Going digital: staying abreast of digitally-enabled change
- Kerrie Smit
- Apr 7, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 29
If we've received no other key insight from the first quarter of 2024, it's that we need to start looking at AI differently, embracing it where we can while no longer avoiding governing it's use. We've also seen the challenges of engaging employees as organisations walk forward into a digital future with a complex toolkit and some redundancy in traditional job roles.
Our planet continues to feel smaller as we uncover how inter-related we all are. Climate change deniers are eerily silent as we watch large-scale weather events unfold across the globe.
The highlights from the first quarter of 2024 that we'll share below can be applied to almost any aspect of business. So read this list with the lens of change management, or leadership, or sales, or whatever specialisation you wish to consider.
Remember that while not all changes are within our power to control, their impacts can absolutely be analysed and plans put in place to manage the pace and impact of change.
Let's have a look at how we're doing so far while going digital in 2024.
Embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation Organisations are increasingly integrating AI-powered tools and automation platforms. Nearly every business forum, strategy meeting, and project plan has been touched by the need to embrace these technologies, which help analyse large datasets, predict potential obstacles, and optimise decision-making. While this is critical during change initiatives, it is now true across virtually every sphere of business and non-business organisation.
Employee Engagement While digital working can create physical distance, focusing on employee engagement remains critical. Strategies that prioritise employee satisfaction, well-being, and a positive organisational culture not only contribute to successful change management but also reinforce the understanding that organisations must provide psychologically safe working environments—both physical and online.
Technology and Digital Transformation Technological advancements—including social media, AI, automation, and information management systems—are democratising data and enabling greater employee autonomy. Organisations are adjusting to digital governance by questioning how (or whether) to keep the policy layer updated, opting to sustain the pace of change rather than slowing down due to policy constraints. Organisations must adapt to digital tools and leverage automation for the ongoing efficient implementation of change
Agile Approaches Agile methodologies enable flexibility and responsiveness. Implementing change in smaller, iterative steps is increasingly allowing organisations to adapt swiftly. Organisations are not yet all implementing full-scale agile. The tendency has been to embrace the low overheads of project initiation offered by agile ceremonies, and then follow this up with a combination of waterfall and agile approaches for implementation. This looks set to continue as isolated 'pockets' of agile practice begin to connect across the organisation.
Regulatory Changes and Compliance Compliance with evolving regulations remains a priority. Organisations need to navigate regulatory shifts effectively during digitisation, especially the collection and use of data, and other broader change processes. Facing heightened risk standards and demonstrating sustainability within risk functions should be paramount for organisations in the digital era. Business must also demonstrate resilience to deal with the growth expectations of their ownership or shareholder base; and naturally to ensure financial projections are realistic and compliant. Detection of potential threats from financial crime, fraud, and other misconduct must be unrelenting while still allowing for a positive customer experience. Businesses are also facing evolving regulations in fairness principles (such as access and anti-discrimination), intensifying the supervision required over new project and system developments.
Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Environmental events are able to be better broadcast, understood and connected up through the digital technologies now available in most homes, and this is impacting business decisions. As key bodies possessing access to funding, organisations must demonstrate commitment to the full spectrum of sustainability issues—including financial fairness to workers, waste management, safety, ethics in sourcing, and environmental impacts. Organisations are increasingly considering sustainability and climate-related factors in their longer-term strategies, and in their change agendas.
Staying abreast of digitally-enabled change empowers organisations to navigate it more successfully. Whether it’s leveraging AI, prioritising employee well-being, or embracing agile practices, organisations can proactively adapt and get ahead of the impacts of increasingly wide-scale digitisation.
For more from the Agencia Change blog: https://www.agenciachange.com/news
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