In the process of digital transformation, modern-day companies are placing focus on going from a project- to a product-centric organization. The importance of turning more to your customers and creating ongoing product offers that suit their needs is now stronger than ever. This is why a project-to-product transformation is crucial.
But, what key areas do companies need to cover to ensure this transformation runs smoothly and turns out to be a success? Let’s find out.
Committing to the Change
The companies that have decided to go through the project-to-product transformation need to commit to the process and understand the necessary shifts that need to happen. Almost all sectors of a company's operation have to undergo some kind of a change and prepare for the new business model.
The most important preparations and changes include:
- Business Strategy & Goals: Firstly, you need to create a connection between your current business strategy and the goals you wish to achieve with the transformation. This is the best way to get all the executives onboard and have them support the transformation process.
- Guidance and Overseeing: The business management teams need to partner with the IT sector to guide and oversee the transformation journey, making sure the product roadmap is properly designed and will lead to the desired outcomes.
- Understanding Customer Personas: It’s crucial that the transformation journey is designed with the customer in mind.
- Technology Alignment: With a new business model comes the need for new technology, and an alignment between that technology and the business is essential. You need to be prepared for adopting new technologies and discuss how they'll stretch beyond the IT domain, and into all other areas of your business.
- Engineering Advancement: No transformation can happen without the support of a top-notch engineering team.
To make the project-to-product transformation possible this series of preparations need to be done.
Helping Your Workforce Change
The project-to-product transformation isn’t possible unless all the people involved in the organization accept the change and adopt the new product and customer-centric point of view. This is why you need to cover the human side of the story and ensure everyone’s on the same team.
You need to:
- create a plan for introducing new modern technologies
- analyze and measure the activities of the employees to help them adopt new operating models
- set new expectations, goals, and performance measures
- guide them through this process until they reach the desired level of maturity
Mentoring the Teams
Finally, you need to provide ongoing mentorship for different teams and help them go through the transformation themselves. That includes not only learning how to use the new tools and technologies but also adopting a whole new mindset and focusing solely on it.
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Final Thoughts
Yes, the project-to-product transformation can be a challenge for most organizations and is not something you can solve overnight. It takes thorough preparation and ongoing work on all levels of the organization to make sure the transformation is a success.
Still, by covering the crucial areas we’ve listed above, your project-to-product transformation is bound to be a success.