Executives have to face the digital transformation mountain

In a recent webinar jointly hosted by IT World Canada, IDC Canada and TELUS, IDC predicted that by 2021, at least 50% of global GDP across every industry will be driven by digitally enhanced offerings, operations and relationships.

Citing results of its annual top executives in Canada survey, Tony Olvet, group VP of research, IDC Canada, shared that more than half of IT executives see a disruptive impact coming. But while Canadian leaders recognize that technology is instrumental in business survival, improving the customer experience, creating new lines of business, and attracting and retaining staff, are they moving fast enough?

“It’s a big mountain they’re facing,” says Brad Pruner, Director, B2B Systems Transformation at TELUS. In fact, 68% of CIOs say it takes an average of six months from when a business need is identified to have an application up and running, and the key benefits they are looking for are: cost efficiency, security and overcoming the IT skills shortage.

How to conquer the DX challenge – piece by piece

At TELUS, we began our own digital transformation (DX) journey in 2009 with a goal of: transforming our customer experience (a company’s only competitive advantage), team member experience and the TELUS cost structure. “In the age of digital disruption with rising customer expectations, we wanted to transform our Customer Experience, but we were bound by traditional systems and a fragmented value chain,” explains Pruner.

“One of the key lessons we learned was to start small and take a modular approach. We broke our transformation down into manageable components, so each could stand alone with its own business case and investment. The projects were compact and agile. We could stop and start at any time based on results, which also helped us de-risk.”

Pruner also says it’s important to get comfortable making mistakes. “Recognize them, stop pouring money into them, and start over.”

Customer-first digital transformation recognized as DX success story

To support our own digital transformation, TELUS has invested heavily in software as a service (SaaS), and our modular formula has helped us conquer the challenge of building an omnichannel customer experience, provide an easy-to-use solution to increase agent productivity, and improve order accuracy—all while reducing operating costs.

The transformation led by Pruner’s team recently won TELUS, in partnership with Vlocity, the prestigious BSS Transformation Excellence award at the 2017 Global Telecoms Awards. TELUS was recognized for:

• Leadership in B2B systems transformation

• The innovative steps taken to improve the agent and customer experience by leveraging Salesforce and Vlocity technology to streamline order processing and handling times by 30%

• Progress made to automate the value chain

At TELUS, we recognize that digital transformation is a process. We also understand that technology is the easy part. “The hard part is change management,” says Pruner. “Our DX journey will continue with unwavering executive level support and dedicated project teams. That’s the real key to a successful digital transformation.”