The Retailer Spring Edition 2023

SPRING 2023

7

7. Lastly, communicate clearly and relentlessly

Digital transformation is not a workstream, it is an enabler — but how do you turn a buzzword into tangible business value?” ‘‘ This is a surprisingly common mistake that retailers make when needing to transform — they throw a load of change at stores and hope it will stick. Good business change managers can make or break your ROI. This does not have to be an additional headcount; you just need to find advocates of change and train them well — they will return their own value in landing initiatives right the first time around. Rapid app development — when proving in year benefit is the challenge, consider rapid application solutions such as low-code. This technology allows you to build quickly and efficiently and is now being widely used in retail for this reason. Support services — umbrella support for your applications can be a cost-effective way to manage multiple support agreements and devel opment days can be built in to ensure you are updating as you go. Testing — outsourcing your testing capability can be flexible and conven ient. Testing specialists can adapt to your needs and provide expertise, consistency, and strong governance to your processes. 6. Ensure you are set up for change management in store and across your business

Understanding why change is needed and how it is being prioritised and delivered is critical to success in digital transformation. The likelihood is that many in the business will be doing something differently than they did before, so it is crucial they buy into it. And, as we should all know, not everyone responds to change in the same way (see point 6). If you need help with any of the points raised in this article, Objectivity can help in all of the areas mentioned and has over 30 years’ experience in helping the retail and hospitality industry digitally transform from the smallest to the very largest engagements. We can be your trusted go-to partner to help you along the way. We are offering a free 1-hour workshop to help get you started — click here to contact us.

David Perks dperks@objectivity.co.uk