Effective project management strategies for digital transformation in a customer-centric organisation

Managers love to throw around terms like “customer-centric” and “digital transformation.” They may sound catchy, but they actually play a vital role in the success of today’s organisations. After all, customers want businesses to cater to their specific needs and behaviours. And in order to do that, those companies have to be digitally present and engaged.

As Econsultancy found, almost 60% of business leaders said customer centricity was the most important part of establishing a truly “digital native” culture. And, according to a new study from Foundry, 93% of organisations have adopted — or plan to adopt — a digital-first business strategy.

The question is: how will they actually go about doing that?

We’ll take a look at the role that project managers play in digital transformation. Because, beyond just checking off to-do lists, project managers have a big opportunity to be strategic decision-makers in their organisations — and fuel this inevitable drive towards customer-centricity.

Here are three ways they can make that happen:

1. Navigate changes with flexibility

PMs must be able to make last-minute changes to their projects without having to uproot their entire timelines and disrupt collaborator progress. That’s why it’s so important to use an adaptive project management platform that automatically syncs changes across teams and tasks. Because PMs need the freedom and power to make updates on the fly — whether they’re navigating away from a potential risk or jumping on a new opportunity.

Only with this flexibility can PMs react to changing customer needs in real time and stay on track towards their goals.

2. Keep stakeholders aligned every step of the way

A company-wide commitment to digital transformation and customer outcomes starts from the top down. Stakeholders and C-suite executives must be willing to put the customer first and devote resources to digital growth. And project managers have to keep these stakeholders aligned with their progress every step of the way.

Now, that doesn’t mean they have to schedule daily meetings, check-ins and shoulder taps. They can simply use their project management platform to quickly and easily share cross-functional projects. Ideally, this platform should provide real-time data reports that are customised to stakeholders’ needs, showing just the information each collaborator needs to stay up-to-date and provide feedback.

3. Anticipate and mitigate risks ahead of time

The digital landscape is full of risks: data breaches, bugs in code, PR mishaps, disjointed customer experiences. . . the list goes on. And nothing throws a wrench in your project management plans like a blunder you ultimately could’ve — and should’ve — seen coming.

Thankfully there are also risk management tools to help with that. The right project management platform will flag potential risks and offer mitigation strategies to help you prepare for the unknown. It should even help you prioritise projects based on risk levels, so you can give your time and attention to the most pressing matters.

It’s never been clearer that PMs need the right people, product and data capabilities to fuel digital transformation. And they can harness those capabilities with Proggio — the all-in-one project management platform that adapts to your needs and keeps teams aligned across your portfolio. So you can stop checking boxes and start strategising for better outcomes.

 

Ready to see it for yourself? Schedule a discovery meeting with our team of PM pros!

 

You may also be interested in:

• Our What Is Risk Management resources page
• Our video on effective programme management 
• The What Is Project Data Analysis resources page
• How to be a flexible project manager
• The APM book on Introduction to Programme Management 2nd edition