What are the main considerations organizations should have in mind when undergoing digital transformation — especially within their finance teams? To gain an understanding, Digital Journal spoke with Ari Widlansky, Worldwide Director for Revenue Growth and Strategic Alliances at Esker.
Esker is a finance DX and automation company with clients like NVIDIA and TOSHIBA.
Digital Journal: How can a digital transformation strategy be effectively prioritized?
Ari Widlansky: Digital transformation is one of the most important things a company can prioritize, especially today, where failure to keep up with the latest technology can be what determines which organization will lead its space. The first and most important step is to clearly define, “What are your strategic objectives?” and “What are your desired outcomes?” These questions should guide every digital transformation decision you make. This might seem like a given, but many organizations will actually lose steam without these guides to fall back on.
According to a recent McKinsey report, 56 percent of organizations shared that they have achieved most or all of their transformation goals, but only 12 percent reported that they have sustained these goals for more than three years. The goal of digital transformation should be to remain agile and to adapt to industry and market changes.
DJ: Why is this approach effective?
Widlansky: When companies pinpoint the main areas where digital transformation can make a difference, like enhancing customer experiences or making operations more efficient, they can effectively evaluate their current digital abilities – sorting which current technologies in their stack are useful and which are not meeting the mark.
Take, for instance, the current scenario where many companies are not giving priority to digital transformation in Finance. Shockingly, almost 70 percent of CFOs believe that their Finance transformation efforts are either not delivering the expected impact or are moving slower than anticipated. This is an example that highlights the need for the right technology and a dedicated focus for digital transformation to be effective. Without this, many organizations will begin experiencing inefficiencies in operations, higher costs, and difficulty in meeting customer expectations for a seamless digital experience – a risk too great to take especially as economic uncertainty conversations continue.
Having a focused approach ensures that roadmaps are actionable and incorporate a sequence of initiatives, timelines, and resources required for continuous review and if necessary, adjustment.
DJ: Who should participate in the planning process?
Widlansky: IT teams are crucial for the technological side of digital transformation, but they shouldn’t bear the entire planning burden alone. Organizations need to engage various stakeholders, like executive leadership, Finance, legal and others, to gather a broader range of perspectives. This enables those who are leading the digital transformation planning process to gain a deeper understanding of necessary initiatives, which in turn, will help the overall business strategy. Think about your Finance department. For a long time, CFOs were considered company scorekeepers, but today they’re being tasked to answer questions like “What will happen next?” and this requires technology that will give them a 360-degree view of the company. By only relying on the CFO for fund allocation and not engaging with them to discuss their department’s digital transformation needs, organizations could be missing out on important opportunities to predict and adjust to market changes. Having to hold the company’s financial capital past, present and future in their hands – and part of these funds being allocated to digital transformation – their insights on what technologies are necessary are invaluable.
DJ: How often should the priority strategy be reassessed and potentially adjusted?
Widlansky: Every organization has its own goals, so how often they revisit or update their digital transformation priorities can vary. However, it’s generally a good idea to take a close look at your digital transformation strategy, what has been accomplished, and what needs to be updated, at least once a year, with regular check-ins in between to keep up with the rapidly evolving market conditions. By consistently monitoring metrics, market trends and new tech developments, organizations can stay flexible and nimble in their strategy. Gathering feedback from stakeholders regularly is also crucial for refining strategies given the fast-paced nature of the digital environment.
DJ: What is the most common mistake IT leaders make when prioritizing goals?
Widlansky: Because of their deep understanding of technology, IT leaders and teams tend to overly prioritize the technological aspects when setting goals for digital transformation. Although this is important, it can also lead to a disconnect between IT initiatives and the broader strategic goals of the organization, including its business objectives. To avoid this, IT leaders should lead conversations and involve other key stakeholders in the organization, like CFOs as I mentioned above, to set a holistic strategy in motion. Not only will this save the IT team’s time, removing recurring back and forth that tends to happen when moving forward in plans siloed, but also save money to be reutilized to other crucial business processes.