AUGUST 2024retailtechinsights.com 19the role of technology and business transformation is critical as a key enabler to drive growth. Key success factors are digital transformation (to improve operational efficiency, enhance customer experiences, create competitive advantage and create new revenue streams), strategic planning (linked closely with the tech as an enabler & driver of the agenda), innovation (creating environments that foster learning & experimentation), agility (in ways of working, prioritising), and last but not least, robust change management approach with E2E focus. All this depends heavily on attracting the right tech talents, retaining the best and ensuring the whole organisation can gain the necessary skills to leverage the endlessly changing technology landscape as well as the power of data & enhanced analytics to make the right calls for the right priorities.I believe that to drive this agenda, leaders should be very strong communicators, deeply immersed in the reality of their daily business operations, while seeking external stimulus to provoke & challenge the status quo, benchmarking across industries to capture new opportunities and finding ways to embed the necessary improvements seamlessly. Measuring Tech Initiative SuccessBefore starting any major change or project in the organisation, the first and most important element is to analyse the AS IS with any potential data points to describe what is the business challenge, what is the customer disruption/pain point or challenge in the existing journeys, and what is opportunity, the potential for TO BE with improvements - all of this needs to be underpinned by data, which helps us identify where to focus our attention, as not every pain point is worth the effort & investment. Based on the nature of the endeavour, we choose the right KPIs, from process improvement and financial company performance indicators to customer KPIs like NPS & others or colleagues' satisfaction via e-NPS or other detailed job satisfaction KPIS. This gives a fair variety of perspectives to assess the true impact of the change and its actual success rate. Managing Risks in Tech ProjectsAs part of the initial project scope mapping, business insight and external context analysis, our teams capture potential risks, define their probability & impact levels and depending on the business appetite to accept some risks, they put relevant mitigation plans, which are reviewed periodically by project teams to assess their effectiveness with sponsors as part of regular governance and to share with the Board for acknowledgement. Leveraging Data for Informed DecisionsI strongly emphasise making data-driven decisions and encourage the project teams to harness the power of data analytics to drive business insights, help discover real issues and assess their scale before applying tailored solutions. I cannot imagine strategic planning without business intelligence, and it is great to see with the advancement of data analytics, ML, and AI, this has become so much easier for companies to access than years ago. Career Advice for Aspiring Change ManagersFirst, I am certain that change management is not only important in our professional careers to deliver the best outcomes, but it is also essential to grow personally & lead fulfilling lives. Two important pieces of advice from me would be to cultivate emotional intelligence, with self-awareness, empathy and relationship-building skills to become effective and truly authentic in understanding our audience & their challenges, and secondly, be a continuous learner, embracing a growth and learning forward mindset to learn from failures and successes as these experiences can lead to better decision making and leadership approaches in future. Being curious helps discover what is buzzling behind the scenes to tailor the right solutions at the right time towards the right audience. I would conclude by saying that we all need to be courageous to ask questions without judging but with pure interest in solving problems the best way we can, caring about our colleagues, customers, and partners. I strongly emphasize making data-driven decisions and encourage the project teams to harness the power of data analytics to drive business insights, help discover real issues and assess their scale before applying tailored solutions
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