A Master’s degree in Computer Science, Pooja is a seasoned technology leader with over 23 years of experience in driving digital transformation initiatives for numerous organizations. She believes in the amalgamation of innovation, collaboration and adaptability to efficiently solve any modern day business problems and achieve sustainable growth.

Of late, we are witnessing a heightened competition across almost every industry worldwide. Thus, companies are left with no other option but to innovate and come-up with new, more efficient products/services to maintain a competitive edge in the market. However, striking a balance between innovation and operational stability & reliability has been a tough nut to crack for many organizations. To achieve this, the organization must strategically allocate its resources based on the priority of each innovation project in the overall organizational objectives. This will not only enable the company to maintain stability in its operations, but also pursue future innovation opportunities.

Also, business leaders must cultivate a culture of continuous learning and adaptability across all functions. For instance, since not all innovation projects can be successful, the company must ensure that employees learn from the mistakes and inculcate those learning in their future projects. Most importantly, the management team must make sure that all the departments within the organization collaborate with each other in their innovation efforts and not work in silos. This way, companies can balance between innovation and stability within the organization.

Aligning Digital Transformation Strategy with Current Market Trends
The foremost step that companies can take in this regard is to develop a culture of agile innovation across all functions of the business. Also, they must invest on employee L&D initiatives and conduct regular training programs to help the workforce update their skills and stay abreast of the latest tech trends in the market. Additionally, organizational leaders must build a conducive environment for the employees to freely experiment with new ideas without the fear of failure and develop a mindset of learning from their mistakes instead of seeing it as a setback. Further, having all the systems and infrastructure on cloud enables businesses to scale-up/down with ease as per the market demands without the need to allocate additional resources.

Common Digital Transformation Challenges
One of the most common, yet crucial challenge that most companies are currently facing during their digital transformation journey is the employees being resistant to change. Many employees are accustomed to their regular processes and reluctant to come out of their comfort zones and adapt to new technologies being implemented into the process. Thus, it is important for the organization to have a strong leadership team that can clearly communicate the benefits that this new transformation will bring-in to both the employees and the company as a whole. Also, since not all employees possess the necessary skills to function using new processes, it is extremely crucial for the organizations to have regular training programs for employees to up-skill them and supports them in getting adapted to new technologies.