Measuring the Effectiveness of Digital Transformation Initiatives Amidst Changing Priorities

Measurable outcomes have always been the primary goal of Digital Transformation initiatives, whether the focus is on the business model, organizational structure, process or technology.

Forward-thinking organizations have started to incorporate structured benefits tracking into program cadence.  Organizations can establish a high-quality governance process around measuring and certifying benefits realized compared with benefits contemplated at the point of project approval.

But what happens when the value of projected, forecasted and actualized benefits changes?

Most organizations have not had to consider rethinking the value of benefits derived from strategic initiatives at the programmatic or even project level, until now.

Unprecedented global developments have dramatically changed almost every aspect of corporate and personal life.  These disruptions have significantly altered how organizations need to evolve both in terms of current crises and a future with a level of uncertainty beyond imagination only a few months ago.

With a robust benefits realization framework in place, Digital Transformation leaders can assess how benefits associated with initiatives at all phases of the governance lifecycle map to results highly valued in the organization’s modified operating framework.

Tools to Understand and Assess the Value of Benefits

A harmonized and standardized framework for tracking and certifying benefits enables analysis at many levels.

Digital Transformation leaders can use these capabilities to understand and communicate the value of benefits from the standpoint of the organization’s new priorities in response to market challenges.

Targeted actionable analytics help communicate status across a range of areas, such as:

• Executive dashboards providing at a glance views summarizing, for example, top initiatives at varying stages of the governance process and corresponding benefits, or top initiatives by benefit type–revenue, cost savings, or cost avoidance.
• Detailed reports illustrating results to date of initiatives in play and likely outcomes based on standardized forecast methodologies.
• Realtime understanding of delivery on measurable critical business outcomes, such as increased system throughput or increased transaction velocity.

Organizations can make better decisions on the deployment of constrained resources–both capital and people–with an understanding of how results associated with contemplated, in-flight and delivered transformation programs map to highly valued benefits.

In turn, executives can help ensure transformation programs focus on generating the highest value to the organization.

This approach helps organizations succeed in a theatre of operations very different from anything planned or imagined just a few short months ago.