Digital transformation in action: 5 Lessons learned

Sebastien侏罗

2019年2月25日

This is a true story about ALE. 这是一个火狐体育手机数字化转型经历的故事——在那里，事情陷入了停滞, 以及成功需要付出的代价.

In 2019 ALE celebrates its 100-year anniversary, which I believe is a significant achievement in this competitive industry. As a world leader in delivering telecommunication solutions, 有人会认为，美国航空公司进行自己的数字化转型将是相当直截了当的, 正确的? Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t without its lessons. 然而, before we get into that, let’s take a look at w在这里 it all started.

回到开头

In 2016, ALE Senior Management concluded that, “如果我们不把它应用到我们自己身上，我们就无法帮助客户进行数字化转型。”. 因此，我们的CIO召集了一个专家团队，为ALE创建了一个数字化转型框架. My role was enterprise architect. Developing the framework was exciting because, 作为一个团队, we were convinced about the changes we needed to bring to the organization.

We completed the framework in less than two months. It was perfect (in our opinion). The direction and the goals were clear. The architecture was well designed. Initiatives were described, and a roadmap was set. 我们向高级管理层展示了我们所创造的东西，并获得了他们的祝贺. 该框架与公司的执行管理团队和业务转换经理共享, 在一般情况下, 好评. 然而, 框架没有被推出:大多数ALE员工甚至从未意识到这个计划. 那么，我们学到了什么?

教训1:转型必须由员工来实现，而不是由管理层强加

三个月后，数字转型官(DTO)这个新职位诞生了. The role was to manage the IS/IT and quality departments. By now the urgency to get this initiative underway had accelerated. 来推动事情的发展, 我们决定向一家专门从事数字化转型的外部咨询公司寻求建议. 经过一轮累人的面试(不像速配)，只有一家公司引起了我们的兴趣. While most of the companies adopted standard consultancy practices, 他们中没有一个人真正将数字化转型应用到自己的业务中.

我们选择的公司提出了一种不同的方法，引起了我们的共鸣. It wasn’t just about having a great plan. We also needed to get the employees onboard. Digital transformation must evolve out of challenges lived by employees.

Lesson 2:  Start small and lead by example

我们认识到我们最初框架的范围可能有点过于热情. 我们决定缩小我们的关注点和努力范围，专注于业务的特定领域. 我们确信，成功的结果将引导其他业务领域加入进来，并为其业务领域采用数字化转型实践. 我们基本上发起了一个“以身作则”的战略，我们希望它能渗透到整个组织. We were not yet calling it a ‘digital transformation’ but rather a ‘digital bifurcation’; a small change that provides value; that can be duplicated in other areas of the business; and triggers a wider cultural change.

Lesson 3: Prepare conditions for the transformation

数字化转型实践有时需要改变组织的管理心态. They may need convincing to take risks such as:

• Investing in development bandwidth, rather than feature delivery

• Providing time for experimentation, and accepting failure

•让专家做决定，而不是由管理层强加

•信任团队

在这个特殊的时刻，我们正在为即将到来的一年制定总体规划. 总体规划确定并优先考虑每个部门的转换需求. 当谈到预算时，投资回报率(RoI)通常是一个关键的考虑因素.

效益无法量化或过于乐观的倡议很快就会被削减. 运营团队, 然而, 想要投入大量资金来解决以前合并项目中的一些问题. The decision from management was quick and clear. 运营部门只拿到了预算的一半，如果没有明确的投资回报，就不能花任何钱.

这是我们的机会. We established a goal to improve Operations efficiency. The past year had been a difficult one for our Operations team. Some customers blamed us for not providing accurate visibility on shipments. 我们很幸运, 已经任命了一位新的首席运营官，他支持这种新的转型方法.

Lesson 4: Collaboration is key

我们建立了一个由6名ALE专家组成的小团队——3名来自运维，3名来自IT. 团队每天开会一小时，制定关于转换过程的战略. 同时，开发资源得到保障，以确保较短的开发周期. This team would identify the problems, define the required improvement, 承接开发, and validate the solution—together.

每一天, the Operations team learned more about existing tool capabilities, and IS/IT began to understand the challenges users face, 以及他们所看重的东西. People were excited to come to the daily meetings. They felt empowered to create change. They were the experts, and they were making decisions. 团队在三个月内交付了比预期或计划更多的重要增强! Customers were impressed and the Operations team was invigorated.

Lesson 5: Methodology makes the difference

A well-defined methodology can keep a team on the path to success. 作为运营效率倡议的一部分，我们实施了以下七个基本步骤. To help us address the smallest of details and stay on track we needed to:

1. 关注结果

2. Understand the root cause of issues

3. Prioritize issues based on impact

4. Audit processes to understand w在这里 automation is an option

5. Seek regular customer feedback

6. Ensure governance with sponsor feedback

7. 一起设计和建造

起

运营效率数字化转型项目被认为是成功的，并提高了整个公司对转型收益的可见性. 在公司范围内加速新计划和扩大转型项目, the DTO decided to create the Digital Studio. 作为DTO的一部分, Digital Studio提供了一个环境，在这个环境中，小团队可以聚集在一起处理特定的主题，目标是加快组织内的转换活动，以尽可能快地创造最大的价值.