How organisations can manage change in a complex and dynamic business environment using digital technologies

In 2020, companies spent over $1.3 trillion on digital transformation out of which $900 billion went to waste, making digital transformation the number one concern for companies. Today post-covid businesses have gone through digital transformation at the speed of light, with send surpassing $2 trillion in the 2023 and $3 trillion by the end of 2025. The adoption of digital technologies – such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), automation machine learning, internet of things and the cloud have not only redefined work but have also accelerated industry 4.0. giving rise to industry 5.0. Digital transformation is the integration of these digital technologies into all areas of the business resulting in fundamental changes to work, how businesses operate and deliver value. So why do some organisations succeed where others fail in their digital transformation initiatives?

· Digital Transformation is not only about Technology, it’s about People:

Time and again, digital technologies have promised to improve efficiency and organisational productivity, however, an important factor of this change process involves the adoption of technology by the workforce. So, this goes without saying that digital transformation is more than just selecting the right technology for an organisation and hence this process has a significant impact on the people side of the business.

· Productivity is about your Systems, not just about People:

Organisations are always seeking to improve employee productivity, using time management training hacks provided by the HR department that are targeted towards individual peak performance. However, we fail to take into account the simple fact that people don’t work in isolation, they work in dynamic and complex environments defined by interdependencies among teams and individuals. W. Edwards Deming argued in his book Out of the Crisis, 94% of most problems and possibilities for improvement belong to the system, not the individual. Hence, we need to approach the solution at a Systems level.

· Managing Change requires Agility, not Rigidity:

Digital technologies are driving continuous disruption, survival is based on the ability to sense change and adapt quickly. However, most organisations with their top-down hierarchical structure and rigid processes attempt to treat change as a discrete one-time event rather continuous. Limited by the conventional change management strategies, amidst the pandemic, organisations found it difficult to become agile and adapt to these emerging technologies as these change management approaches did not work to initiate digital transformation.

Digitally-driven change is messy and unpredictable, unpredictability unsettles everyone. The workforce fears of being replaced due to the digital transformation and so comes the need to emphasise an opportunity to learn new skills for the future of work. Organisational culture also plays a vital role in the digital transformation process to encourage constant change.

Post pandemic, businesses have instinctively developed a variety of new survival strategies and tactics to cope and manage with this disruptive situation. Change is a difficult endeavour, especially in larger organisations with complex structures, people and environments. It is therefore imperative to understand not only the role that digital technologies can plan in managing change in a dynamic business environment, but also understand the underlying strategies, values and culture that are required to manage this change within a complex, agile and dynamic environment