Charlene Li

HR’s Role in Digital Transformation

We often think about digital transformation as something tackled by the dynamic duo of Marketing and IT. There needs to be a third — HR. That’s because while digital transformation appears to be about technology, at its heart it’s about people, and the relationships that are changed because of these digital technologies.

That’s why now, more than ever, HR needs to at the digital transformation strategy table. Organizations need the leadership and expertise of HR to move through this change.

Unfortunately, HR is usually missing in action.

My Prophet colleague Helen Rosethorn published the report “HR as a Force for Digital Change” and I had the opportunity to present it today at NCHRA’s HR TechExpo (slides are embedded below and available on SlideShare).


The research found that only 2% of HR leaders see HR as a key influencer on strategic decisions about digital. And fewer than a third of HR specialists surveyed agree that HR drives digital transformation in their companies. This is a shame because Altimeter’s research has found that leadership and culture are the #1 challenges of digital transformation efforts.

There are three things that HR departments have to do ensure that they play a strategic role in digital transformation:

  1. Understand the role that HR plays today. The report lays out six different archetypes, ranging from “The Conventionalist” to “The Provocateur”. As an organization, and as an HR specialist or leader, where do you fall on this continuum?
  2. Determine the role HR will play in the future. Not every organization needs HR to be “The Provocateur”. The answer depends on multiple factors, from the industry that you are in, to the level of disruption your organization expects to experience in the future.
  3. Develop a digital strategy for HR, both for the department and the organization. Given your objective, what will you do — and what won’t you do — to achieve it? This applies within the HR function, but also requires HR to have a voice across the organization. What are the capabilities HR will need to be effective partners to the rest of the organization?

One last piece of advice for HR functions — tap into the expertise and experience of your Marketing peers. They have been undergoing a digital transformation in terms of how they connect and develop relationships with customers. That same expertise can be applied to connecting and developing relationships with employees, from mapping out the employee journey to developing engagement strategies and tactics. I’ve explored this area as it pertains to the digital transformation of recruitment, which is one of the most marketing-esque parts of HR.

Digital transformation is tough work, and I can guarantee you that the magic happens only when you are working outside of your comfort zone.

 

What Tesla and Trump have in common

Tesla-Trump

Disclosure/disclaimer: I have placed an order for the Tesla Model 3. I am a registered Independent and this post is not an endorsement of Trump.  

Other than beginning with the letter “T”, there’s something that both of these brands have in common.

They both created movements.

This was essential because both of these brands have disruptive, audacious ambitions. For Tesla and Elon Musk, it was taking on the established automotive industry by creating an electric car company from scratch. This April, it accepted 325,000 orders for the Model 3 in one week.

For Trump, it was taking on the political establishment and running for President with no political experience. Today he will accept the Republican nomination for President. Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, you have to acknowledge Trump’s ability to galvanize a base.

With such disruptive ambitions, no ordinary leadership would suffice. Elon Musk and Donald Trump had to do more than just lead. They had to create a movement. Here’s how they did it — and what organizations eager to disrupt their industries need to master.

  • Create and repeat a simple, compelling vision over and over again. It’s clear what Tesla does — it builds electric cars with super smarts inside. And Trump is all about a simple message, “Make America Great Again”. More importantly, everything that each organization does is centered on this simple premise, repeating it again and again. What makes them both so compelling is that they truly do understand their customers and constituents, and know just how to tap into their needs and wants, their hopes and fears.
  • Patiently build the movement over time. Movements aren’t made overnight. They are built person by person, believer by believer. Tesla started making high end sports cars. Trump built his reputation and brand over decades. When the time came to go mainstream, the foundation had already been laid. These are movements are years in the making, not created in an ad campaign over six weeks.
  • Turn the Faithful into Advocates. Have you ever met a Tesla owner? They LOVE their cars, will take you for a spin in it, and insist that you consider it for your next car. Have you ever met a Trump supporter? They are true believers, even in the face of high disapproval ratings and setbacks. They will tell you why they love and believe in Trump — and give you a button to wear. To be a movement, your followers can’t be passive bystanders. They need to be activists for you, and willing to spend their social capital on your behalf.
  • Trade off speed for perfection. Movements require momentum, and few movements are perfect as a result. But there is a resilience in the relationship between the organization and its followers that forgives and overlooks mistakes. Tesla launched its autopilot feature with multiple disclaimers. But when that autopilot failure resulted in a death, Tesla followers stood by the company, unfazed. The Trump campaign has been plagued by a steady stream of missteps as its skeletal organization is stretched to the limits. But this has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of Trump supporters. To build a movement, you will need to move fast, and have confidence in the relationship with your followers  that when things go wrong, they will stand by you.

If you and your organization have the audacity to think big and want to break out, start thinking about how you’ll create a movement. You can’t be disruptive and drive exponential growth on your own — you’ll need to enlist the help of everyone in your ecosystem to be with and behind you every step of the way.

The Top Digital Transformation Priorities For 2016 – Part 1

Is your organization focused on the right things to drive digital transformation? And I mean a deep, meaningful digital transformation — one where the embrace of digital fundamentally changes an aspect of your business model that results in growth and better profits.

