As more and more firms look to bring digital transformation into their operations, these very same firms are discovering it’s often not as easy or as simple as they expected. Digital transformation is a difficult and complex endeavor, especially considering how deep it can go. It can fundamentally alter a business down to the culture and DNA. Knowing some of the main problems, as recently spotted by Dell EMC, goes a long way toward allowing digital transformation to deliver its full value.

What Are the Biggest Problems Digital Transformation Can Bring?

Several points emerge to commonly plague those engaged in digital transformation.

Waiting for value. A process like digital transformation can produce a lot of value, but it doesn’t always show up rapidly. It can take years for the fullest value to be realized, but that’s not helpful to when it comes to keeping a company on task. Enable access to value faster by having clear priorities and tracking them accordingly. Focus on cloud application development, big data analytics, and DevOps to see the most value and better drive innovation within the firm.

Forest for the trees. While innovation is important, and digital transformation goes a long way to help drive it, it’s crucial to keep the basics in mind as well. Sometimes, digital transformation takes priority over things it shouldn’t, like reliability or even security. Thus, a digital transformation should properly take place in installments, with new capabilities coming out gradually and tested to ensure that the basics are in place before carrying on.

Culture change. Culture change is one of the most difficult things a business can do. It requires change — which is hard enough — but it requires change on every level. Digital transformation will change the way many businesses operate even in the simplest of matters, and that’s not easy. This change must begin at the bottom. While executive leadership is always necessary, this is a change that must be embraced by the rank-and-file or the change will be useless. Focus here on a “fail fast” mentality that embraces agility and quickness above all, encouraging failure as the basis for success.

How to Make the Most of Digital Transformation

Understanding these problems will certainly help smooth your way to a digital transformation, but this isn’t an end, only a beginning. Make an even better step by reaching out to us at EmconIT. We’ve worked with many firms on digital transformation efforts, including not only Dell EMC itself, but also HP3 Par and NetApp among many others. So take advantage of our skills and experience in the realm of digital transformation to find ways around these problems and any others the process can throw in your way.