Execution: The Third Stage of Accelalpha’s Approach to Digital Transformation

Today we will be covering the third step: Execution. A lot of the action takes place during the execution stage, and the success of the digital transformation is mainly dependent upon how well this stage goes. As we’ve discussed in the first two installments, a high level of commitment and clear visibility are the keys to achieving significant cost savings with your implementation. Change isn’t easy but the rewards, savings, and improvements because of your hard work and planning will make this transition worthwhile.

To make this process a success, conducting daily meetings will ensure the core project team is engaged and that everyone knows what needs to be done. We also advise weekly leadership status meetings to address challenges as they arise. Keeping the entire team actively participating and communicating within these meetings will go a long way to overcoming obstacles that come up throughout the project, ultimately leading to significant cost savings.

Technology is increasingly making life and work easier for everyone. Digital transformations that were anticipated to take place within the next ten years were brought forward during the pandemic making digital transformations a reality for organizations looking to grow. The time has come to transition to the cloud, and organizations that haven’t even begun to plan for this inevitability risk being left behind.

By adopting new standards and best-practice processes that improve efficiency, automate tasks, and provide real-time data, you will be able to drive costs down. Consider stability and scalability over “bells and whistles.” With your Oracle solution, you will still have access to a host of valuable features and capabilities that you may ultimately want to implement. Still, you can incorporate some of those features later, after implementation and as the need arises.

It can be tempting to enable every single feature and solution at the beginning but doing so can complicate the implementation and create unstable processes, making it difficult to scale. We recommend that you work closely with your Accelalpha consultant to devise a solution implementation plan that meets your needs in a way that will optimize functionality and then you can build from there.

Include an active feedback loop where you step away from “heads-down” configuration and move to reviewing the implementation project with everyone in the organization. At Accelalpha, we meet this goal by running workshops that raise and address specific challenges and encourage two-way communication with the team. We also prioritize training the core team on how to manage and make changes to the software after implementation.

Finally, be flexible enough during implementation to pivot activities to meet the different team member’s learning styles and approach. Some of your team will need more and others less hands-on training and development.

This involves effectively balancing the time when the team is doing their jobs vs. when they are in a learning situation. Remember to re-evaluate your team member’s workloads so they can complete their work while still having the energy and capacity to learn the new solution. Striking that right balance and keeping the team focused on the project will help reduce burnout or frustration and the overall cost of the project.

Your digital transformation will enable your organization to scale as market conditions shift over time, make your operations more efficient, and create a better customer experience.

Don’t skip steps or take shortcuts during the implementation journey. While the process takes time and requires a considerable number of resources, keep in mind that your digital transformation will provide you with the tools to enable your business to grow. Automating processes and digitizing all documentation will allow all critical data to be accessible on one convenient platform, reducing manual tasks and increasing your staff’s productivity in surprising ways.

In the next and final installment in this series on Accelalpha’s Approach to Digital Transformation, we will explore the fourth stage, Evolution. We understand this is a daunting but essential topic, which is why we are here to make your digital transformation journey as smooth and stress-free as possible. In the meantime, if this post has triggered any questions, feel free to contact us with your question.