Dr Patrick O’Connell, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, US Navy
On the second day of TechWeek Singapore on Thursday, Dr Patrick O’Connell, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, US Navy, revealed the seven reasons why digital transformation efforts in organisations fail.
According to the expert, who is hired by US Navy to lead digital transformation efforts in its organisation, the top three reasons include lack of ownership of these initiatives from the leadership; “shoestring, scattered, and unstable” budget; and the lack of stable, fulltime “all-star” team that runs the initiatives.
“You do not need to necessarily lead it as it may not be your skillset, but if [leaders] are not actively engaged, the company will not carry it out for them,” Dr O’Connell explained why leadership has to be actively engaged with digital transformation programme.
“And they will do it only for a while, wanting to buy some food and then gradually begin to drift off.”
He also stressed to importance of having a steady, strong budget to support the running of these programmes.
“Typically, as different executives come and go, it may change. The constant replanting is something that is sort of a death knell for transformation,” Dr O’Connell said.
Other factor that is crucial in ensuring the success of digital transformation efforts is, interestingly, organisations need to make sure that they are not being overly dependent on the technology alone. Dr O’Connell stated that digital transformation goes beyond the use of technology itself; it is also about managing and making sure that it works, supporting by proper resources and team.
For private organisations, there are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to exercising digital transformation.
“Generally speaking, industry has more degrees of freedom than the government. So they get to [start this] transformation before the government even gets there. But they also tend to move a little bit slower because the consensus is a lot less solid,” he stresses.
Held on October 11-12 at Marina Bay Sands, TechWeek Singapore features keynotes from renowned speakers, exhibitions from global brands, and priceless networking opportunities for tech industry players. It features seven shows under one big event: Cloud Expo, DevOps Live, Cyber Security World, Data Centre World, Big Data & AI World, eCommerce Expo, and Technology for Marketing.
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