A Little Less Digital Drama. A Lot More Action.

Drama is the subject of many popular phrases: “leave the drama at the door” … “don't be so dramatic.” People use “drama” freely these days to describe generally unpleasant situations. And they often go to great lengths to mitigate or even eliminate drama. Humor aside, no one wants to deal with drama.

While rooted in performing, drama's meaning has evolved throughout history. In twelfth-century England, storytellers, singers and musicians would perform on the village green and entertain workers to distract them from the tasks of farming and harvesting. In today's world, drama connotes something very different, but the essence is the same: drama is a distraction that takes us away – or at the very least delays us -- from completing the tasks we set out to accomplish.

For organizations, drama is a source of friction, confusion and delays. While there are many different causes of drama, from lack of consistency or transparency to applying the wrong solutions at the wrong time, the need for drama-free strategy and operations is mounting in an increasingly digital world. Drama is a waste of time and money, and every organization -- from commercial companies to government entities -- must conserve and maximize their resources.

This is where humans and digital meet to create new possibilities. Technology is evolving at lightning speed, and leaders, customers, employees, constituents and stakeholders are embracing new methods of communicating, working, learning and playing. Everywhere you look, there's a push to be faster, stronger, smarter, more efficient, and twice as productive. It's a 24/7, 365-day-a-year race to grow, succeed and win the race. When does it end? It doesn't. So the best starting point is to welcome change and constantly transform to adapt in this digital world.

As you've undoubtedly heard many times, digital transformation is critical to your organization’s success. You know a solid digital foundation gives you the ability to innovate quickly. You know you need to focus on being data-driven to provide insights to make confident decisions. You know being data-driven will help you gain loyalty from customers, constituents, patients and employees who are demanding transparency and personalized experiences. You know that transitioning to the cloud will be cost-effective and give you the agility and scale to boost business and mission-driven performance. And you know securing your enterprise is the only way forward, given the rise in cyberattacks on the back of an increasingly remote workforce and global disruptions.

So, what's holding you back? Chances are, many things. Partnering with clients on their digital transformation journeys has taught us a lot. First, no two clients or projects are alike and any organization that has been operational for more than a decade has accumulated some unique legacy IT and technical debt. And, every successful transformation is the product of strategic planning, shared vision and a top-down collective mission among leaders and employees, because technology in a vacuum never solves organizational challenges. Change is hard. Human sentiment and digital technology platforms need to be in sync for change to happen. Without the solid foundation of a shared strategy and united view of where you're headed, transformation gets messy.

Many leaders think digital transformation is about technology transforming services or functions. Some think it's about replacing the old technology with the new. Or that it's about swapping out manual processes for automated ones. But it's much more than that.

You need to take an honest look at where you are and determine where you want to be. It’s about cloud without the complexity. It’s about data insights for customer, constituent and employee interactions without friction. It’s about transformation without the angst. It's about rallying people behind a cause and unifying siloed teams. It's about changing the organization and utilizing technology to its fullest potential. When this happens, the complicated becomes simple and digital transformation is drama-free.

Back to drama for a moment. It’s interesting to note that the current definition of drama is ironic because the word itself comes from the Greek word meaning “action.” Today’s interpretation is anything but action-oriented. And perhaps the most telling is the iconic symbol of drama: two masks, one representing comedy and the other tragedy. We all know that drama holds you back — and there’s nothing funny about that.

We help organizations downplay drama and fully embrace digital technology to succeed and grow. Learn how to take the first step with us at nttdata.com/nodrama. Or, if you interested in joining our global, diverse team of talented professionals who help clients exceed expectations, view our open positions.