How to increase Digital transformation Efficiency from a PMO‘s Perspective

Most often, we hear complaints from our clients about delays in digital transformation initiatives. Various factors contribute to such delay. Instead of retroing on the cause, I would like to examine this issue from PMO’s perspectives on how to prevent or reduce the possibility of deferment.

Business: Identify the Quick-win

When a initiative is set up, we have identified the problems to be solved or goals in alignment with the the company strategic objectives. Among those problems or goals, they could be related to business, operation, tech and etc.. It’s wise to draft the plan by putting business priorities first after analysing the As-Is of the problems and To-Be status.

So how can we identify the priorities? There are 3 useful practices that could help us to the quick wins,which are the problem that can be solved quickly and with relative ease, providing immediate benefits and building momentum for the initiative.

• Impact Analysis: Assess the potential impact of solving each problem on the business. Consider factors such as revenue increase, cost reduction, customer satisfaction, market share growth, and competitive advantage.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Evaluate the expected benefits of addressing each problem against the cost, effort, and resources required to solve it. Focus on problems that offer a high return on investment.
• Feasibility and Technical Complexity: Assess the solvability of each problem. Highly complex issues may require more planning and resources and could be scheduled appropriately in the prioritization.

All of these above can be concluded into one document that is called BRD(Business Requirement document) or MRD (Market Requirement Document), communicated and shared with relavant stakeholders.

Product: Build the Minimum Viable Product

After having identified priorities of the initiatives and the quick-win, we can start to work on our PRD(Product Requirement Document) to guide on our development team on what needs to be built. It translates the strategic market needs from the MRD into actionable items for the engineering and design teams. The PRD is more tactical and focuses on the product functionality. After list out all possible features , we should focus on the must-have features for quick win, which is also the MVP.

Best Practises: Synergize Framework, Processes and People

With the right priorities being set up both from from business and product perspectives, we should adopt the right project management frameworks that are well-suited to digital projects, such as agile or hybrid methodologies, ensuring the team is responsive to changes and can deliver incremental value. There are 3 ways to drive efficiency:

• Establish specific KPIs the projects, such as data processing time, data quality scores, and time-to-insight and task cycle time, which allows the track efficiency and identify bottlenecks.
• Streamline workflows and improve productivity by utilizing the right tool for collaboration and communication

This “begin with end in mind” approach ensures that both business and product development efforts are aligned, prioritized, and optimized for quick wins and long-term success. Additionally, integrating frameworks, processes, and people effectively can prevent many of the common pitfalls that lead to project postponements.