allowing them to become trailblazers within their respective industries rather than risk being replaced by those who are.

4) Digital transformation provides data faster

According to a recent internal survey, many business executives believe that their current systems are too slow to make meaningful, timely decisions. Our customers have brought a number of factors to light, such as rigid planning and implementation schedules that don’t support productive workflows and sluggish communication across departments. Customer-centric organizations need to better understand their end-users’ needs and react swiftly to avoid missed opportunities or customer churn as competitors hit the market faster. Digital transformation can provide quicker data analyses that provide teams with more personalized and relevant action items, allowing them to deliver more value to the end-user.

5) Digital transformation creates a strong company culture

By tailoring your tech stack to your employees’ collaborative needs, organizations are able to promote a positive and more connected company culture. These tools help departments break down the silos that form when teams are left to work on their own for too long by promoting transparency and accountability across departments. An optimized tech stack provides employees with an open catalog of resources and a glimpse of what their coworkers are working on, allowing them the transparency to support their efforts. With the right technology and practices, team members are encouraged to share resources, provide valuable insight on projects outside their department, and can gain a clear perspective into the pulse of an organization.

6) Digital transformation supports long-term sustainability

Sustainability is driving cloud innovation for many organizations as they take on more social responsibility for climate change and work toward becoming carbon-neutral companies. For Atlassian and others in the tech industry, this often means reducing the energy usage that comes from using increasingly powerful computing systems along with the human and technical resources needed to support products that are accessible year-round. Aspiring to have a net-zero carbon footprint is not only a lofty goal reserved for the tech giants of the world, but should also be a vital goal for organizations in the start-up space.

7) Digital transformation provides seamless scalability

Unlike traditional computing methods that require physical storage, warehousing, and IT support to maintain, the cloud provides flexibility and scalability. While scaling on the cloud, admins add resources to an existing system to reach the desired output. This flexibility allows organizations to react in a timely manner to ongoing changes in seasonal demands, economic fluctuations, or other industry-specific reasons.

8) Digital transformation improves customer experience using cloud

Cloud helps businesses keep pace with the demands of the market by providing real-time insights, faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Because of this, businesses can make sweeping changes to their customer relationship models to match the expectations of consumers. Cloud also supports custom segments, personalized product discovery journeys, and communications to user portals – all of which deliver intuitive customer experiences.

9) Digital transformation increases security measures

Data security should be at the forefront of every IT team’s radar, especially as more teams login from remote workspaces. Improving cybersecurity is a staple of the industry, with cloud providers investing $71.8 billion in 2021 according to an IDC report. Companies that still use traditional networks are easier to exploit since their updates aren’t always designed to work cohesively with one another. Cloud architecture, on the other hand, is homogeneous, meaning that everything is from the same vendor and a part of a unified design. As a result, patching, security management, and feature roll-outs are all consistent. Cloud also provides businesses with a centralized location for all of their data, applications, and devices to ensure that everything is protected.

To learn more about digital transformation, including tips and mindsets to support a successful journey, download our ebook.