Digital transformation: handle change management peacefully

Digital transformation is shaking up organizations. Technological innovations are changing working habits and professions. New opportunities are emerging. Nevertheless, this major upheaval is causing confusion for many employees. How can we support employees in this changing environment? Wise change management is essential for any project. It requires an understanding of the issues specific to each structure, so as to respond appropriately. A tailor-made approach, targeted actions to remove obstacles and appropriate communication are all essential. Managers who know how to create a climate of trust will emerge victorious from this pivotal period. Let's take a closer look at how to turn this challenge into a springboard.

How to adapt to digital transformation?

Digital transformation is often a paradigm shift for organizations. In concrete terms, it encompasses the integration of digital technology into all of a company's activities. Beyond the technological dimension, digital transformation also implies an in-depth review of processes, working methods and corporate culture. 

Inevitably, such an upheaval requires project teams - and, on a larger scale, all employees - to step out of their comfort zone. This is all the more true given that the challenges differ from one sector to another. For example, in the banking sector, digital transformation raises major challenges in terms of data security and systems interoperability in day-to-day work. 

The spread of online services and the increasing use of artificial intelligence are forcing us to completely rethink our IT architecture. For traditional banks, the digital shift also means a delicate balance between technological heritage and innovation.

In reality, whatever the business, digital transformation requires in-depth changes to adapt to the new digital order. In this context, active employee support is essential. Otherwise, the modernization project will inevitably fail, stumbling up against internal resistance. Change management is therefore of crucial importance to the success of digital transformation. It's all about creating the right conditions for collective buy-in, by identifying sources of concern and providing reassurance and support. 

The challenge lies in both the technological and human dimensions of this digital transformation of work.

How to successfully support change in the context of digital transformation?

Focus on communication

A prerequisite for all stages of change, communication is of paramount importance within a project. Whether it's a question of explaining the objectives, the practical details or the expected benefits, an ongoing educational effort is essential to avoid misunderstandings. 

It's by regularly and transparently sharing the ins and outs of digital transformation that managers create the conditions for buy-in at work.

Sharing the vision 

In addition to information sessions, it's also important to share the vision with employees, in order to get everyone involved. 

This co-construction phase allows us to detail the overall plan and answer questions, before collectively validating the roadmap.assimilation a digital strategy requires a thorough understanding of the business issues at stake.

Involving stakeholders

A project that comes down from the top often struggles to really transform the company, because it comes up against internal resistance from employees. 

To avoid this management pitfall, it's best to involve every stakeholder affected as early as possible, starting with middle managers. These indispensable relays in the transverse irrigation of work guarantee team cohesion.

In addition, there are several typical employee profiles:

• Early adopters, predisposed to innovation, are allies in derisking the project. Their positive feedback attracts followers.
• Followers, the majority, adopt change relatively easily. They need support to see the benefits in concrete terms.
• Skeptics doubt top-down initiatives on principle. By providing visibility on objectives and roadmaps, some of them come around.
• Refractory customers are more difficult to convince. A one-to-one discussion can sometimes identify the reasons for the blockage and provide a specific response.

By involving all levels of the company, cohesion and management are strengthened around a unifying digital transformation project.

Removing risks 

Thanks to a risk analysis carried out with operational staff, sticking points sometimes emerge, which a managerial task force can resolve preventively in the workplace. 

This effort to secure the digital transformation project removes upstream obstacles.

Continuous improvement

By means of a documented pilot and continuous feedback, the digital strategy is enriched with each iteration. Weak points identified lead to a gradual increase in team skills, the key to successful change management.

In concrete terms, this virtuous process is based on active listening to the field. End-users share the difficulties they encounter with the new tools deployed in their day-to-day work. At the same time, performance indicators are used to objectivize progress and any bottlenecks.

Thanks to this ongoing analysis, areas for improvement naturally emerge. IT teams develop solutions to meet business needs, which can be tracked using an application usage monitoring tool like K-Value. Then, thanks to training, employees' skills increase with each new version, giving them greater digital autonomy. [link to Deming Wheel article]

Celebrating success

By highlighting each milestone reached, we can collectively recognize the progress we've made. Deploying a digital solution is not an end in itself: assimilation it on a day-to-day basis testifies to the success of the change. Hence the importance of highlighting these small victories.

Tools and solutions to support change

Once the change management strategy has been defined, the question arises as to the concrete tools to be deployed for its operational implementation. Several options are available to companies to facilitate theassimilation digital transformation by their employees, notably through training.

Organizing hackathons, for example, enables IT and business teams to co-develop prototypes in agile mode. In addition to accelerating projects, this creative immersion frees up energies to explore innovative concepts.

Similarly, the implementation of Digital Workplaces is proving invaluable in familiarizing employees with new collaborative tools and digitalized working methods. These intranet platforms centralize all HR, IT and business services within an intuitive user experience.

At the same time, e-learning modules guide users in mastering the solutions. These training courses enable users to rapidly increase their skills in the various flagship tools at their own pace.

To complete the acculturation process, the development of networks of Chiefs Digital Officers (CDOs) ensures the transfer of knowledge within teams. These experts (local or recruited externally) are trained as a matter of priority, and then pass on digital best practices in the field to other employees.

Conclusion

Digital transformation, by virtue of the scale of the changes it brings to a project, can seem like a leap into the unknown for organizations. And yet, on closer inspection, this journey into the land of digital offers as many opportunities as it does challenges. 

Accompanying teams through change is certainly a high-flying exercise within a project, both in technological and human terms. Nevertheless, as long as the employee experience is at the heart of the process, change management is a real winner. By involving stakeholders, celebrating small victories and relying on collective intelligence, the foundations for success are laid.

Ultimately, digital transformation can even become a formidable lever for progress for an organization. Implementing it will lead to an in-depth review of certain processes, to enhance agility and operational performance. It will also mark the transition to a more collaborative corporate culture, essential to meeting tomorrow's challenges.

So, behind technological modernization lies a wider opportunity for cultural change. Provided we put people at the heart of change...

At Knowmore, we are fully aware of the challenges raised by digital transformation within organizations. As change managers, your mission is to ensure that teams adopt digital tools within a project, while guaranteeing their skills development.

Drawing on our expertise in Digital Adoption Platforms, we rethink the entire process of acculturation to business and collaborative applications. By combining learning and practical use, our solutions guarantee 100% operational adoption of technologies by end-users. Whether it's CRM, ERP, HRIS or supply chain tools, our interactive tutorials target real-life employee contexts.

Would you like to take advantage of these pedagogical innovations to make a success of your digital transformation? Our consultants are at your disposal to study your project and propose the most appropriate Knowmore solutions. Contact us now for a demo!

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