Dialing In Digital Technologies

It's fair to say that organizations struggle to match business outcomes to the myriad of digital technology categories, much less sort out the technology-specific vendors who can deliver the desired outcomes. This blog will attempt to identify what technology categories contribute to business results. To review the desired business outcomes for 2022, please click here. The typical desired outcomes will be listed below at the top of Figure 1. Listed on the side of that same figure will be the familiar digital technologies delivering successful results these days. Each technology is listed as either a primary or secondary contributor to each desired business result. It does not mean that a specific technology can't contribute or assist in gleaning desired benefits, but primary contributors are more likely to deliver benefits. Therefore, I would recommend that organizations have at least one primary technology as a base when pursuing business results. Often technology can be bought in bundles called digital business platforms (DBP), and a guide to them can be viewed by clicking here. These bundles often package several primary or secondary technologies together in a usable proven package.

    Figure 1: Digital Technology by Contribution to Business Results

Ten Proven Digital Technology Categories

Listed below are the typical technology categories that are active in delivering results today. In addition, there are case studies available for each of these categories across many industry categories.

AI Learning

AI is used to quickly learn from data categories and instances to find important signals, events, and patterns that may require decisions or appropriate actions.

AI Advice

It is where AI interacts with humans to give advice in context to augment humans in particular situations. AI Advice makes for a more pleasant interaction with both customers and employees.

Business Processes Management

A process is where the steps/tasks are ordered in the best way to achieve a set of desirable outcomes. It could range from simple workflows to emergent processes, often called cases, with standard complex processes in the middle.

Customer / Employee Journeys

Journeys are the optimal and pleasant experience for the customer aimed at the customer's complete experience, including events and interactions that go beyond your organization. It usually involves both modeling and measurement. With the advent of remote work, the employee journey rises in priority.

Decision Management

It is a range of intelligent assists for decision-makers, including decision modeling, decision enablers embedded in operations, and business intelligence algorithms.

Low Code Development

It is a set of methods, techniques, and tools that simplify computer programming ranging from visual approaches to reusable code chunks. Often Low Code is aimed at business professionals to interact with technology professionals.

Management Cockpit

It is a set of integrated visualizations for transparency, a collection of integrated decision assists and levers for action working together for operational, tactical, or strategic outcomes.

Process / Data Mining

Mining is the ability to scan and identify patterns to respond to from past signals, events, and actions. Often the data sources are logs of past activity in context.

Robotic Process Automation

It is the automation of tasks or processes to remove tedious or unnecessary tasks from humans or systems that need integration. More competent bots/agents are now emerging to make decisions or take action.

Results-Oriented Communications

It is the linkage of detailed communications to desired results for key stakeholders. It organizes collaborations, contents, messages, and various communications around actual results reducing confusion prioritizing tasks and actions for improvement.

Net; Net:

While Figure 1 above focuses on results and declares contributing digital technologies, there are many infrastructural technologies that are a must for digital progress. They would include data mesh/fabric technologies and cyber security infrastructures that enable safe and accurate operations of the above technology classes. When looking down the columns of desired business results, it is essential to pick a core technology to build around. Often these technologies are gathered together to build platforms like digital business platforms. Organizations will have to bring together contributing technologies themselves or buy a platform that brings together most of the needed primary and secondary technologies. Remember that technologies can always assist efforts, but prioritizing on primary impact makes the most sense.

Dodging A Digital Downturn

We all see the signs of a potential economic downturn on the horizon. There are no dumpster fires right now, but you can see signs of nervousness. Like it or not, uncertainty will impact all our organization’s digital efforts. It means that we will all have our outcomes tied to the kind of business outcomes that companies desire. If we want our digital initiatives to progress, regardless of their progression, we need to tie them to the best possible results from a business perspective. Here are the five desired outcomes that seem to appeal most to executives.

Increasing Revenues

The typical digital projects around revenue attract more prospects to your organization’s products and services. It usually includes adding compelling new digital channels and mechanisms to attract multiple generations increasing the sales funnel. Another primary stream is around speeding the progress of the prospects through the sales funnel by automating portions of the sales cycle. Care must be applied to not irritate prospects or add onerous tasks to sales professionals. Digital initiatives are often aimed a cross-selling/ upselling existing customers that are likely to accept offers.

Decreasing Costs

Often digital initiatives are aimed at cost reductions, and they usually deliver through various forms of automation and fast feedback from operational processes. Additional benefits can be gleaned by adjusting decisions and rules that govern/direct organizational processes and tasks. Adding more intelligence to processes and tasks is often another way to decrease costs by assisting or reducing the human resources necessary to complete work. The issue in cost reduction will be around competing with other efforts and expected rates of returns your executives expect. Linking silo efforts is a best practice for savvy organizations.

Reducing Risk

Preventing loss is a popular approach to justifying efforts. It can range from making sure your organization's actions comply with existing rules and regulations, planning responses to emerging threats, or taking proper advantage of apparent opportunities. Initiatives that bolster risk avoidance are always popular with executives making critical decisions often. Moreover, preventing loss is constantly on the mind of executives, so efforts to reduce any risk appeals.

Attracting/Keeping Customers

Initiatives that identify prospects by offering them a better experience for less money always attract investment. The more subtle efforts revolve around keeping the customers you already have. These days customer loyalty is not a given, so initiatives that help measure the voice of the customer scientifically and assist meaningful customer engagement are highly prized. It may be listening to your interactions with a customer looking for key phrases to indicate potential churn, customer satisfaction, promoter potential, etc. It may include watching the actual interaction over video channels as well. Some of the best feedback comes from employees on the front line working with customers. Adding new customers is one of the highest cost activities for organizations, so investments are needed.

Attracting/Keeping Employees

The days of employer intimidation are waning now, so attracting and keeping employees crucial for success is a more significant issue than ever. Savvy organizations are taking a new look at their processes and tasks for better treatment and leverage of employees. It may include more digital assistance for knowledge workers, but it includes removing friction from integrating silo systems and eliminating mindless tasks. Keeping employees requires creating a worker-friendly and trustworthy culture. Indeed, hybrid work environments help employees have more freedom, which is a minimal level of support. Digital initiatives can be used to gather input from employees to avoid things like we are experiencing today with the "great resignation."

Net; Net:

If the present nervousness is just a temporary phenomenon, rechecking how our digital efforts contribute to significant business outcomes is a great exercise. If more uncertainty emerges, linking to primary business outcomes will become a survival technique. If executives decide to pull back on digital initiatives, we will have to make sure key digital initiatives progress even if they become a lower priority. Remember that executives have to think they will beat their investment hurdle rate if they continue to invest in your digital projects. Knowing the hurdle rate for your organization or industry would be essential to understand when justifying digital projects. Keep in mind that digital initiatives that deliver a multitude of the five will get more support even in downtimes.