| |February 20199and at the outset, set the ambition and goals for the transformation program. Once this digital ambition is clear, go for choosing the right digital solution, technology stack and project execution team. Herd mentality in following digital initiatives will not help as every organization's need will be different. When executing a huge digital transformation, it is essential to have a clear execution methodology in stages, and meaningful milestones to be achieved to reap the benefits of the transformation in a quicker way. A carefully chosen digital transformation team should be able to plan the transformation meticu-lously, control the scope, and maintain procedural discipline in rolling out the initiatives. People are the most important part of the digital transformation program. Inducing the digital DNA is the biggest challenge that organizations face who are taking initial steps towards this tremendous transformation. Ultimately people need to embrace these technologies to make their life easy. During this phase, resistance to change is one of the key challenges that CXOs deal with. An -Inclusive ap-proach to that helps all departments to understand and appreciate the aim and impact of digital trans-formation is key to working around any resistance to change. Legacy Systems, Really Barriers?IT leaders are most concerned with integrating leg-acy systems with digital initiatives. Often, legacy systems and infrastructure are seen as immediate barriers to digital transformation. Transformation is not about replacing your legacy systems with something new. It is about how you are making the technology landscape digital compatible to add val-ue to the organization.Organizations dealing with legacy systems will have to review their current technology stack for scalability and future-readiness. This may call for an upgrade in the legacy systems and infrastruc-ture to manage changes required to bring in digi-tal transformation. Considering the complexity of digital transformation program, it is essential to build a strong foundation much before implement-ing transformation. Technology leaders should be focussing on this aspect. However, it is incorrect to assume all legacy sys-tems as obsolete (or that will become obsolete soon). Sometimes, a conscious decision of continuing with legacy system can be taken which could be due to the heavy investments already made on these system or may be due to the valuable legacy data which may be too difficult to migrate. However, this does not close the door for digital transformation. Organizations should build surrounding transformational systems to connect the legacy systems with the digital world wherever possible. Investing in these digital con-necter systems and adapters might result in better tangible benefits with retained legacy components as compared to complete legacy system replacement. Engaging with technology and operational teams of legacy applications is a very important aspect of the transformation journey as it allows transformation teams to learn from what is already available and adopted. Involving these teams help in fighting against any resistance to change across the organization. Ensuring that there's seamless understanding, discussion and dialogue amongst all cross-functional teams sets a strong tone for all transformation initiatives to be aligned to achieve-ment of business objectives and the increasing efficiency level. Measuring SuccessEvidently, digital Transformation is a continuous evolving program, the benefits and impact of which are measurable over a period of time. Though mea-suring ROI at the very beginning of any transforma-tion journey is not practical, there should be defined Key Process Indicators to measure the success of the program at regular intervals and amend it if possi-ble. Organizations must track these with respect to the digital ambition and amend the program at the right time to achieve the digital goals carved out in the initial stages and maintain alignment to the program. ORGANIZATIONS DEALING WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS WILL HAVE TO REVIEW THEIR CURRENT TECHNOLOGY STACK FOR SCALABILITY AND FUTURE-READINESS
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