Over the past two months, I filtered through hundreds of “top trends and predictions for 2016” which focused on topics like wearables, Internet of Things, and virtual reality. While these technologies are quickly rising over the horizon, they are NOT going to drive the digital transformation and sustained business impact in 2016 for most organizations.

Instead, I’m focused on the five major priorities listed below. I’ll be honest, they don’t necessarily sound new, fresh, and exciting! But if you don’t make headway on these five priorities, then you won’t be able to capitalize on the next five digital trends on the horizon. For this blog post, I’m going to go through the top five priorities first, and in the next post, address areas where most organizations should watch and prepare for now.  [Slide deck of these trends are also available on Slideshare.]


DTpriorities1

  1. Customer Experience.

One of the biggest problems with digital transformation is that it spans the entire organization. We’ve found that the key to aligning these disparate interests is to have a common understanding and approach to serving customers. So when internal conflicts emerge around strategy and tactics, you can turn to your customer experience priorities to help with the decision making process. And to build these customer experiences well, ground it in behavior-based customer data. Collecting and using that data will require a thoughtful approach to ethical data use. —  Top priority: map out and actually use the digital customer journey for your organization. Related research: The Customer Experience Cloud, State of Digital Transformation, Ethical Data Use.

  1. Culture & Leadership.

Our research also found that the biggest barrier to digital transformation is culture — and leadership drives culture. The percentage of engaged employees in US companies continues to be in the low 30’s, despite the introduction of enterprise social networks and collaboration tools like Slack (see below). And leadership remains mired in excuses not to use digital channels to extend their leadership, citing “lack of time” or that “it’s marketing’s job”. Employee advocacy is about to break through, as 45% of organizations have it as one of their top initiatives — but face concerns about giving too much control to employees. Top priority: determine how your culture will need to shift to support the customer experience. Related research: Strengthening Employee Engagement, The Engaged Leader.

DTPriorities2

  1. Content Strategy.

To engage your customers, you’ll need content. While it’s a cliché to say that “every brand is a media company”, the actual fact is that most companies don’t have a coherent, cohesive content strategy. They may engage in content marketing where content is being created on put on different traditional, digital, and social channels, but it’s not clearly tied to business value. What’s desperately needed is a strategy that not only lays out content touchpoints across the customer journey, but also looks outside of marketing and communications for sources of expertise — areas like customer service, sales, product development, and human resources. Marry content creation with employee advocacy and you’ll get an explosive mix of social selling, employee-led customer service, and social recruitment. Top priority: a cohesive content strategy that addresses the content needs across the organization. Related research: Culture of Content, Content Marketing Performance.

DTPriorities3

  1. Digital Ecosystem Rationalization.

As digital spreads throughout the organization, who “owns” digital strategy and transformation has become muddled. There’s a disconnect — while 82% of organizations wanted to integrate social and digital in 2015, only 36% had a plan. This isn’t easy — the three major places where digital lives today are in Marketing, Sales, and Service — and all three typically have different platforms, data, content, and metrics. I believe that the three C-Suite level players who need to be in lockstep with each other are the CMO, CIO, and the CHRO. Yes, human resources. Because digital transformation is at its core a people problem — and having the CHRO play a strategic role is essential to digital transformation success. Top priority: Break down digital silos, distribute digital throughout the organization and leadership. Related research: Customer Experience Cloud, 2015 State of Social Business, The Engaged Leader.

DTPriorities4

  1. Paid Social.

This priority is a little different, but primarily because it exemplifies in so many ways the challenge of digital transformation. My colleague, Ed Terpening, found that social ad spending has doubled over the past two years as channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn become increasingly effective at delivering reach and frequency. This puts social channels at the center of digital transformation — what role will it play in the customer experience? For example, as organic social engagement diminishes in effectiveness, will brands shift traditional community engagement in social channels to customer care, and use paid social instead for reach? Or will employee advocacy grow in effectiveness and obviate the need for paid social? And will paid social ads themselves be used to drive awareness at the top of the funnel — or drive commerce with offers? To answer this question, organizations will have to answer the four questions above — alignment on the customer journey, culture and leadership, content strategy, and a rationalized digital ecosystem. Think of it as the canary in the coal mine — if paid social is a silo or organizational mess, it’s likely your digital transformation is too. Top priority: Take a measured, cohesive approach to paid social’s place in the strategy — and budget. Related research: State of Social Business, Trends for 2016.

In my next post, I’ll focus on areas where areas where you need to watch and prepare in 2016 — but where most organizations won’t need to take immediate action on yet.

How to Tell If You’re Just Dabbling with Digital

Digital transformation is hot — in a new Altimeter Report, “The State of Digital Transformation”, we found that 88% of organizations we surveyed said that they were undergoing a formal digital transformation effort, which Altimeter defines as “the re-alignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital consumers at every touchpoint in the customer experience lifecycle.”

But the research found that only 25% had mapped their out the customer journey, while another 12% were in the process of a mapping effort and were awaiting results. What was striking was that 42% of respondents said that while they were not officially researching the digital customer journey they had made efforts to update those digital touch points with new social and mobile investments and initiatives. [Read more…]

Infographic: State of Social Business 2013 and Outlook for 2014

Living 2013This past year has been a busy one for me and Brian Solis on the research front. We’ve published the following:

 

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