Why a People-First Digital Transformation Strategy is the Secret to AI Success Today

75% (opens in a new window) of executives say investment in digital transformation is needed for their teams in the next year. This figure is no surprise considering the exponential growth of AI in the past few years, coupled with new digital channels and tools entering the market every week.

We’re all trying to keep up with the supersonic pace of change to meet changing customer expectations, and dragging outdated tooling or a bloated tech stack along with us just isn’t cutting it anymore. This has led many of us to question what’s working, what’s not, and how we can implement meaningful change in our current digital stack and workflows that’s actually worth the effort.

But there’s a fundamental step that precedes everything and one that isn’t brought into the conversation on digital transformation as often: the people.

Great tech only functions, integrates, and excels to its full potential when our teams do too. After all, services and software can’t migrate, configure, and manage themselves. So, before we put the cart before the horse, let’s ask ourselves: how well are our cross-functional teams and tech working together? Are our current workflows delivering more headaches than help? And how can we ensure digital transformation benefits everyone (customer and employee)? In other words, taking a people-first approach to digital transformation.

What is digital transformation? 

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of the topic, let’s define it. Digital transformation is the process of evaluating and optimizing business processes, operations, services, and/or products through technology to meet modern customer and market expectations and deliver greater value both internally and externally. Whether you're a customer relishing an improved user experience when making a purchase online or a developer finally freed from the shackles of never-ending website update requests, digital transformation is about making our teams’ lives easier and our brands stand out. 

Too many of us are battling with multiple not-so-good tools to do our job, rather than finding one great tool that can do it all. Or we’re breaking out in sweats over our OKRs for next quarter, thinking how on Earth are we supposed to reach them when our team struggles to deliver a project on time due to slow, outdated tech? We’ve all been there.

IBM (opens in a new window) states, “Digital transformation is as much about business transformation and change management as it is about replacing analog processes or modernizing existing IT.” In other words, the people behind the tech matter and need to be considered. The more functional, productive, and on-board our teams are, the more successful a digital transformation will likely be, and the better the end results are for our customers — it’s win-win-win.

People-first digital transformation encourages leaders to take a step back to analyze how their teams communicate, collaborate, and deliver work alongside the organization’s transformation goals before changing their digital setup. It’s a strategic, layered approach designed to maximize return on investment and team satisfaction by investing in team culture and collaboration as a prerequisite for switching up your stack — but where do we begin?

The catalyst for digital transformation  

Tech is an integral part of society today. Whether it’s how we work, shop, communicate, and entertain ourselves, our world is shaped by technology, and that technology is evolving faster than we ever imagined. The primary motivation behind most organizational digital transformation is market agility: to keep up with consumer expectations, deliver better experiences, and increase profitability. Consumers expect a digital-first brand experience today — whether that involves chatbots, personalization, self-checkouts, or more — and brands need to adapt or risk falling behind. 

However, while customers are a fundamental consideration, digital transformation isn’t limited to the external brand experience only. The people inside the organization need to be at the forefront, especially as they’re the ones who will make it happen. Your internal team's needs, wants, and goals should help shape what your digital transformation is striving towards, increasing the likelihood of buy-in, success, and continued innovation. 

Building the right company culture 

People-first digital transformation begins with communication and culture. Bottom-up buy-in, coupled with strategic integration and strong leadership, helps create an internal culture ripe for innovation and adaptability. Creating a company culture where your teams adopt a digital-first mindset (opens in a new window) and naturally think about innovation and problem-solving with technology to stay ahead of the curve. This approach is particularly important for hybrid and remote workforces, where technology is the bridge between people and product. 

We also can’t talk about a digital-first mindset without mentioning the ginormous tech elephant in the room: AI. It’s everywhere, and shows no signs of stopping, leading more teams to adopt (albeit sometimes controversially) an AI-first mindset (opens in a new window). AI is a powerful tool for any workforce, and empowering your teams to optimize how they communicate, work, and collaborate using AI can be what helps you outperform your competitors. As the famous quote by Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute (opens in a new window) and SmarterX (opens in a new window), goes, “AI won’t replace marketers, but marketers who use AI will replace those who don’t.” By embedding open-mindedness to new technologies and ways of working into your company culture, you create more opportunities for AI and other software, tools, and solutions to positively impact results.

Happy team, happy revenue stream  

Understanding and integrating your teams’ needs and goals with a people-first digital transformation strategy is powerful — but it’s not the only thing to consider. Papering over the cracks of ongoing team issues or misalignment with a new tech stack will only lead to those problems rearing their ugly heads later on. So, why not take the analytical opportunity digital transformation provides to look at how your teams work holistically? 

Issues within any team or workflow tend to lead to one thing: delays. Whether it’s teams being overloaded and underresourced, meaning they can’t deliver their contribution efficiently, resulting in bottlenecks. Or miscommunication between cross-functional teams leading to confusion, repeated work, and missed deadlines. There are countless common team issues that can best be solved interpersonally and digitally, ensuring less team stress and faster time to market. 

The leading causes of project delays and bottlenecks

• Work overload
• Inefficient processes and workflows
• Lack of communication and collaboration 
• Insufficient resources 
• Lack of training or skills 
• External factors (vendor delays) 
• Outdated systems 

Looking at this list, the need for people-first digital transformation is evident. There are issues that are screaming out for better tech (we’re looking at you, outdated systems), and others that clearly need some level of investment (for example, lack of training and skills or insufficient resources). But most of those listed need some team TLC — and of course, reliable tech that can help teams do their job more effectively. 

Tech alone cannot fully solve common pain points like breaking siloes, enabling individuals and teams to work autonomously, and building healthy, efficient workflows. Doing the hard work up front with your teams to determine the best ways of working, the easiest channels for communication, and the level of collaboration needed to do good work is a crucial first step before layering on the tech. 

Out with the old, and (strategically) in with the new

Pulling off a successful digital transformation is tricky. By bringing your teams onboard from the start and integrating their needs and expectations, as well as those of your audience, into sprucing up your tech stack, you increase the likelihood that it really pays off. Considering every aspect of how your team thinks about, approaches, and uses your current stack, you can identify where genuine optimizations can be made for the better and create a lasting impact on team and company performance. 

Not to mention, we’re all happier when we don’t have to battle constant last-minute requests or tell the boss why the project won’t be done on time, right?