GRIT - Ed.04 - Flipbook - Page 11
HOW PUTTING
PEOPLE FIRST
EMPOWERS DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
A HUMAN-CENTRED APPROACH
TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
DELIVERS MORE EFFECTIVE
RESULTS
By: Michelle Scarborough,
Managing Partner, Strategic
Investments and Women in
Technology Venture
Fund, BDC Capital
a firm believer that there’s never been a more exciting time to be
I ’m
an entrepreneur than today. We’re in the midst of truly unprecedented
times—and unprecedented opportunity—for founders eager to change the
world like never before.
Nowhere is that more apparent than in our shift to the digital economy.
Entire industries are being reinvented seemingly overnight, and businesses
are embarking on digital transformation at incredible scale and complexity.
There will no doubt be unexpected twists and turns along the way. Those
that learn from their mistakes the quickest will prosper.
On that note, there’s one piece of advice I’d like to offer entrepreneurs:
put people at the heart of your digital transformation. A human-centred
approach that crafts technology solutions around user experiences will
make your reimagined business more valuable to customers, relevant to
employees, and profitable to stakeholders.
10
GRIT
UNDERSTAND THE REAL PROBLEMS OF
REAL PEOPLE
The biggest mistake many leaders make when it comes to digital
transformation is rushing to adopt
new technologies without fully understanding the problems that need solving. These
decisions are often based on
assumptions about what’s behind the pain points of employees and customers. What’s
needed instead is quantifiable
data about the shortcomings
of business processes so that
solutions can be tailored to resolve them.
down approaches to digital transformation tend to leave employees
in the dark, which can lead them
to disengage.
A human-centric approach to
digital transformation imbues
empathy into the change process and inspires employees
to embrace the larger vision.
A human-centric approach to
digital transformation makes user
experiences the foundation for
technology-driven tools. It begins
with mapping the interactions of
a diverse cross-set of users and
then consulting them throughout
the design process. These insights
are invaluable to creating smarter digital processes that actually
address real pitfalls.
The immediate benefits of tightly aligning a solution with a problem
are twofold. They encourage rapid
adoption of new digital tools while
also building enormous goodwill
around digital transformation efforts. Plus, these tailored solutions
yield more accurate user data over
the long term that can be used to iterate and improve digital processes.
INSPIRE EMPLOYEES TO EMBRACE
UNCERTAINTY
Fostering buy-in among employees is one of the keys to successful digitization. Let’s face it: nobody likes change. Employees can
become fearful when they don’t
understand exactly where they fit
in a company’s digital future. Top-
A human-centric approach to
digital transformation imbues empathy into the change process and
inspires employees to embrace the
larger vision. Incorporating user experiences into the design process
empowers employees with a sense
of agency over the future of their
work. It also enables employers to
personalize the learning process
for different skill sets, making the
transformation more inclusive.
That last point is particularly
important given how prevalent the
need for upskilling will be in most
workforces. The World Economic Forum estimates that half of all
employees will need to upgrade
their skills by 2025. Meanwhile, a
whopping 94% of business leaders
expect employees to pick up new
skills on the job. Human-centred
digital transformation helps them
meet this growing demand — one
that over 90% of employees surveyed view as important.
MAXIMIZE THE INNOVATION BUDGET
Digital transformation is a lot like
compound interest: the benefits start
small, but grow exponentially. That’s
why it’s so important to spend the
time, money, and effort needed to
establish highly effective technology solutions rather than turning
them over frequently. Forrester estimates that for every $1 to fix a
problem during design, it costs
$100 to fix the same problem
after implementation. That’s a
lot of wasted budget!
A human-centric approach
to designing digital processes avoids the need for costly rework. Research into user
experiences early on focuses
development around features
that yield the biggest impact
and iterations on areas of true
need. This ultimately minimizes
costly system downtime and productivity losses.
Consider that some of the most
effective key performance indicators for digital solutions rely on
measuring the experience of end
users. How much time does it save
my customers? How much more
productive are my employees? How
has it improved team morale? These
are just a few examples. A human-centric design process helps
managers more easily find answers
to these questions because the user
data already exists!
As entrepreneurs know firsthand, the X-factor to building a
profitable business is fostering a
culture of continual innovation. Putting people at the forefront of digital transformation means they’ll
soon have the tools, skills, and motivation needed to let their creativity shine. That’s how great ideas turn
into even better businesses.
BDC is a NEXT Canada
Innovator Supporter
GRIT
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