The last couple of years, especially since Covid-19, we hear about the struggle that public and private organisations face for their digital transformation.
What Digital Transformation is?
Let’s find out what Digital Transformation means and how it will work for today’s organisations and businesses.
Digital Transformation is defined as “the creation of digital ways of completing the processes applied to the daily production process as it is, but also digitization of the services provided by the organisation”.
It is called Digital as are now used “media” such as PCs, mobiles, etc. for a process that was initially done manually or with documents or with the physical presence of an employee/ customer of the company and now this process is done through some digital format or an electronic device.
It is called Transformation, because it undertakes to transform an existing process from manual/ handwritten to digital, from material to digital, following gradual steps. The sectors and activities that can be digitized in a company belong to its internal and also external environment.
Why is Digital Transformation important?
Digital Transformation is a key priority of the European Union. Digital transformation is beneficial for everyone as it puts people first and thus opens new opportunities for businesses and organisations. We should not forget that digital solutions will be key to the climate change and to achieve the green transition.
How close to Digital Transformation the pandemic got us?
According to the available data of the National Center for Documentation and Electronic Content, beginning with the period of the pandemic, the majority of businesses in Greece state that they will emphasize in the digital transformation, stating it as “very important” or “important” the continuous development strategy (as reflected in the diagram below).
Diagram 1: Digital transformation as a continuous strategy for further business development.
(Source: ECB (2021), The Digital Transformation of Greek Businesses, 2020: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Athens: National Documentation and Electronic Content Center.)
Digital Transformation and human resources
Inevitably, Digital Transformation also signals the skills development of the organisation’s human resources. This means that human resources will have to develop or upgrade their digital skills.
According to the data of the same survey, of the National Center for Documentation and Electronic Content, the majority of the companies will emphasize on strengthening the digital skills of their staff in order to achieve digital transformation and their further development. The percentages in this case do not show differences depending on the size of the companies, as it can been seen in the diagram below.
Diagram 2: Emphasis on enhancing the digital skills of staff.
(Source: ECB (2021), The Digital Transformation of Greek Businesses, 2020: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Athens: National Documentation and Electronic Content Center.)
Organising the work for business administration
According to the same research, regarding the work organization methods for business management, the use of digital channels (such as Microsoft Teams, internal communication chats, etc.) to enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among the company’s staff is considered, with percentage of 47%, as the most important method of organizing work in a company.
Accordingly, regular staff sessions to find new proposals/ improvements to the business (brainstorming) was rated as the second most important as an organising method. In the figure below you may see the assessment of work organization methods for business administration.
Diagram 3: Evaluation of work organization methods for business administration.
(Source: ECB (2021), The Digital Transformation of Greek Businesses, 2020: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Athens: National Documentation and Electronic Content Center.)
How the right management of human resources will be achieved in Digital Transformation?
This is where the E(U) Leaders project comes! The E(U) Leaders project, is an Erasmus+ KA2 program, which lasts 24 months, and has the following main objectives:
- Create an e-leadership model by mapping strategic e-leadership skills, competencies and approaches organizations communicate within virtual working environments.
- Identify common high-tech leadership skillsʼ needs within virtual working environments, both at personal and strategic / organizational levels.
- Identify effective web-based tools and approaches in managing virtual working environments and teams successfully.
- Develop and assess e-leadersʼ strategic e-leadership skills through web-based teaching and learning approaches.
- Create a certification framework which will define both the e-leaders curriculum and the skills assessment process.
p-consulting.gr, along with six (6) other partners, from Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia, participates in the partnership of the EU Leaders project. Through the project and in order to develop the skills of e-leaders, the following digital tools will be created:
- Guidebook of inclusion best practices on suitable digital working environments.
- e-Leadership Model adopted within tech-based and non-tech-based organisations.
- e-Leaders High-tech Course.
- e-learning platform for Leaders.
- Certification framework for the e-leadership skills.
Digital transformation is coming to change today’s businesses and organisations!
As a leader, what will you do about it?
Stay tuned for more news on the E(U) Leaders project!
