Once your company’s senior leaders have developed a digital transformation strategy, it can be tempting to move full speed ahead with implementation. However, the key to long-term success in your digital transformation efforts is to get the entire organization on board and excited about digital initiatives first.
Digital tools play a key role in successful business outcomes, but all of the changes in procedure that come with transformation projects can be met with some pushback from employees. Your workers may have a digital skills gap that triggers frustration and other employees may fear that their jobs are being replaced.
Business leaders have a responsibility to educate their employees about digital transformation initiatives to ensure a smooth and stress-free implementation process. With a little bit of extra support from senior managers and your digital business partners, your business can create a company culture that challenges the status quo and prioritizes digital transformation for business success.
Here are some tips to have a company-wide buy-in on your digital transformation projects.
Educate Your Employees About Digital Transformation
It is important to educate your employees about digital transformation at every level because they don’t have the same vision of the business as company leaders. For example, senior executives have insight into how AP automation software will deliver ROI and cut costs, but the vast majority of employees in your AP department might just feel as though you are trying to cut out their jobs.
In a Forbes article on digital transformation, Garth Andrus, co-author of The Technology Fallacy, explains, “A lot of digital technology is augmenting our jobs, not necessarily replacing all the jobs […] But there’s often so much more augmentation, and that’s difficult for people to weave into their work because they keep wanting to do the workaround they had gotten used to.”
It is important to have internal communication at every level to educate employees on the “why” of automation tools to help them see the bigger picture. Though employees’ responsibilities and daily business processes may change to incorporate new technology, the digital tools will actually make their jobs less mundane as they track KPIs and focus on scaling efforts. By educating your employees, you can empower them to feel excited about their central role in meeting business goals and reassure them that their roles are not at risk.
Follow Through With Training And Support
In any digital transformation project, following through with consistent training is key to a successful transformation. Even with a solid education of the “why” behind automation software and digital tools, employees are vulnerable to burnout and frustration when they become overwhelmed with entirely new responsibilities all at once.
One simple training session or video is not a sufficient company strategy for digital implementation. For your more tech-savvy employees, one training video might do the job, but for employees who have been in their role doing manual data entry with a paper process for 15 years, the digital experience will be foreign and training will take time. Be patient with your employees as they adjust to the new digital strategy. Business operations may slow down before they speed up, but this is normal.
To increase employee productivity and training success, senior managers should implement a buddy system and channels of communication where IT employees are paired with workers in other departments to offer consistent support and answer any questions.
Your digital transformation business partner will also be ready to offer support and consulting during implementation, so take advantage of the materials that they provide and keep their contact information handy in case you run into issues.
Offer Space For Feedback
To keep your employees motivated and excited about your digital transformation efforts, C-suite executives and senior managers should offer consistent space for feedback from employees in all business units.
A true culture of innovation is constantly reassessing and adapting to drive business success by maintaining internal communication. Your company will have greater insight into the benefits of transformation and areas where you can continue to improve when you make space for employees in the field to give feedback on their daily processes. When workers feel heard, employee experience is boosted and productivity increases to create a more mature organization.
Your business can also offer rewards, recognition, and incentives for employees who have performed well in transformation-specific roles to acknowledge their efforts and reiterate their value. Keeping your workers engaged, motivated, and excited about digital trends lies in how you treat them and how well you implement these new processes.
Mosaic offers numerous Industry Solutions for a seamless digital transformation. We are an Epicor Gold Partner with expert consulting services to ease your implementation process and get your employees excited about automation software.
Contact Us today to get started.
