If you want better business outcomes, invest in great experiences for employees and customers
A few years ago, “digital transformation” was just another business buzzword. Today it’s a strategic imperative, as machine learning, process automation, and other emerging technologies change business from the ground up. But transformation initiatives fail when the sole focus is on acquiring new technology—because the truth is that no organization can reap the benefits of next‑generation tech without putting employees at the center of its strategy.
To achieve better business outcomes through digital transformation, you must invest in great experiences for employees and customers. And once you understand the core elements of a successful transformation, it’s easy to see why successful companies disproportionately invest in organizational change to help people through the transition.
A key leadership skill will be defining what processes can be delegated to technology platforms and which ones still require human oversight.
iStockSpeed speaks to the ability of machine learning and automation to accelerate every business function, from HR to IT, as well as enable business processes that adapt and improve on their own. Intelligence focuses on new tools that apply machine learning to give people the real-time insights they need to make better decisions. The third—and, in my experience, most important—element revolves around superior employee experiences and change management. A person can’t just go home one night and step into a new role in the morning. Successful change requires investment in communication and training, because you need great people and a great culture to execute any digital business strategy.
It’s a cliché, but change really does start from within. A company can acquire the best technology to jumpstart their digital transformation journey—but that investment will be wasted if employees don’t embrace the change. To build a strong internal foundation primed for transformation, companies need to invest time and resources in several key areas.
First, identify the skills and competencies that will make employees successful long‑term, and invest in change management programs that train employees to be as comfortable working with intelligent machines as they are with human colleagues. The power of AI—and the potential for better business outcomes—emerges only when people learn to work productively with machines.
Leadership is another key factor. Companies need leaders who understand how automation can help drive business success. A key leadership skill will be defining what processes can be delegated to technology platforms and which ones still require human oversight.
ServiceNow has a program called Now on Now where we use our own technology to automate a variety of critical processes. Alongside these technology programs, we invested in organization change management programs to help employees understand how their jobs would shift and make clear that they can now focus on more meaningful work.
In addition, we trained our employees on new competencies that would build their careers and equip them to be successful. In our IT organization, for example, we identified four critical training programs that we now require for all IT employees: communication and influence, design thinking, machine learning, and automation.
Today, we successfully use our own Now Platform® to simplify, speed up, and streamline a wide variety of processes, including legal contract processing, quarterly financial close, employee onboarding, technology operations, and more. And we did it by deliberately creating a foundation for transformation that prioritizes the employee experience over technological expedience. After all—you can’t change a culture by simply writing code.
Learn from leaders who have unlocked their organization’s digital potential
When contemplating the importance of transformation and the modern employee experience, Accenture CIO Andrew Wilson said it best when he told an interviewer that “a modern digital transformation strategy is all about the human. There's an irony in that: in these days of ultra‑fast technology, the human is at the heart of everything.”
It’s a given today that business as usual is no longer an option. Yet in revolution, there is opportunity—for those poised to turn vision into action. That’s why companies need to get started on human transformation today.
Explore more insights for leaders and find out how ServiceNow can help you navigate your own digital transformation.