{"id":121445,"date":"2025-01-20T12:09:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T12:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/?p=121445"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:09:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T12:09:49","slug":"clear-communication-drives-transformation-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/2025\/01\/20\/clear-communication-drives-transformation-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear communication drives transformation success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Roland Carandang, Managing Director and UK Technology Consulting Leader at Protiviti UK, discusses the importance of clear communication for successful Digital Transformation, shares strategies CIOs can use to ensure stakeholders grasp the goals and benefits, and highlights how technology tools can enhance communication and visibility throughout transformation projects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Why is clear communication critical to Digital Transformation success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Transformation is essential for businesses looking to adapt and thrive in a modern economy in which businesses have optimised where they can on their workforce and infrastructure, where \u2018born digital\u2019 companies have raised expectations on user experience, and where technology providers have made this underlying capability across sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comprising numerous programmes and projects, Digital Transformation represents a fundamental shift in how a business interacts with its customers and operates internally. Given the cost and complexity of these initiatives, effective communication is a critical success factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Transformation is more than just implementing new technologies; it’s about reshaping an organisation to be more customer-centric, data-driven and adaptable. In today’s economic climate, it also involves rationalising technology costs and changing how technology is managed. Executive leadership, often including newly recruited digital leaders, need to be unified in their vision for this transformation. However, the task of delivering this transformation falls to the leadership team beneath them, and this is where effective communication becomes paramount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What strategies can CIOs use to ensure stakeholders understand the goals and benefits?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CIOs should ensure stakeholders are clear on the different types of communication. The first type of communication involves articulating the vision: what are we doing and why? This needs to include both top-line (revenue growth and enabling business strategy) and bottom-line (cost reduction) messaging. It’s crucial that everyone understands not just the destination but also the journey the organisation is embarking on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of messaging should motivate employees and set an expectation for candour in both directions. As one of my clients recently said in a town hall: \u201cWe are embarking on multiple, \u2018once in a career\u2019 projects\u2026 all at once. We know it won\u2019t be easy but are grateful for the foundations we\u2019ve built technologically and organisationally in the last year and are confident we can deliver on all of these\u2026 together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting messaging should foster psychological safety for team members who you not only need to retain but also count on to be open when things are going wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second type of communication relates to how the individual components of the transformation contribute to the overall vision. For example, it may be clear that the company aims to become more customer-centric and data-driven, but it may be less apparent why reducing the legacy technology estate is part of that vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the reasons behind a shift to agile ways of working and the introduction of new partners may not be immediately obvious. Clear communication around these components can help everyone understand their role in the broader transformation. Breaking down complex topics, even at the project level, also helps stakeholders have confidence in the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This helps secure their engagement, which is critical, particularly when many employees feel concerned or even threatened by advances in technology (such as robotics and AI). Effective communication helps in addressing fears and uncertainties by providing clear information about the changes, the rationale and the expected outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third type of communication concerns how the transformation will be delivered. The existing operating model was designed for the last transformation, not this one. Project delivery will require teams that cut across existing reporting lines. The use of ‘squads’ or cross-functional teams can be an effective way to overcome this challenge, but it needs to be very clear across the team how this will work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With so many changes happening in parallel, traditional methods of reserving time from a team months in advance (i.e. infrastructure, testing) just aren\u2019t practical. If you need to second people into team, be clear on how things like appraisals and backfill will work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing technical communication with business priorities is crucial for CIOs to gain executive support for technology-based initiatives. This should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Demonstrating the alignment to the business objective and goals, showing how digital investment will enable business value.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Adapting messaging for different audiences. While non-technical messaging is obvious for executives, tailoring this messaging to individual executives (e.g. financial metrics or customer impact) helps address specific concerns and interests.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Showing quick wins and incremental improvements is important in today\u2019s agile world in order to achieve early buy-in and build momentum towards longer-term goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The final type of communication involves how progress will be reported and support provided. Too often, projects remain in an undefined ‘discovery’ state or shift rapidly from green to red. Effective communication here can give team members the confidence to report accurately. Practically, some organisations have been successful codifying status reporting. Others have taken subjective status reporting out of the hands of the project manager and into architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How can technology tools improve communication and visibility during transformation projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Enabling technology plays a crucial role in facilitating effective communication during a Digital Transformation. A mix of workplace social platforms and regular updates from executive leadership, both electronically and in person, can keep everyone informed and engaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the most significant but underappreciated challenges is driving a Digital Transformation in a complex technology environment that is poorly understood. Leaders should seize this transformation opportunity to capture the environment meaningfully and sustainably. This approach avoids risking the existing business for the sake of the target business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Effective communication is key to successfully managing and delivering Digital Transformation projects. By clearly communicating the vision, the components of the transformation, the delivery method, and the progress reporting and support mechanisms, businesses can ensure that everyone is on board and working towards the same goal. Enabling technology can further support these communication efforts, helping to drive the transformation forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The significance of effective communication in steering Digital Transformation projects cannot be overstated. It serves as the bridge that connects the vision, the components of transformation, the delivery strategy, and the reporting mechanisms, ensuring a unified understanding and approach across all teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The use of enabling technology further amplifies this communication, fostering engagement and providing real-time updates that keep everyone aligned and focused. However, it’s important to remember that the process of Digital Transformation is not a one-off event, but a continuous journey of adaptation and evolution. As such, communication strategies must also evolve, reflecting changes in goals, challenges and the broader business landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    By doing so, businesses can navigate the complexities of Digital Transformation, harnessing the power of effective communication to drive change, foster innovation and ultimately, achieve their strategic objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Roland Carandang, Managing Director and UK Technology Consulting Leader at Protiviti UK, discusses the importance of clear communication for successful Digital Transformation, shares strategies CIOs can use to ensure stakeholders grasp the goals and benefits, and highlights how technology tools can enhance communication and visibility throughout transformation projects. Why is clear communication critical to Digital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":121446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18793,20673,13207,93,23],"tags":[657,21809,21810],"class_list":["post-121445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-expert-opinion","category-thought-leadership","category-top-stories","category-united-kingdom","tag-communication","tag-protiviti","tag-roland-carandang"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121448,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121445\/revisions\/121448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}