Digital strategy: The essential elements
A #DigitalStrategy is critical to success but before you can begin crafting one, consider this: do you know what, exactly, is a digital strategy?
First, it’s important to understand that digital transformation is a continuous journey of improvement and evolution. The specific trajectory of digital transformation varies across organizations, depending on their current level of digital adoption, strategic goals, and opportunities for leveraging digital technologies for value creation.
A digital strategy informs and guides this journey. It’s the method by which organizations evaluate goals, risks, limitations, and needs to pave the way for a successful digital journey. It begins with a focus on big-picture thinking and ends with highly tactical action items.
Digital transformation also requires a culture shift towards embracing digital solutions, and a digital strategy is what sets the stage for this shift, helping to seamlessly align people, processes, and technology.
Without a clearly defined strategy, companies risk undertaking initiatives without direction, potentially resulting in wasted resources and a lack of alignment with business goals.
Key stages of developing a digital strategy
Setting the stage for a digital strategy involves a multifaceted approach. Successful transformation requires ongoing commitment and flexibility to adjust to new developments and organizational shifts. Our #BDODigital team guides organizations through their digital journey by developing a strategy comprised of five key stages: Discover, Assess, Art of the Possible, Validate, and Plan.
Let’s unpack the first two:
1. Discover
The first step in a digital strategy involves aligning the leadership team’s vision with the company’s goals and ideal future. This stage also defines the business’s direction and establishes the guiding principles that will steer the digital journey.
2. Assess
Once you’ve set where you want to be, it’s time to figure out where you are today. In this stage, you assess the functional and technical state of your business.
For the functional state, consider questions like how the functional departments of the business (i.e. sales, marketing, and customer service) leverage technology today, what data is required to make decisions, and the opportunities for improvement. For the technical state, ask questions around how technology supports the functional needs of the business.
The outcome of this stage is a digital maturity evaluation, which includes five possible stages depending on your organization’s level of digital adoption:
1. Initial
2. Improving
3. Developed
4. Defined
5. Mature
These two steps help get your business ready to embark on a digital strategy and set the stage for the following three phases. Learn more about all five steps in our complete Digital Strategy Guide: https://direc.to/kFcK