How digital transformation can help CEOs achieve their KPIs

A CEO in today’s turbulent times wears many different, sometimes seemingly contradictory, hats. The CEO needs to provide the vision, at the same time as managing any major crises. A focus on strategy, while not neglecting the view of day to day operations. An understanding and empathy related to customer pains and requirements, while always remaining in touch with the requirements of all other stakeholders. The CEO needs to delegate, while still retaining accountability for the general health of the company.

Nothing paints a more complete picture of the state of a company and its CEO than the Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs. These too can seem to contradict each other, sometimes implying that focusing on some aspects come at the expense of others. Financial KPIs focusing on cost optimisation could come at the expense of Customer Satisfaction KPIs or Operational KPIs related to order fulfilment times, for example. Providing fulfilling work to employees could impinge on a company’s ability to increase productivity. And the list goes on.

It is a balancing act which requires the right intelligence to monitor and the appropriate tools to affect any required changes. It requires a transformation in how companies “think” and operate, aided by technology.

Technology is the common theme underlying the achievement of KPIs which CEOs are often held accountable for, although digital transformation is not always a panacea for all the company’s ills. Simply put, digital transformation involves the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, changing how a company operates and delivers value to customers. However, on a more transformational level, it is all about the realisation that technology is not the sole domain of the CTO or CIO.

Digital Transformation involves a hard look into how the company operates, usually involving four areas:

• Customer Engagement
• Employee Engagement and Empowerment
• Operational Optimisation
• Transforming Products or Services

It is rarely the case that companies need to throw out everything they have and start from scratch. It is more about understanding, or roping in people who understand, what the current technology can offer and determine whether this can help the company achieve its objectives. For starters, one would need to determine if current systems can be improved, and whether these systems can be integrated to enable data to move between these disparate systems more efficiently.

Should current systems need to be changed, one would then need to consider whether to build something bespoke, or whether off-the-shelf software already exists.

But the most important factor in every successful digital transformation is having a software partner that can guide you in this journey. At Cleverbit Software we have been responsible for many such projects across multiple verticals, and can bring our expertise and experience related to a wide-array of technologies.