Improving customer experience through agile digital transformation, part 4
Using agile processes and methodologies within your digital transformation initiative will help it achieve sustained success.
In this 5-part series, I discuss the importance of digital transformation, how to ensure you achieve your organizational goals, and the best ways to plan for success. You can read more about some of these topics and more in my books, The Center of Experience and Digital Delight, available in print and digital versions.
Great customer experience (CX) is more than something that is nice to have. It is now one of the chief points of competitive advantage for many brands across a growing number of industries. One of the biggest roadblocks to providing a more seamless experience to customers is the need for digital transformation within the organization. Whether the transformation helps the direct interactions customers have with your brand, the operational aspects behind the scenes, the measurement of CX, or all of the above, it sometimes takes large-scale organizational change to enable a better customer experience.
Why agile digital transformation?
There is a lot of talk about how digital transformation is necessary for organizations to undergo in order to remain competitive and create a great customer experience. The initial effort can take many months and resources including time and budget. When a digital transformation initiative launches, however, it is really just the beginning.
The real work is to make sure that the transformation is successful in the long-term, and has a path to grow, iterate, and be optimized over time. The last thing a company wants to do after undergoing a deep transformation is to turn around and do the same thing again in a few years!
This is where taking an agile approach and embracing continuous improvement by planning, measuring, analyzing, and optimizing outcomes can keep a digital transformation perpetually current.
An organization that adopts systems of continuous improvement faces less need to reinvent itself and its processes, platforms, and systems. Thus, adopting agile processes and methodologies along with a digital transformation initiative leads to greater long-term success.
Otherwise, an organization will spend a great amount of time and resources and possibly achieve good results in the short term, but without continuous improvement systems and processes in place, all of the good work achieved within the transformation will quickly fall into disrepair.
Instead of a project with a start, middle, and end, think of a digital transformation initiative as a long-term commitment that never truly ends. The launch of your efforts is, in a sense, just the beginning. Continuous improvement helps you to achieve long-term success.
Conclusion
Digital transformation initiatives take a lot of time and other resources in order to be successful. To ensure greater long-term success, utilize agile methodologies before, during, and after the launch of your project.
In the next article, I’m going to discuss how to use agile methods and processes to get started and ensure success with your digital transformation initiative.
You can read more about some of these topics and more in my books, The Center of Experience and Digital Delight, available in print and digital versions.