New technologies are creating major shifts in how we do business as customers and as employees. Both B2B and B2C. We’re seeing an evolution in the application of digital technology. Our needs and expectations are also evolving at speed.
In distribution/logistics* for example, the options for taking delivery of a product has evolved from waiting for often a long periods at the suppliers convenience, to the modern app-driven, next day and flexible delivery (e.g. in person, to a neighbour, safe place, sweet shop round the corner, another time, another day etc.). Drivers and their vans are often businesses in their own right and just another step in a long chain of high value, flexible and efficient supplier-customer relationships enabled by Apps and handheld technology.
Digital transformations projects are blossoming as businesses and customers hunt for speed, flexibility, reduced cost, and ever more relevant and rewarding customer experiences.
Our experience of COVID has accelerated this trend as businesses have had to pivot fast and well. Even with new technologies, many businesses rely on the commitment and capability of their people. Many of our clients have reported increases in employee engagement – as a result of not going near the office! Of course, this is more likely down to less stress/time-wasting on public transport morning, noon and night, and more intentional, humanistic and considerate leadership behaviour albeit across Zoom, Teams platforms rather than meeting rooms and coffee areas.
I interviewed Barry Osborne, a seasoned customer experience and digital transformation expert to explore the human side of digital transformation and how important it is becoming to put people first to get real results.
Barry has a wealth of business transformation and Innovation experience gained in Europe, Asia, and America. He has led international projects at executive level at Profound, Globalware, Kynsale, and BDR after a successful career as a sales and marketing executive with Pirelli and Time Manager International, where we worked together for a while.
He works with organisations at executive level to design customer experience, customer propositions and improved operational models that improve customer engagement, interaction, and service delivery. He helps his clients transform customer experiences, enhance product and service delivery, and implement improvements in the way they work.
Nicholas:
How would you sum up for the layperson what digital transformation is, Barry?
Barry:
I think just the word transformation gets misused. For me, we talk about innovation as delivering solutions to meaningful problems, something that fundamentally creates value for both customers and businesses, which ultimately means a significant change in the way that they do things. And that obviously incorporates a whole raft of things that need to happen to support that, and actually bring that to life. But really that whole aspect of transformation is about creating value, often delivering significant change.
Nicholas:
And what are some of the human challenges to getting results with digital transformation?
Barry:
Whether it be sponsorship at a leadership level, the engagement of stakeholders or involving employees to provide insight , the human challenges are a red thread as with any change activity. However, the human angle also is important from a design and solutions perspective as we need a robust understanding of the people, their needs, the context and the environment to inform any solution.
Internally the key challenge is engaging with people right through the organisations. It means considering the way that those employees play their part in that transformation.
The project may need people to shift the way that they think, the way that they work, the way that they engage and contribute to the improvements that are going on. This is always going to be a key aspect in deriving the ultimate value that an organisation is going to get from a project.
Unfortunately, this area sometime gets put down the priority list ahead of other things.
Nicholas:
Yes, Barry. I think lack of personal confidence and psychological safety can create a lot of distraction and even resistance…What marks out the difference between projects that really deliver and projects that don’t?
Barry:
I think I would say:
- a common north star, a common objective, a common understanding of what the direction is and what the organization is striving to achieve in terms of those objectives and goals
- the leadership team needs to steer this and ensure the communication through the organisation
- a strong and consistent focus on the customer, their needs and the purpose of the initiative
- making people feel like they are part of that journey rather than the recipients of it
So, getting the right levels of engagement at the right places and taking people on that journey rather than having them feeling like something that’s forced upon them at the other end. For me, people need to be made aware of what is actually going on, and as long as there is engagement, people are more likely to actually embrace it and shape it.
I think everybody at different levels of the organization has a role to play in informing that change process as well. And I think that’s something that will often get overlooked. So, we see views and opinions internally, which may be articulated by senior leaders who are close to the strategy and operational aspects of the organization, but perhaps more removed from customers. So those employees who are actually talking to customers every day become a valuable part of the insight that can inform a project.
Nicholas:
So, in our Business Soul interviews, we’ve seen how modern organisations need to expand the concept of value beyond just customer and investor, they need to include all stakeholders, when looking to initiate projects like this. This approach gives rise to practices o based on looking for the bigger picture of how suppliers fit in, how partners fit in, how employees fit in, local community/planet impacts, and what’s going to be a real transformation that produces real value and positive impacts for all of them, as investor value is increased.
Barry:
Yes, absolutely. And I think we talk about and look at things increasingly as an ecosystem and how to all of those parts interact and function together to create the value for all parties in that equation.
Nicholas:
In our research we’ve found that many less effective cultures are often characterised by a climate where it’s often a case of my ego versus your ego. You and I subtly (or not so subtly) battle for significance against each other, playing politics with each other, pursuing our own agenda. It seems in the more evolved and highly engaged cultures, people are often connected by, and united in a focus on the value that they are collectively creating for employees, partners, customers, investors, communities, and the planet. Through our interviews see this often about living values at the level of heart and soul: being the best that this organisation can be. Could you talk a little bit about the soul of an organization in that context for digital transformation?
Barry:
I don’t think of it any differently in digital transformation compared to any other organisation. I think the challenges are the same. I think it’s really a focus around the type and nature of the solutions and the way things are changing, the way that we work and the way that the solutions are developed change the interactions we have with customers. I think the challenges around the people aspects and the deeper DNA of the organization is one which is equally relevant across other areas of business and an organization as well. One of the things with digital transformation particularly is that over the last two or three years, we have seen a significant acceleration of programmes. And one of the big challenges is where the desire and commercial requirement to get solutions out quickly can lead to leaders sacrificing to a degree the connection with employees.
Nicholas:
What is it going to feel like to be in a fully evolved hybrid working environment with new technology? I suppose I will be sat at home much more often, working remotely in my organisation. I no longer go and visit every day to chat with people over coffee and lunch. What do you think we need to be thinking about now as many organisations move in this direction?
Barry:
It’s a big question mark isn’t it? I think there will be new ways that employees of an organisation will want to interact with work. And there’s equally the customer element for organizations in terms of their customers. I think insights from both of those areas are going to be crucial in the choices and decisions that organisations make going forward, both in the behavioural change of their customers, and also the behavioural change in employees and the expectations and needs of both of those. We are already seeing expectations of candidates in the recruitment process have changed. Some already expect to be working from home or a hybrid model. They don’t want to be in an office all of the time.
When organisations consider a more ‘human-centred’ transformational approach, they need to consider both customer and employee perspectives. Often the emphasis is on the customer interacting with a solution, but looking internally at employees and seeing them as an internal customer in the experience delivery as well, will get the best results.
If you’d like to chat over your challenges and get a copy of our e-Guide that summarises some of the interviews and forums we’ve had with our Business Soul Interviews, please get in touch.
Or call me, Nicholas Brice, on +44(0)7778-356954. Happy to have a free, no obligation 30-minute chat about your situation and share our Soul60 e-guide with you which is packed with insights and priorities.
*To read a great PWC article on what’s happening in Logistics click here
