Editor’s Note: In this special report, Amazon Web Services and Chief Executive Group offer a series of concrete, action-oriented steps that can help you with the process of digitalizing your organization. Part 5 of 5.
The “digital reinvention diagnostic” below is offered to guide you to analytically reflect where you are and what you need to do to accelerate digital business reinvention. We are confident that this will serve as a shared approach for you to understand the significance and urgency of business reinvention.
Digital Diagnostic: Six Areas Of Discussion For Your Team
- Looking at your enterprise as a whole—beyond specific functions—how do you assess the impact of digital technologies on the following areas? Use the following scale: (0) No impact; (3) Some Impact; (5) Significant impact.
- Products
- Process design
- Automation
- Service delivery
- Ecosystems
- Work and workforce
- Business model
- Now, assess your transformation efforts using the following scale: (0) Not started; (3) Limited efforts including pilots and experiments; (5) Transformation plans in motion.
- Products
- Process design
- Automation
- Service delivery
- Ecosystems
- Work and workforce
- Business model
- Transformation efforts are fundamentally guided by the collective executive mindset. Please assess your organization’s executive mindset along the five areas using the scale: (-3) Minimize risk; (0) Balanced risk-return approach; and (+3) Maximize opportunity.
- Financial resources for digital initiatives
- Human resources for digital initiatives
- Digital business experimentation
- Joint digital initiatives with external partners
- Challenges to current business model
- It’s becoming clear that digital is enterprise wide. How is it perceived in your organization along the six dimensions that we outlined in the document? Use the following scale to make your assessment: (1) Limited understanding; (3) Adequate understanding; and (5) Strong understanding.
- Scale of digitalization as end-to-end
- Scope as business + digital architecture
- Speed of adoption
- Structure of organization
- Skills and talent
- Security as technical + cultural
- Reinvention is handicapped by a range of management traps. To what extent do the following traps inhibit your transformation efforts? Use the following scale: (0) Not a major trap; (-3) Somewhat limiting our efforts; (-5) Major inhibitor.
- Leadership Trap
- Metrics Trap
- Competency Trap
- Talent Trap
- Ecosystem Trap
- Finally, reflect on your digital transformation as a C-suite coordinated approach. To what extent are the following already in place to serve as catalysts for transformation? Use this scale for your assessment: (0) Not at all; (3) To a limited extent; (5) To a full extent.
- A coordinated approach within the C-suite
- Working back from customer problems to deliver solutions
- True digital business experimentation culture
- Transformation scorecard with relevant metrics
- Feedback loops for rapid adaptation.
Take a moment to look at your overall assessment of the digital reinvention across all the questions. How do you feel about your organization’s ability to win in the digital future? Clearly, much could be accomplished if you could coordinate with your colleagues. Invite them to read this document and do their own reflections. We believe that this document and the diagnostic will serve to sharpen your thinking as you embark on digital business reinvention.
