Digital transformation is an unescapable journey. Have you given enough consideration to the elements outside of technology before embarking on this journey?
Frans Geldenhuys CA(SA) FCISA is one of the founding members of ALICE™ − an automated audit testing platform
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Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new − or modify existing − business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements (definition bySalesforce). This reimagining of business in the digital age includes the way we govern and monitor the business from an oversight perspective.
When the business and operations have embarked on digital transformation, why are the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) teams lagging or struggling to get out of the blocks?
In many cases, we have found that the problem lies in the focus of the GRC teams. When they embark on digital transformation, their first focus is technology. But technology is not a silver bullet. Often using technology to digitalise traditional testing procedures results in a breakdown of trust in the technology and ultimately a failed implementation.
Instead of focusing on technology, the first focus should be the people. These resources are integral to the success of any digital transformation. It is important to understand the digital mindset, both of the individuals and the team as a whole. You also need to consider whether the digital strategies are aligned between individuals and the team as a whole.
The people element is so important in a successful digital transformation journey that we have developed our own set of assessments and training courses to assist our customers. We assess their team’s current digital mindset, identify gaps and consult and coach to close these gaps. For implementations where we first addressed the people element, the implementations were faster in general and gained traction and trust a lot quicker.
Another challenge faced by GRC teams when embarking on digital transformation is the lack of focus. Often when there is buy-in from the team, they start to see the art of the possible and want to digitally transform everything within their space. But when you want to transform everything at once, you lose traction and succeed at transforming nothing at all. In these instances, implementation projects could run for months, even years, without success and with no value added. To address this challenge, you need to identify small incremental areas that are ripe for digital transformation to start your journey, create traction and build trust in the technology. To identify these smaller incremental areas and create a prioritised roadmap, we have created an Automatability Assessment. With this assessment, our implementation was both quicker and more
Considerations before embarking on your digital transformation journey
- What is your digital strategy?
- Is your digital strategy aligned with that of your team?
- What is your current digital mindset?
- Can you identify the gaps in your digital strategy and mindset?
- How will you address these gaps?
- Do you have a method to identify a prioritised roadmap for digital transformation?
- Does your prioritised roadmap align with your digital strategy?
